Day 5: Young Life Club and Meeting with Mountain Guides

JOURNAL BY CARSTON BAKER

Today we returned to Sokone One, and engaged in Neighbood Visits with local YL Arusha volunteer leaders and their families. We separated into two groups and travelled to our respective houses. When we arrived at Yousseff’s house, Yousseff’s parents were working outside. We were welcomed inside and Yousseff’s parents came in too. Seating was limited, so some of us ended up sitting on stools. We exchanged names and asked them some questions. We asked Yousseff’s parents about their children and what they did, what they thought of YoungLife, as well as a variety of other questions. They responded to all of our questions willingly and asked a few questions about us. Nate almost got married off to Yousseff’s sister, who is the same age. It really impressed me how open the family was to responding to our questions, they didn’t seem to hold anything back. I felt really welcomed into their home because of how friendly they were towards us. After we returned to the YoungLife facility, we played with the kids some more and then said our goodbyes. We travelled to an AMAZING pizza restaurant, the pizza was all delicious, even the pizza that didn’t look very appealing.

After we ate and returned to the hotel, for our final gear check and mountain safety briefing, before the climb begins tomorrow. We all dispersed to our rooms and pulled out all of our gear on our beds. We had free time until the guides from the hiking agency came to inspect our gear. They asked us to pick up each item that they named, if there was something that we didn’t have, they wrote it down so that they could get it for us. We then were instructed to meet downstairs at 4:30, which turned out to be 5:10. The meeting was very helpful for all of the first-timers. Tomorrow we begin the climb.