Thank You

To Our Wonderful Shirt Sponsors

Without you this trip would not have been possible. You put your Company name up and put your money where your mouth was. You believed in what we were doing and in the kids we were doing it for.

We all wore our shirts with pride and we thank you so much for your fantastic support. Our Camp Quality kids will truly benefit from your generosity.

To Our Other Supporters and Donors

To everyone who donated to us or supported us in any way, we say Thank You, in particular:

Signature Clothing
Cardiff Signs
Onya
The families and friends of Maitland Christian School
The families and freinds of St. Joseph's School
Our amazing families and friends
Local businesses and organisations

To the other 13 Amazing Trekkers

Jude, Linda, Ruth, Peter, Ali, Craig, Ash, Dave, Sharkie, Princess Mary, Brad, Gail and Moses - what an incredible group of people you are.

You graciously gave up so much of your time for Camp Quality to train for this Trek and to run fundraisers to raise money for the kids. You paid for the whole trip out of your own funds and for some of you who were couples especially, that was a massive amount of money.

Together you have so far raised in excess of $109,000.00 for the Camp Quality kids and funds are still coming in - what an amazing achievement - but then knowing you all and the sort of people you are, I never doubted that you would raise an incredible amount of money.

While you were in Africa you wore your Camp Quality shirts with pride, told anyone who asked (or didn't ask) what Camp Quality was about and Jude you even tried to collect donations on the mountain - you were all amazing ambassadors for Camp Quality and now thanks to you all (and to the kids of St. Judes) the Camp Quality story is working its way around Africa - how exciting !
I am so proud of all your efforts and the way you all handled yourselves. I feel extremely privileged that I had the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing adventure with incredible people for a fantastic Charity. You should all be extremely proud of what you did.

To those of you who made it to the Summit, your strength and stamina is inspiring. To those of you who climbed the Mountain but through no fault of your own, did not actually summit, never let anyone take away from you what you did do. Everyone of you is amazing for what you did and Camp Quality will forever be grateful.

A special thank you to Sharkie who once again carted his camera up mountains, into schools, on safaris and generally everywhere we went over the whole 17 days we were away filming everything and anything so that he can once again come home and produce an amazing documentary that we can share with you all. That way you will really appreciate the adventure we had.

Well, that's it for our Climb 4 Kids .... Kilimanjaro Trek. After all our training and fundraising, it is hard to believe that it is now all over. We have learnt so much about ourselves and about the incredible African people - they taught us so much.

Thanks to everyone for reading the blog and for your never ending support and encouragement - we could not have done it without you all.

Hugs,

Donna.

No Place Like Home

After 36 hours sitting in airports and jumping on and off planes, we finally landed on our home soil - beautiful Australia!

We were all very excited to be back but all very weary. We all made our way to the baggage carousel and as each person grabbed their bag, they headed for Customs. After waiting for the very last bag to appear on the carousel, it was obvious that several of our bags were missing!! Dave, Ash, Mary and myself made our way to the Baggage Service desk and soon discovered that our bags were still in Dubai!

We really didn't mind that our bags were missing - after all they were just full of dirty, smelly clothes! We were told our bags should be delivered to us within the next 24 hours. We headed off to Customs then. It seems Dave, Ash and myself had not given our boots and poles a good enough clean so these were taken away to be washed before we could move on. That having been taken care of, we finally emerged to where everyone else was waiting for us.

The Trekkers believed we were being picked up by Happy Cabby and were very excited to discover that we had in fact arranged a stretch limo for the trip home - which was awesome.

The Trekkers were also unaware that we had organised a surprise welcome home party for them and that members of all their families would be there to meet them. It did take some convincing to get them all to the East Maitland address for the party as they all just wanted to go home and collapse.

We pulled up to a fantastic reception of families and friends and enjoyed an afternoon of talking about our trip and had a BBQ, drinks and a fantastic Welcome Home Cake.

Everyone went home for long showers and baths and a great nights sleep in our own beds after an absolutely amazing journey.

Hugs,

Donna.

Farewell to Africa !

Well our time in beautiful Africa is drawing to an end. Everyone had a fantastic time this morning going on home visits and delivering gifts to the families.

You have never seen such excitement when we produced a soccer ball. Kids came from all around the village to play with it. These kids play with a ball that is made out of plastic bags. Something so simple made the whole village happy.

We also took things like bubbles, crayons, colouring books and rice and flour. The families were so grateful for the gifts and for the sponsorship of their child.

Brad and I went to Raja's house again to let him know that Brad was going to be his new sponsor. His sponsor had pulled out the week before. So now Brad is his sponsor and I am his boarding room sponsor. The family fed us Ginger tea and a special meal that is a delicousy for the family, and we felt very honoured to be having it.

They then took us to show us their house that they are building. So far it has taken them 5 years to build and they do not believe it will be completed for another 5 years. Can you imagine waiting that long for your home, especially when your whole family (6 people) and grandma all live in a two room hut. The problem is that there are no loans and they can only get work done to their "dream home" as they save up money.

Mary and Sharkie also took on half sponsorship each of a little boy called Micki Daddi. Ruth and Peter took on the sponsorship of a girl who us the youngest of 9 kids and her name is Beatrice and Linda took on the sponsorship of a young Masai girl. They will have lots of stories to tell you all.

After we all returned to St Judes we said our goodbyes and then jumped on the school bus and headed off to the cultural centre to have a look around. We then went back to Shangas again to spend a leisurely afternoon eating, drinking and relaxing before our big trip home.

We arrived early at Kilimanjaro Airport after being told that we had all been wiped off the system (for no apparent reason). Apparently it happens quite a lot at this airport. Anyway, thanks to the wonderful Jo from St Judes who took a drive to the airport to sort our tickets, we got on the plane and then headed for Nairobi airport.

Nairobi Airport works completely at it's own pace. When we got to the Transfer desk we were told that the man was on "a break" and told us to just wait! After about 20 minutes he slowly walked into the desk area and proceeded to check us in. Everything here works slowly and at it's own pace and there is just no hurrying them!

It's 9.40 pm now and we are sitting in Nairobi Airport. Our plane is due to leave here at 10.30 pm, then we fly to Dubai and Bangkok and then finally Sydney getting in hopefully around 7.15 am on Sunday morning. Home Sweet Home!

Hugs,

Donna

Day 3 of Safari

Hey everyone,

Day 3 of our safari was another exciting day. We decided to do some walking today and Richard organized for us to go with 3 guides from a local village to take us on tour.

It was mostly a tour on how the Africans set up their villages, make their huts, hunt, plant food, etc. It was very interesting. We kept walking for about 3 hours until we got down to the big lake. Along the way there was Masai kids watching over their goat and cow herds. They ran along side us as we walked (and were very interested in out watches).

We decided we were too lazy to take the 3 hour walk back and Richard got a phone call to ask him to bring the trucks to collect us! We then had a leisurely lunch together with Richard and our drivers Harry and Simba before starting our 2 hour journey back to St Judes.

The best thing about staying at the school is that everyone has gotten to see first hand how the school works and how amazing the kids are.

Consequently several of the Trekkers have decided to sponsor kids which is fantastic. Tomorrow morning we are going out on home visits to the families of the kids they are going to sponsor to meet them and see how they live.

So, on the way back we asked Richard to stop at the "store" for us so we could buy the families some things to take on our visits like rice, flour and gifts for the kids. We had such fun buying things for these families who have nothing - basic necessities that we take for granted.

Tonight we are going to a place called Khans (also known as "chicken on a bonnet"). This is because of a day it is a mechanics and of a night they turn it into an eating place - should prove interesting! The food is supposed to be really really good.

The highlight of my day was finally meeting Gemma Sisia (the founder and director of the school). What an amazingly inspirational lady. She stayed for ages and talked to us about how far the school had come, her hopes for the future and about her own family. Later in the day I also got to meet her kids and of course her husband Richard was our safari guide so we spent three days with him. An amazing couple with such high hopes for Tanzania.

Well that's it from Africa for today.

Thanks for all your love and support.

Hugs,

Donna

Day 2 of the Safari

We started day 2 of our safari at 7.00 am this morning.

It is a beautiful day and everyone was excited about seeing more wild animals up close and personal. On our way Richard our guide organized for us to visit a Masai Village. They did a traditional welcome dance, took us in and showed us around their mud and cow paddy houses.

The Masai chief has 30 wives and over 100 children - can you believe that! We then purchased a couple of things and a few of us joined in another one of their traditional dances with them - wait until you see those photos!!

We then headed off to Ngorogoro National Park. There was so many animals and they were everywhere. We saw rhinos, hippos, lions, flamingoes, water buffaloes, cheetahs, wilderbeast, etc. The hippos were my favourites, especially when they yawned and you saw all their teeth. We had a lovely lunch (thankfully there were no crazy babboons today).

We spent the rest of our day trying to track down a leopard but unfortunately we had no luck - maybe tomorrow.

We are now back at the lodge resting and waiting for our dinner. Another great day has been had by all.

Talk to you all tomorrow.
PS I love you Ben and Ethan and miss you heaps.

Hugs,

Donna

Day 1 Of Safari - Babboon Rampage !

Well now we are down to the 10 of us.

Gail and Moses have gone to have a few days with their friend Jen who lives in Arusha and this morning we farewelled Ali and Craig. Our safari left at 7 am this morning, but they weren't getting picked up until around 10 am. They are going on a longer safari than the rest of us.

Today has been a great day. We are travelling in two open top safari vehicles. You can just stand up and put your head through the top and get a fantastic view of all the animals in their natural habitat. The safari is being run by Richard who is Gemma Sisia's husband, so it is great because we are helping the st. Judes school even more by using Richards company. He is a lovely man and very informative.

We saw giraffes, elephants, zebras, wilderbeast, water buffalo and babboons.

Speaking of Babboons, a funny thing happened when we stopped in a "safe" picnic area on the reserve. We were all sitting at a table eating our lunch when suddenly we saw a large babboon slowly walking towards us. He really looked quite harmless. Just then out of the blue he came absolutely charging at us with his teeth showing. People started running in all directions, but Mary was in the middle and could not get out of her seat. He jumped up on the table and grabbed all Ash and Daves lunch and then he was throwing everything off the table (meanwhile poor Mary is grasping her bag in horror as she waits for him to disappear or Brad to rescue her - where are you Brad??). The babboon seemed really cranky.

All of a sudden our guides realized what was happening and came running down throwing rocks to get rid of him and his other friends who had now gathered. Needless to say after that we quickly packed up and jumped back in the trucks.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out more animals in their natural environment and laughing about our rampaging babboon!! It was really really hot today.

We have arrived at our budget lodge for the night (which is far from budget - just lovely). Had an awesome meal and we are all about to hit the bed. We have another early start at 6.30 am tomorrow.

Love to all our family and friends - we all miss you heaps,

Donna

St. Judes School

Today was another fantastic day at St Judes.

After breakfast this morning we broke up into three groups. Each group was given an interpreter and jumped into a St Judes bus to go for a home visit.

Jude, Linda, Pete and Ruth went to visit one family, Craig, Ali, Ash and Dave went to visit another and Brad, Sharkie and I headed off to meet Raja and his family. Raja is one of the kids who is in the boarding room that I sponsor.

The family were so excited to see us and thanked us so many times for sponsoring Raja. They said the opportunity to go to St Judes will change the whole family's future. There was Raja, his 2 sisters and 2 brothers, his mum, dad and grandmother living in a two bedroom mud hut. They have absolutely nothing and are the happiest people.

After everyone got back from home visits we all went and had lunch with the secondary school kids. They were all very keen to ask us questions. Following our lunch of beans and rice we then went and sat in on a computer class. I sat with two lovely girls called Jacklyn and Queen. We had our Camp Quality shirts on and they were keen to know all about it. We then looked Camp Quality up on the net to show them where I worked.

After this we lazed around for a while and then got back in the bus to go to the boarding school to check that out and have dinner with them. Jacklyn from the computer class was there and asked if I could sit with her. She and her friends were so sweet and we had a great laugh. They said when we left their computer room they were showing everyone the Qamp Quality website - how cool is that! Camp Quality has reached the kids of Africa.

Tomorrow we leave for our first day of our safari. We are all excited about seeing the animals. We will still have one more day at St. Judes after the safari and before we leave for home.

Brad, Sharkie, Mary and I are sharing a small room together which is proving to be very interesting!!

Hugs,

Donna

Shanga and St Judes

Wow, what a great day we have had today. It was just what we all needed.

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and then were picked up by the St. Judes bus and went to a wonderful place called Shanga. It is a coffee plantation that has on it a building where people work who have severe disabilities and are unable to get any work and would otherwise starve.

They make beautiful things out of recycled materials and then sell them in the little shop on the premises. They also have a restaurant called the River Restaurant that has fantastic food.

Through the little bit of money they make from their products and restaurant they are able to be paid a wage and best of all they have self esteem and dignity. As they said to us, "rather than buying people fish, they teach them how to fish". It was an amazingly inspirational place.

What they are doing for these people is just amazing. They started with 3 disabled people two years ago and now employ 30 and are completely self funded.

After a great day at Shanga we headed to St. Judes and were met by Kate the visitor coordinator who showed us to our rooms. We then had a briefing about our time at the school. We had a lovely meal together and are now about to go to bed.

We are excited about tomorrows itinerary for St Judes. Everyone seems well rested now from the mountain and we are looking forward to the rest of our trip.

Until tomorrow,
Donna

Update from Off the Mountain

After everyone got back from the Summit and were fed, we were given a two hour break before we had to pack up again and walk to our next Camp where we were to stay the night.

Everyone was like zombies as we took up our hiking poles once again to make the next hike into the next camp. It was snowing hard and we were all just following each others footsteps until we reached Camp about 6 hours later.

Thank God for the fantastic porters who are always into Camp before you and have your tents set up. Everyone went into the mess tent to have a quick bite to eat and there wasn't much conversation at the dinner table - everyone was just exhausted. Straight from the dinner table we all went to bed. There wasn't a sound coming from our tents by 7.00 p.m.

We had to be up at 5.30 a.m. this morning to be packed up and ready for breakfast by 6.30 a.m. At 7.00 a.m. we started on our last hike down to the gate of where the mountain begins and where our bus would be waiting for us.

It took us around 4 hours and it was very muddy and seemed to take forever (probably just because we were all so exhausted). We couldn't believe it when the Gate was finally in our sights.
It was great to be met there by Ruth and Pete (who was looking much better).

After jumping onto our waiting mini bus, we were suddenly indated by the locals at our windows trying to sell us their trinkets. How funny was Mary - she just couldn't say no. She bought so much stuff from them including a hideous looking Giraffe mask.

We then took a bus ride for about 1.5 hours to get to the absolutely beautiful Mountain Lodge which is where we are now. Oh my goodness, that bath and real toilet were just amazing.

Everyone has had a rest and are now making their way down to the bar for our Celebration Dinner taking place around 7.00 p.m. tonight.

There are 9 of us on this trip who went and walked Kokoda in 2008 for the kids and without a doubt we all completely agree that this trip was mentally more draining by far. Physically the thin air would keep wearing you down and you mentally had to be strong all the time, willing yourself to the end of each day. If any doubt came into your head, then it just would not have happened.

Now we move into the next phase of our trip which is a couple of days at St. Judes School volunteering there and then our three day Safari - this will be the fun part where we can all enjoy a good laugh together.

I am not sorry I did the Mountain, but without a doubt it was so much more challenging than any of us ever expected. Moses made the comment that the Summit was at 5,895 metres and had it been at 5,896 (1 more metre) he would not have made it. He said he had used every single ounce of strength that was in him.

These 13 other trekkers have been my absolute inspiration. The bond we all share is amazing and if you have to be on the Mountain in these conditions, there is no-one you would rather have by your side. Camp Quality is extremely lucky to have such wonderful, amazing people who are willing to go so far for the kids. They all should be knighted !!

So I am off to enjoy our celebration dinner now with the rest of the gang. Thank you to all of you at home. Your love and support and comments on the blog got us all through. Stay tuned for more updates from St. Judes and our Safari so you can continue to be a part of our journey.

Happy Fathers Day for tomorrow to all our wonderful dads - hope you all have the best day.

Finally, a very special Thank You to Denis and Hanne - without you guys Mary and myself would not have been in the condition we were in and would not have been able to go as far as we did - we are indebted to you.

Until tomorrow,
Hugs,

Donna.

Summit Update 3 - Everyone is Safe

Beaker relaying message from Donna hot off the international wire service..........

Sharkie, Craig and Brad are back safely. They are like zombies and very emotional (as are we all) but we are feeding them up now and giving them a little rest before our next 5 hour walk. It is snowing really heavy now.

Donna.

Summit Update 2 - On Top of the World

Firstly, to all our loved ones, everyone is safe.

Not sure how to explain to you all back home exactly what summit night was like. We left camp at 11:30pm - we were at 4600 metres and we starting hiking up. It was very cold and as we were walking on ice, it got to a point where we couldn't feel our toes or fingers and they were really stinging.

There was no rest from the relentless climb and wind and all around you there is the sound of people throwing up as they try to push on a little further while fighting the altitude sickness. We even saw a young lady who was so bad that they had her wrapped in a thermal blanket and she was incoherent. I hope they got her to the bottom OK.

Dave and Ash got to about 4900 metres and had to turn back as they were just too sick. Ali was throwing up the whole way while fighting a killer headache but she decided to push on.

We broke into into 2 groups as some were quicker than others. So Moses, Gail, Linda and Jude took off in front of Mary, Ali, Craig, Brad, Sharkie and myself.

The higher you get the thinner the air gets and every step up sucks your energy. I started really getting sick around 5300 metres but soldiered on. By the time we reached 5500 metres I was just too sick. My chest was so tight, I was really nauseous, I had the worst headache and I was completely drained. I made the decision that I couldn't go on when the guide told us we still had at least another 3 hours before we would reach the summit.

As Gidian was taking me down the mountain and that left only one more guide, Ali and Mary made the hard decision that they would also come down as they were unsure if they could go on for the last 3 or so hours. Ali had been doing it tough for hours and Mary was totally drained (what an inspiration they both were).

As there was only one guide left with our group, Brad, Craig and Sharkie had to make an "all or nothing effort". If one of them got sick, they would all need to come down, otherwise they were all somehow going to get to the top.

So after 6 hours of hiking myself, Ali, Mary and Gidian turned around and made the long trip back to camp to meet up with Dave and Ash and wait for the others.

Linda, Jude, Moses and Gail all managed to reach the summit and got back to camp very weary at about 10am.

We are still waiting on Sharkie, Brad and Craig to get back to camp. Once everyone gets in we still have to do another 5 hour hike today to go to our next camp site as there is no food or water left here at the Camp we were in last night - the Porters have already moved to the next Camp, so we have no choice but to go there as well. I really hope we are up to it.

Thank you all for your support. I don't think anyone has let you down. We all climbed Kilimanjaro, just not all of us got to the summit. I will blog again once the last three boys get here safely.

Love Donna

Summit Update

Message from Donna via Beaker:

5 of us had to come down off the mountain because of severe sickness. 7 still trying to make the summit. More details to come - a horrendous night....

Donna.

One small step for Mankind - one giant step for Camp Quality

Beaker - your foreign correspondent reporting in for Donna once again:

Well here we are on Day 5.

Mary and I had an interesting night last night. Mary woke me at some stage during the night and said "hey Donna, it's raining". The rain only lasted for a couple of seconds though and on a closer look, we realised that it was not rain, but in fact one of the porters peeing on our tent!! I am sure it was accidental, he was probably half asleep and just didn't realise where he was aiming!! We laughed ourselves back to sleep ....

We left camp at 8:30am and have just arrived now at High Camp at 12 noon. Today we were walking through snow for the last 1/2 hour and it has become very cold. Soon we will have lunch, then we sleep until they wake us at 10pm tonight so that we are ready to leave camp to head to the summit.

They think it will take us about 10 hours. Everyone is feeling OK at the moment except for a few headaches. It is going to be a huge night.

Now is the time for all of you at home to will us to the top. Mentally, this trip has been harder than Kokoda on many days. Thank goodness we are with such an awesome group. They are all such amazing people.

We have 55 porters with us on this trip and they all carry all the gear on their heads. They are incredible. They go past with tables, gas bottles, tents, food etc all balanced on their heads.

Katie our guide from Chessell Adventures has been awesome and is really keeping morale up. Next time you hear from me it will hopefully to say that we have all reached the summit!

By the way Pete is doing fine now - he is back at the motel.

Hugs to you all,

Donna.

Almost on Top of the World

Beaker here again on behalf of Donna..........

Today we climbed up again and then we climbed down a little for tonights camp. It seems cruel to get us to climb up, then back down, knowing we will have to go back up again in the morning.
Apparently this helps us climatise by coming back down lower to sleep.

Insert Beakers Comments -

Oh, The climbers of Camp Quality,
They were a total of 12;
They hiked up to the top of a hill,
And hiked back down again.

And when they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only half-way up,
They were neither up nor down

Everyone seemed to cope well with the altitude today except for poor Ali who got a terrible headache and then threw up. She made it into camp, had a nice hot meal and is feeling heaps better now. Maybe it is our packed lunch making her feel unwell - we are not sure what we are eating - it looks like chicken but seems smaller and the guys have given it the name of "road kill". It has not been refrigerated at all but still seems to taste okay. Every meal around here involves eggs. You always get a boiled egg or too with your lunch box !!

Pete and Ruth have arrived down safely after about 7 hours and are safely in the hotel. (Beakers comments: "hopefully enjoying a nice relaxing spa")

Tomorrow is summit day and is going to be exhausting. We will hike up for about 5 hours then have something to eat and a little sleep before leaving for our attempt at the summit at 11pm that same night.

Mary has been our inspiration, she is just amazing. She has acquired the name of Princess Mary!! It started off as Princess Pain Away because of her Sponsor being Pain Away and has now been shortened to Princess Mary. The Porters have even gotten in on the fun and are calling her Princess Mary as they pass her on the track.

Mary has developed a great relationship with one the porters known as Mac. He has really taken her under his wing and tells her when to drink, stop, rest, walk and eat !!

Hugs,

Donna

News from the side of the Mountain

Beaker here again......

It is 8:00am on Day 4 and unfortunately Pete's condition has not improved overnight and he is going to be taken down by a couple of the porters today - it will take them about 9 hours. It was quite scary seeing the condition he was in, not recognising people and being so disorientated. Ruth has struggled with what to do. Part of her wants to go on because her and Pete made a pact that that is what they would do if one of them got sick, but of course the other part of her doesn't want to leave him and so after a restless night she has decided she is is going with him.

Jude will take their sponsors flags and the photo of Dan and Ben and one way or another either Jude or one of us will get them to the top.

We have all said our farewells to them this morning and are all somewhat deflated knowing their climbing attempt has had to come to an end. The rest of us are pressing on but are of course sad that they wont be joining us.

Donna. xx

The Next Step

Beaker here again on behalf of Donna as Mt. Kilimanjaro is not being tech friendly to our climbers as service and signal is very limited.

Today has been horrendous.....

We started hiking at 8:30am and got into camp at 5:30pm after only a 30 minute break. It seemed like it was never going to end.

We climbed to 4,600 metres and the altitude really played havoc with us all. Ash, Ali and in particular Pete were really sick and everyone had headaches. It feels like you have been hit by a mack truck. The air is so thin and you are exerting yourself so much as you climb.

It is so great that when you get into Camp of a night the porters have your tents set up and a bowl of water waiting for you to wash your face and hands. Pete stumbled into Camp in a complete daze and had to literally be carried to his tent. Katie has administered some medication to him as they think he is suffering from hyperthermia or altitude sickness. They are going to check on him throughout the night. We have all had dinner and are about to go to bed exhausted and nervous about whether we will have the energy to get through tomorrow!

What a great bunch of people I am with - everyone is helping each other and I am sure that will get us through.

By the way a very happy birthday to my beautiful sister Sharon and also to Oscar and Jarrod.

Until next time,

Donna Down