Disappointment

It is with a heavy heart that I am writing to let you know that I will not be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro this summer. I was supposed to fly into Nairobi, Kenya and drive to Tanzania; from there where we would start our climb.

Unfortunately, Nairobi has been victim to two series of terrorist bombings in the last two weeks and a travel warning has, again, been placed on Kenya. The US government is looking to reduce and pull out some of our Embassy members there as well. Because of these recent events, our climb will be cancelled. At this point, I would like to donate all contributions to Camp Tecumseh camp scholarships.

I want to sincerely thank all of you for your excitement, encouragement, and believing in me.  Please see links below if you would like to read more about the happenings in Kenya.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/04/kenya-bus-bombing-nairobi-thika-highway

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27443474

http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/kenya-travel-warning.html

Vaccinations

So, you have to get the Yellow Fever vaccination to go to Africa. Who would have thought that that vaccination would be hard to find in Northwest Indiana? Apparently, a lot of people here go to Africa. Huh. Again, a learning experience. Not everywhere carries the Yellow Fever vaccination, and those that do are allotted 20 ever 120 days. I've been searching for it since January with no luck, so when the Lake County Health Department told me they have a few now, I rushed over. Those of you that know me know that needles are my biggest fear in life (not climbing mountains :), so when they told me that I needed to get Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Polio, Meningitis, Hepatitis A, and Hepatitis B, I started sweating. The room started spinning when they told me what would happen if I didn't get each vaccination and caught each various disease. Yikes! Well, six vaccinations later and two sore arms, I'm really ready now!