Today’s an exciting day — my sister and I will fly from Nairobi, Kenya to Moshi, Tanzania. It’s a short, expensive flight (35 minutes, $167) and many travelers prefer a much cheaper day-long bus ride between these cities, but since we will begin hiking Kilimanjaro the following day we don’t want there to be any hiccups like a flat tire. So we splurge for the flight.

I think that’s Mt. Meru in the distance below. We also get a glimpse of Kilimanjaro poking out above the clouds, but I’m sitting on the wrong side of the plane to get a photo. Isn’t it crazy to see a peak from the air — not far from cruising altitude! — and think, “Hey, we’re going to summit that in a week”?

Bethany poses after we disembark from the plane.

Kilimanjaro has its own airport, right near the city of Moshi, Tanzania. U.S. tourists pay $100 for a visa on arrival while citizens of most other countries only pay $50 (granted ours is for 90 days and theirs is for 30, but still that’s a hefty price difference… and most tourists will stay less than 30 days anyway).

We’re staying at the Springlands Hotel just outside of downtown Moshi. It’s the base hotel for Zara Tours, the company we’ve chosen to lead our Kilimanjaro trek. It’s a relaxing place and they run frequent buses into town ($1 per person each way) so it’s easy to go to the store or eat out, although there is a restaurant on site too.

Bethany and I take a taxi to Good Hope school a few miles away — one of my co-workers from Young & Restless introduced me to her friend Jen, who is a long-term volunteer here and very kindly invites us to visit the school. We are thrilled to be here.

We spend an hour or so in the classroom with around 25 kids between the ages of 12-20. THEY ARE AWESOME. I can see why Jen so swiftly fell in love with these students; she’s on her second volunteer stint here. The kids introduce themselves and say a little about them; Bethany and I talk about our jobs working in television. The students have been practicing scenes from the Wizard of Oz and they perform a song for us which, for the record, is one of my favorite moments ever — a roomful of delightful African students singing show tunes for me and Beth. So cool. We brought them lollipops to thank them for welcoming us so warmly (and now I have the Lollipop Guild song stuck in my head).

These kids come from all over the area and some walk up to two hours EACH WAY to get here, often without breakfast. They deal with a lot of heavy issues as AIDS is prevalent in the community. The school is available for anyone who wants to attend. Most of the kids either did not test well enough to get into the government-run school or circumstances have prevented them from attending, so this is a welcome alternative. The kids are divided into two groups for lessons, not based on age but rather their curriculum level and how well they speak English. Teachers are volunteers from around the world. The school itself is run by a group of dedicated local mothers.

Please drink in the awesomeness that is this group of students:

My sister snapped the following three photos of me — thanks, Beth!

Here is Jen, who so kindly invited us to visit the Good Hope school:

And a special shout-out to my co-worker Nancy for introducing us!

After school lets out, we jump on a dala-dala, which is like the matatu mini-vans I took in Kenya (local vans that run along regular routes for a small fare; they cram in as many people as possible). We go to the Kilimanjaro Coffee Lounge in the center of Moshi; the food is excellent and I actually return a week later for my “reward meal” post-Kilimanjaro.

If you’d like to support the Good Hope school, feel free to donate here. They do really incredible work and we saw first-hand how these children are reaping the benefits of education — they are bright, engaged, friendly, and grateful to be a part of the Good Hope community. Beth and I are grateful ourselves, that we got a glimpse at this very special program.

Next up: tales from hiking Kilimanjaro.