Youngest Summit of Kilimanjaro

Sorry for no updates, but the net hasn't worked but once in two weeks. Keats made the summit January 21 at 3:45 pm in freezing rain, sleet and snow. He was amazing - he wouldn't be stopped it was a 14-hour day for the little guy. Several times his guide and I told him to go down but he kept saying "up, up." I kid you not.

On the 5th night on the mountain we had 70-mph winds and below zero temperature. Two tents from another group were blown completely off the mountain that night. The screams were horrible - fortunately everyone made it out of the tents before they blew away.

We won't be back for 10 days or so.

It was a hell of a thing.

Kindest regards,


Bryan Boyd

Updates

We are sorry we haven't posted updates so far. But where we are the Internet is unreliable and painfully slow. Just writing this has taken 30-minutes to secure access. We will do our best to update once we get a chance.

So far the trip has gone well except for a small issue with customs and our camera gear - think small heart attack. But all is well, our Thomson guide Robert Chama made things "no problem man." The poverty here is inexcapable yet they seem to have secrets to happiness that elude many in the US. I have to say the next time I hear someone say, money doesn't matter I'm going to have to tell them they have no idea what they are talking about.

Keats went to the Monduli schools two days ago and spent the day with the kids. None of them had ever seen a Westerner so it was an interesting day. The Head of School wrote Keats a sweet speech about what he was doing. When we return we will post it and some pics. Between Keats and I we must have had 2,000 children (seriously that is a real number) touch our hair. The Masaai are shy but friendly people so we hope we left a good impression. Hundreds of children swarmed Keats as if he were famous. I must have had several hundred grab my hands and pull my hands to thier cheeks so they could feel my skin.

The children were so nice and welcoming of Keats that I cried like a baby at one point. It was, and is, too emotional for words. More later my connection is faltering.

We climb on the 15th with much love and support here. The Tanzanians are so happy Keats is doing this for them that they can't do enough to help us. They are too kind. You remember what it means to be human here.

Thanks for reading,

Keats' dad

Street Fair Delivers The Donations

We haven't had a chance to thank everyone who helped but here's a start:

Thanks to Rick and Justin; Holly, Parker and Grace; Rich; Dennis; Brian and Jack; George and Hrag; Vic, Sandra, Sevag and Nyra; Seth, Marcia, Michael and Katie; Geoff; Kira, Tom and Ava; and we will add more names in a day or so.

You can't see the top of the tent but we were flying the Tanzanian flag - thanks to Rick it looked very cool.

Here are some pics from the fair:

Banner and Postcards

Here is the front of one of our postcards, it is also our 6' X 10' banner for the street fair:

This is the front of our other postcard:

Both postcards share the same back:

Sherman Oaks Street Fair Sunday, October 21st

We are going to have a booth at the Sherman Oaks Street Fair on Sunday, October 21st. It will be very cool. We'll have wristbands, information on the climb and a surprise for any one who visits. We are in Booth 336 by Cedros (North). Please come by and say "hi." I'll be there all day from 10am to 6pm.

We'll also have information on Roots & Shoots and Kids of Kilimanjaro.

Kids of Kilimanjaro

My mom and dad drove me to Newport to meet with George Namkung the head of Kids of Kilimanjaro. He has climbed Kilimanjaro. He showed me slides of his climb and we talked about how hard it is to do. He has a desk with fish in it. Here's a video of him talking about Kids of Kilimanjaro. He was very nice.

Jane Goodall pics

Keats and Jane Goodall

Jane Goodall in back, from left to right Tommy, Keats and Hrag

New Logos

Hrag's dad, George, created new logos for the climb. They are really cool. Here's one:

Jane Goodall

I met Jane Goodall at breakfast today at her hotel with my friends Tommy and Hrag and their dads. She said I hope you have good luck on Kilimanjaro and I hope you climb it. She wrote in my book, “Together we can change the world.” It would be awesome if we could change the world...

Jane Goodall was very happy about her wristbands. I think we will help her save people and animals around the world.

Dr. Goodall looks just like her photos in her books. She gave me hugs and she loves chimpanzees and other animals. She gave me advice about climbing the volcano, “if you train a lot and you can’t handle the altitude you won’t make it to the top. A young boy might not make it, but an old lady might because of the altitude.”

She signed a book for my teacher Mrs. Arul in science lab. She also signed books for my school, my friends and me.

I got lots of information on what she’s doing

She told me that I can’t go to Gombe and see the chimpanzees until I’m 12 or older because they are five-times stronger than us and they could hurt someone younger than 12-years old very badly.

She showed me Mr. H, her stuffed chimpanzee. It was sooo cute. I really want to get one, if my dad will order one for me.

The Vice President of the Jane Goodall Institute, Mary, was real happy about getting wristbands and helping us with Climb A Volcano. Stephen, from Washington DC really liked his wristbands and we enjoyed talking to him and to Mary.

We’ve still got lots of work to do and in December, when we climb the mountain we’re going to be happy. Are you going to be happy by helping us help children at schools to get lunches and by helping animals with Jane Goodall?

PS When Mary told Tommy's dad, Arnie, that chimpanzees are five-times as strong as he is, he said, "You haven't seen me with my shirt off." And if we're lucky we'll never see Tommy's dad with his shirt off.

Kids Of Kilimanjaro

We're starting to work with Kids of Kilimanjaro and they are going to be one of our charities and I think they'll work with us really well.

They feed kids lunches at schools in Tanzania in Africa. Most of the kids can't afford lunches, so Kids of Kili gets them lunches so they can go to school AND eat. Because if you didn't have a lunch, you couldn't go to school.

And their logo looks awesome.

Summer break

We're taking a break for part of the Summer so that people don't lose interest in what we are doing. We will start back at the beginning of school.

Fundraiser Tonight

We just had our first fundraiser, we'll post photos tomorrow. It was a success we raised over $600 with more promised on the way!

New Videos Added

We added two new video links to the web today. If you didn't see them, here they are:

How NOT to recruit for our expedition: Video

National Geographic on Kilimanjaro: Video

New Books

These are some new books I got that I realy like and they are about planning expeditions. These are important for the climb. We are working very hard to prepare for Kilimanjaro. These are really helpful to me for Climb A Volcano, there are tips about what to carry and how to be safe. I like these books because they have really cool pictures and my Dad's going to do the reading because there are some words I don't know.

LA Frite

La Frite was fun I had lots of good food and I really liked the hamburger and especially I liked the ice cream I had. I made a new friend, she is named Nickie and I like her. Nickie introduced me to some people I didn't know and they were really excited about Climb A Volcano. Nickie's little boy has the same middle name as I do. That is pretty cool. Maybe I'll meet him one day.

Christmas reading

I really like this Kilimanjaro book. It really has lots of beautiful pictures and it is really big. I got it for Christmas. I like it. I especially like the elephants on the back. I also got lots of maps of Tanzania and Kilimanjaro.


I like the animals. We are going to see the animals while we are in Africa.

We are especially going to see the giraffes because we are going to try and stay at Girrafe Manor. Here is a picture of it. The giraffes stick their heads through the windows when it is breakfast time. I don't know if they try to eat off your your plates - I would just move it away wouldn't you? I think they eat something different anyway.

More wristbands with Lisa, Sevag, Nayra and Ava

My friend Lisa from school got a wristband and I think that she is cool! I don't have a picture of her here but if I could I would have a picture. Thank you Lisa for buying a wristband.

My friend Sevag and Nayra are cool too. They bought five wristband!!!!! This is Sevag's picture (left), I don't have a picture of Nayra but I wish I had one. Sevag and Nayra are both great soccer players and they both got their first trophies. Thank you for buying five wristbands and helping me help sick people - the money could really help save someones life. Thanks for being my friends.

My cousin Ava (below) bought five wristbands!!!!! I think Ava is cool. We went to see Happy Feet together it was great and it was funny. There were penguins and leopard seals and elephant seals, there are no penguins or seals on Kilimanjaro even though there is snow and ice. But there is snow.

Look what I found

My dad found these photos of me in New York and I was climbing this big rock. This was good practice for Kilimanjaro. And it was lots of fun!

My mom was really scared when she saw these photos of me rock climbing. I was just a little scared of falling. My Dad was at the bottom and he was keeping an eye on me. I don't think my Dad could have caught me if I fell. That's a long way down. I want to climb the rocks again. My Dad didn't climb because he thought it was too hard. I hope I don't have to carry him up Kilimanjaro.

Look At Tommy's Wrist!!!

This is my friend Tommy and he is good at soccer and he has a wristband. This is him in his soccer uniform and I am on his team. Our team name is the Red Dragons. Tommy's dad is helping me with Climb A Volcano. Isn't it cool that our wristbands are red with white writing and our sign is white with red writing. Tommy is wearing his wristband in the picture.

Jennifer from Friends of The Global Fight talked to my dad on the phone and she is going to get us somebody to talk to in Geneva. That's in Switzerland.

A couple of my friends, Charlie and Dillon, like to go on the computer at school and we go on the website to Storybook Weaver and make pictures of Kilimanjaro. At school Dillon and Charlie say going to Africa is "going to be so cool!"

Contact Cards

These business cards are really cool. I like them because it says the website and the address and it says "Help Keats Climb Kilimanjaro." They look like they have the wristband on them. It says on them that you can go www.climbavolcano.org.

My friend, Sevag, was over here yesterday and he asked if he can have a wristband. I hope his mom lets him have one.