Another Successful Kili Climb!

If you found this post through the QR code at the Kiswahili Day event in Chicago, karibu!

Tanzania Development Support (TDS) is a nonprofit  investing in community-identified educational improvements for youth, especially girls, in the rural Mara region of Tanzania. Founded 18 years ago,, we've built trust-based partnerships with schools, teachers, and community leaders in the region. Our programs include the 4H Career Pathways Program (4HCP), which puts water tanks, computer labs, and school gardens into rural schools; the Rose and Karl Willmann Scholarship Fund, which keeps academically gifted girls in high-performing secondary schools; the Library and Community Resource Center (LCRC) in Nyegina, which serves thousands of learners across the region; and infrastructure work that this spring connected running water to Etaro Secondary School for the first time.

A key fundraiser is when TDS volunteers climb Mount Kilimanjaro, collecting donations for our projects. This June, eight American climbers (Andrea and Scott Trudeau, Eric Hill, Solonge Robinson, Christine Hill, Hanna and Bentley Martin, and Josh Hocherl) joined Tanzanian teacher John Kuboja and two students from the 4H Career Pathways program on the trail.

Together, the group reached Uhuru Peak at 19,341 feet with the TDS flag.

Before the ascent, the group's lead guide Andrew told them something Solonge Robinson says will stay with her forever: "The mountain has to let you in." Their planned evening start had to be pushed to the next morning because of delays the mountain imposed. When they finally set foot on the trail in daylight, they walked through the rainforest, woke the next day at Simba Farm Lodge with Mount Meru visible in the distance, and, in Solonge's words, "saw the beauty of the rainforest, the dry lands, the glaciers and the skies above the clouds."

After the climb, the team visited the schools their fundraising supports. Andrea Trudeau, a TDS board member, wrote about what she saw:

"In spending over a week with students who benefit from TDS, it is abundantly clear how TDS provides opportunities for children that change lives. The students' confidence, joy, gratitude, and grit were consistently evident throughout the climb — the kind of qualities that build a bright future for Tanzanian youth."

Eric Hill, on his second Kili climb for TDS, met one of the Willmann Scholars we sponsor in the school library:

"I was so pleased to be in the library and meet the Willmann Scholar we sponsor, Rosemary, along with her mother. Knowing that Rosemary is able to focus on her education and work towards her ambitions because of TDS programs really makes me feel proud to support her and be involved with TDS."

Solonge Robinson toured 4H gardens at two schools. At the first, the girls had been watering by hand, hauling buckets from a small pond at either end of an expansive plot. Solonge pulled out her phone and showed them a video of her own son watering their community garden in Chicago with a hose. In her words:

"They smiled and laughed, but also said that is what they needed — they needed a watering hose to help water their crops."

When she visited Etaro Secondary, a watering hose was already in place thanks to earlier TDS-funded work. The children there weren't hauling buckets. They were learning.

The 2026 Kili Climb campaign has raised $18,515 from 114 supporters. We're $1,485 short of $20,000. Please consider helping us close that gap by giving directly on the John Kuboja and Students team page. Every $25 puts real supplies in a real classroom in the Mara region.

If you'd like to meet us in person, we'll be at Africafest in Madison on August 15. Come by our table.

Hongera sana to the all of this year's climbers! And thank you for spending a few minutes here today learning about our mission. Asante sana.