To our extraordinary AKHRI family,

Our dedicated hikers took on Mount Kenya this year during the dry season, when heat blankets most of the country. But the mountain runs by its own rules: even now, snow and freezing temperatures wait near the summit, making the preparation for such a journey even more difficult.

Mount Kenya sits in the country’s central highlands, roughly 150km north of Nairobi and almost directly on the equator. As an extinct volcano, formed nearly 3 million years ago, the mountain is a reminder that even amid change, persistence can leave a legacy long after we're gone.

In fact, the name Kenya originally comes from the mountain, where the Kikuyu people who lived around it referred to it as Kirinyaga or Kerenyaga meaning mountain of whiteness because of its snow capped peak. The name "Kenya" itself came from the British struggling to pronounce Kirinyaga. It's a small reminder of how easily meaning gets lost or reshaped in translation, which is, in its own way, close to the heart of what AKHRI does: making sure literacy and language stay in reach, for communities here and abroad.

Thanks to this climb and the generosity of our donors, over 117 women and girls will graduate this year with real-world tools for success, including sewing machines to start their own businesses. With these new funds, AKHRI can keep opening doors: opportunities and futures for young women and girls to shape their own lives and give back to the world around them.

Your support does more than mark a graduation for so many women, it gives them the tools to put their literacy to work. A sewing machine, a small business, and many other outlets to create a steady income are the building blocks of independence that graduates carry long after the ceremony ends. We're grateful to everyone who made this climb, and this year's graduating class, possible.

This year’s hikers were Yasin, Emeric, Michael, Tia, Kin, and Toby, joined on the mountain by Yasin’s father. Most found their way to AKHRI through each other: Yasin climbed Kilimanjaro with AKHRI last year before bringing friends and family along for Mount Kenya, Michael, originally from Ottawa, had wanted in since he first heard about the Kilimanjaro trip, and Kin has been part of AKHRI since the very beginning, watching the program grow from the ground up.

The climb built gradually, each day’s hike a little longer than the last to help the group acclimatize. Day one alone covered nine kilometres to base camp, with zebras, birds, and even a buffalo along the way.

All of that built toward Summit Day. The group woke at 12:50am and set out by 2:30, hiking through the dark for roughly seven and a half hours before reaching the mountain’s 4,985m summit at around 8:00am. The final approach called for scrambling more than walking, including a stretch where hikers held onto a fixed metal cable, the highest via ferrata in the entire world.

Still, the summit is only half the journey, and many of the hikers actually felt more challenged on the trip down, testing both their endurance and balance. Many felt as though the rising sun made the descent even harder, as the melting snow and sharp rocks made for difficult footing.

None of this would have been possible without the guides and porters, who carried the gear, checked in on the group constantly, and by every account made the whole thing happen. Special thanks to the whole team and the supporting groups of families and more who believed and supported the hikers the whole way.

If you would like to see the whole podcast with each of the hikers and more details of their journey, take a look at either of the parts on our YouTube channel below:

This climb reflects the perseverance of our members and the lengths they'll go to support a cause they believe in. If you'd like to get involved in projects like this, or help move our initiatives forward, click the button below or sign up on our website: https://akhri.org/.