Raindrops keep falling on our heads..tents..clothes...

Ok, two things:

Anna's daughter, Happiness

1. Who's idea was it to camp in tents during rainy season in a rainforest setting on Kilimanjaro?

2. Who decided that cold outdoor showers were appropriate?

This is generally how everyone is feeling. Until now everyone has been staying positive, even when sleeping in puddles, but now we are finding it increasingly difficult to find that positivity when all of our clothes are wet (not just damp) and we are developing trench foot!

On a happier note, today we spent our first day with the Mamas. I was with a Mama called Anna and her daughter,Happiness. Everyone else was also allocated a Mama or a family to spend the day with.

I have to say it was the hardest day's work I have ever done. These women do this day-in-day-out, and the feeling you get is that everything they do is purely to survive, every job is for a purpose and it all revolves around getting food on the table.

I started the day by walking about two miles to Anna's home. At this point she has already been up since 6am, cleaned the house, walked to our campsite, cooked our breakfast and washed up after us. When we arrived back at Anna's, I met her daughter and they showed me around their land and all their animals. I get the feeling that Anna and her family are quite well-off around here, she has her own house on her uncle's land and her father also lives here too.

Next we cut the grass for the cows using a small machete. Anna makes this look incredibly easy, but let me tell you, this is not easy! It is back breaking and very strenuous!

I next learned how to tie up the grass into bundles using banana leaves and sugar cane strings and carry it on my head. This was another tricky task and my bundle of grass was three times smaller than Anna's!

We cooked dinner next and this took about two hours from start to finish. I have to say though, it was pretty yummy!

The rest of the gang had varying experiences and enjoyed it but were all exhausted by the end of the day. Tomorrow is our second day with them so let's see what we get up to!