• mt-0273-home-slider-img1.png
  • mt-0273-home-slider-img2.png
  • mt-0273-home-slider-img3.png
  • mt-0273-home-slider-img4.png
  • mt-0273-home-slider-img5.png

Team Tumaini Letu

Team Members : Dan & Brain Coughlin

Projected Summit Date : June 9th, 2013

Route : Machame 7 Day

Home Town : Libertyville, IL

Climbing For : Mailisita Foundation

My son Brian and I enthusiastically accept the Mailisita Foundation’s Kilimanjaro Charity Challenge.   Well actually, Brian accepted the challenge more enthusiastically than I did since he is the crazy college kid and I am the “old man” with the bad knee and the beer belly.  Anyway, it should be quite an adventure.

Brian and Dan first traveled together to Tanzania 5 years ago.  Brian was about to enter his senior year of high school and they were looking for a memorable father/son trip where they could explore another culture and do some good for a few of the less fortunate in our world.   That summer they enjoyed a fascinating Safari and spent a week helping to build a school for orphaned and impoverished children.

Every summer since, members of the Coughlin family have returned to Mailisita, a village in Tanzania six miles outside the town of Moshi, with a group of large hearted Americans to work side by side with Tanzanians in support of building a school and a guest house.  They moved dirt, lifted cement blocks, painted walls and planted trees, all the while staring up at Mt. Kilimanjaro which looms large on the horizon.  They have made many friends at Mailisita while establishing the high quality primary school which currently has an enrollment of 280 orphaned and underprivileged children.

So following Brian’s graduation from Indiana University this summer, Brain and Dan will return once again to Tanzania, but this time to achieve another goal - they will climb the mountain while raising money for a good cause.  Before and after the climb they will have the privilege to rest their weary bodies at the Stella Maris Lodge which is immediately adjacent to the school and was also built by the Mailisita Foundation to provide an economic engine to fund the project.  The income from the Lodge goes exclusively to paying teachers salaries and for  food for the children who attend the school. 

"This has been an inspiring and very meaningful project to be affiliated with and I can’t wait to return to Mailisita this summer.  We need to continue the good work which has had such a positive impact on so many beautiful children."

The first $2,500 raised by Team Tumaini Letu will be matched dollar for dollar by  the Coughlin Family

100% of funds raised go directly to the Mailista Foundation​.  All travel and climb expenses have been paid for by the Climbers of  Team Tumaini Letu.

Trek : Mt. Kilimanjaro
Route : Machame
Climb Duration : 7 Days
Climb Length : 37 Miles
Max Altitude : 19,341 Ft.
Coldest Temp : - 8 F