First Ascent African Update

Posted in Blogroll - by snapdragon, on 02/12/2010

Hello,
Wanted to let you all know that the latest blog post from the Great Lakes kayaking expedition is up on the Outside Magazine blog. 

 http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/2010/11/kayaking-africa-the-great-lakes-of-the-congo.html

The past 6 weeks have gone by in a flash, and it is hard to believe that we our finally on the door step of our big goal: a 200 mile first descent of the Lukuga River out of Lake Tanganyika and another 600 miles north into the Congo Basin in the Demorcratic Republic of Congo.  I guess it is no surprise that we are finding local administrators hard pressed to endorse a journey that they are pretty sure seems impossible. It may very well have been impossible were it not for the efforts and string of safe havens that we will be moving through courtesy of the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

Using the river as our highway, we will be able to visit and learn about the extremely remote communities along the way. Many of these communities are partnering with the IRC to develop water and sanitation infrastructure, education, health care, and good governance  all at the request and initiation of the local community members.  We have already learned that one of the major challenges to these communities today comes in the form of a substantial Cholera out brake that can be directly attributed to the lack of clean drinking water and basic health care. 

More soon, and thank you so much for all of your support,

Benjamin Stookesberry

Chris Korbulic

and

Hendri Coetzee