June Trip Dates - NL #10
January 21, 2025
Hi everyone,
Hope you had a lovely weekend.
Our pilot project trip in June is picking up steam! We’ve gotten lots of interest, and haven’t even told the world yet. Read on for dates…
Dr. Ivory (who henceforth will be called Sarah!), Dr. Bob Nakileza, Morgan, and I met to discuss research opportunities for students alongside helping plant trees.
Pauli delivered Ski Club Uganda’s first public presentation, speaking at the Brown Bag Lunch Group, a networking event for European executives in IT, Health, & Defense. It was a hit! Went extra long as the audience asked many questions.
…If anybody else is looking for engaging speakers to fill events, please reach out!
I met with John Hunwick from RTS and his team (Brian, Remmy) to discuss some preliminary logistics for the trip.
RTS can handle transport from the airport to Kilembe, our lodging in Kilembe, our trek up the mountains, transport back to the airport, …and for those looking to add extra adventures, they can organize safaris or trips to see the gorillas.
RTS will be our partner for everything logistics. Makes things easy.
Best dates: June 15th - July 5th.
Americans need to factor in 2 extra travel days each way, Europeans only 1.
What that means:
- Americans would want to leave Friday, June 13th. Return around Sunday or Monday July 6-7th.
- Europeans can leave Saturday, June 14th, and arrive home July 6th.
Why those dates?
It’s immediately after the flood season in May, giving our new bamboo the longest time to grow and become strong before the next flood season. They are to protect the riverbanks from eroding and swallowing houses in the flood seasons.
Those dates let us take advantage of weekends for travel, so us working people can minimize time off from work… (and avoid getting fired!)
Sarah is also on sabbatical this summer, and Brolin’s event schedule clears up in the summer.
(left) Carnage left by the floods last year
So… we’ll go for those dates!
That gives us 8 days of tree planting, and another 8 day mountain trek to ski.
We also don’t expect that everyone interested can make the entire trip. Some may want to come for just the tree planting, or just the skiing, or just the last three days of planting and skiing.
That’s ok.
If you can’t make the entirety… don’t be discouraged. You’re invited and you’ll add to the fun.
This will be an experience. There will be interesting people, all getting together to actually do good. And actually ski the last glacier. Because it’s awesome.
And the community is very excited about us coming. There are talks of hosting a debate in the schools on the benefits of planting trees, as well as creating a play to perform with the community.
Quick reminder, why are we doing this?
Because as a non-profit we actually have to go do good.
And we’re thinking long-term:
With this trip, we lay a foundation for future voluntourism. Volunteers paying extra for the experience of staying in Kilembe, planting trees, and potentially skiing - where that money goes back to fund ongoing tree planting.
The media attention we’ll attract can boost the story as it spreads to the world.
For those interested, we’ll have an information call on Feb 1st at 10am EST, where we go through itinerary, costs, check-lists, flights, activities… everything. Link to the meeting is here (click on Feb 1 at 10am EST)
Lastly, we have good news on donations!
My brother, Felix Knollmann, as well as Elisabeth Purtscher, both contributed to Ski Club Uganda. Their contributions help us store our media in the cloud for 5 months, and this makes a big difference!
I also won 40 euros at a casino… and what did I do? I donated them to Ski Club Uganda.
If you find yourself in similar good fortune, and have considered donating in the past, please donate today!
We’ll keep you updated on all things Ski Club Uganda,
Florian Knollmann
Ski Club Uganda ‘24
Old tree husks in the heather zone
