Pole pole (pronounced poh-lay, poh-lay), means slowly, slowly. These words are the heartbeat of my dream to climb Kilimanjaro. My dad climbed Kilimanjaro in 1948 and used these words every time he spoke to me of his climb. He said, “Follow the pace of the guide, pole pole; slowly, slowly and you will make it to the top.”

Pole pole for me is not only the pace set on the mountain but how my dream was instilled in my heart…beating slowly, slowly over a lifetime until at age fifty, I heard my dad speak the words, “Sandy, you can climb Kilimanjaro, you can make it to the top. Follow the guide, pole pole, slowly, slowly.”

Come follow my father’s footprints as he climbed Kilimanjaro in 1948. Come follow me as my dream, God’s calling me, went from hesitation to reality to put my own footprints, pole pole, on top of Kilimanjaro in 2013.

Read for yourself as I dared to dream, dared to climb—not just any mountain—but Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, East Africa. Kilimanjaro is the highest, free-standing mountain on the African continent, standing at 19,341 ft. high.

Discover for yourself from where this dream came. Find out what the climb was like. I was changed as I dared to dream, to struggle, to find a way to climb Kilimanjaro. And, yes, I saw God on the mountain.

God “stirred the pot” many times by calling me throughout my life to come see and climb her. What a journey it was leaving my footprints on Kilimanjaro! Pole pole, the journey begins.