Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
In early September I climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa (5,895m), in order to both increase awareness of the financial problems faced by Ukrainian orphanages and to raise money to provide basic supplies for the Kryvyi Rih Orphanage.
Of ’s 9 million children, over 65,000 live in state-run institutions. Having been abandoned by their parents primarily due to poverty and alcohol/drug abuse, these poor children face further hardship living in under-funded orphanages which lack basic supplies.
The Kryvyi Rih Orphanage I have chosen to sponsor is home to 100 children, aged zero to four years old. What little money the orphanage has is spent on providing these children with medical and psychological support, often at the expense of basic supplies such as furniture, nappies and other items of personal hygiene.
The children of Kryvyi Rih Orphanage would be grateful if you could find it in your hearts to support me in raising £3,000 to purchase beds, nappies and a boiler. These orphans are born into mental and emotional hardship we couldn’t even imagine. Each contribution will bring these children closer to a basic standard of living that we are lucky to take for granted.
Thank you in advance for your support.
P.S. I have attached some further information regarding the current needs of the orphanage and .
Best regards,
Konstantin
APPENDICES
1. Current needs of the orphanage
- nappies
- 60 beds
- replacement of windows
- maintenance work (fixing the leaking roof)
- boiler
More information about Ukrainian Orphanages can be found on:
http://www.detdom.info/cm/en
http://www.unicef.org/ukraine/
2. Charity
Ukraine Charity, which helps me with this project, is a small and relatively young organisation run exclusively by volunteers to support charitable causes in . So far, the Charity’s project involved financing and managing repair works in Lviv’s orphanage, purchase of medical equipment and medications. Ukraine Charity does not employ any staff and has minimal overheads, which ensures that your donations have maximum impact on their intended use.
More information can be found on http://www.ukrainecharity.org.uk/
3. Information about Kilimanjaro:
Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa, the highest free-standing mountain in the world, and one of the largest volcanoes ever to break through the earth's crust. Seen from a distance it looks as though it is sitting on the clouds. Although only three degrees south of the equator, glaciers and snow cover its peak. Almost four miles high, it can be seen on a clear day from more than one hundred miles away. And this is not all: within its one great ecosystem lies almost every kind of environment found on earth. In the space of a few days I passed, as it were, from the equator to the : through tropical rain forest, Alpine meadows, moorland, desert uplands, to snow and ice. One can trace the grand process of evolution in reverse: from the animals of the forest to the first stirrings of bacterial life on the summit.
4. Information about my climb and training
Sitting on a sofa it might seem that this adventure is not a difficult one. However, having climbed it I understand why the statistics is so poor - out of 25,000 people that attempt to climb Kilimanjaro only 40% make it and 15-16 people die every year.
The climb was the most difficult thing I have done in my life. This was due to the fact that I suffered from altitude sickness after 5,000m which made my ascent very painful and arduous. The symptoms of the sickness were severe headache, nausea, fatigue and shortness of breath.
In 6 days I covered 87km and reached (5,895m). On the summit night the ascent started at 00:30 and lasted for 7 hours. Most part of it could be described as a nightmare due to cold (-10C), wind and pain from altitude sickness.
It would be interesting to note that R. Abramovich attempted to climb Kilimanjaro using the same route as I did only 3 days after me and failed to reach the summit due to altitude sickness.
You can find the details of my route on http://www.climbingkilimanjaro.com/lemosho.htm
5. Donating
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
