On Friday 11th September I will be flying to Tanzania to take on the biggest challenge of my life so far - climbing Mt Kilimanjaro!
Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa at 19,340 ft, the 4th highest of the seven summits, and believed to be the tallest freestanding mountain in the world.
The fastest verified ascent of Kilimanjaro was made by an Italian who climbed in 5 hours 38 minutes. The fastest round-trip time was achieved by a lcoal guide who ran up and down the mountain on December 26th 2004 in 8 hours and 27 minutes. Despite my fairly intense training programme (!) I will be taking a slightly more leisurely pace and will be completing in a week.........!
I am completing the trip as a personal challenge, however I felt it a good opportunity to try to raise some money for one of the many well deserving charities within Africa.
Following a recent trip across East Africa in 2008 I was deeply affected by the number of street children I saw, particularly in Kenya.
It is estimated that there are about 250,000 street children in Kenya with over 60,000 in Nairobi. Some are second or third generation street children. The number of children on the streets is still increasing.
Vision Africa is a UK based children's charity working with orphaned and destitute children in Kenya.
Please help me to raise some much needed funds to help improve the lives of these children.
Thanks in advance,
Melanie
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 UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
