Hi, we’re Lisa Lawson and Sinini Molife, thanks for taking the time out of your day to read our page.

 

We’re 2 friends from Canterbury in Kent. We became friends at the age of 6 and have decided to mark the fact that we have been best friends for 20 years by: -

ü       Finding a challenge that was worthy for the occasion.

ü       Finding something that wasn’t going to be easy, and was going to push us both to our physical and mental limits

But most importantly we wanted to…

 

ü       Find an activity that involved raising money for a worthy cause.

 

After coming up with various ideas and suggestions, we ruled out many and decided on tackling the ultimate challenge of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa, on the 17th -27th January 2013. to raise money for a charity that we hold close to our hearts, The Alzheimers Society.

 

The Mountain

 

• Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa and fourth highest of the Seven Summits, is considered the tallest freestanding mountain in the world, rising 15,100 feet (4,600 meters) from base to summit.   

 

• Kilimanjaro has 2.2 square kilometers of glacial ice and is losing it quickly due to global warming. The glaciers have shrunk 82% since 1912 and declined 33% since 1989. It may be ice free within 20 years, dramatically affecting local drinking water, crop irrigation, and hydroelectric power.

 

• Kilimanjaro has five common routes to its highest summit: Marangu Route; Machame Route; Rongai Route; Lemosho Route; and Mweka Route. Machame and Lemosho routes are popular and scenic. Marangu is easiest and busy although the last ascent to the crater rim is difficult.  

 

• Kilimanjaro is not a peak you can climb on your own. It is mandatory to climb with a licensed guide and have porters carry your equipment. This sustains the local economy and allows local people to reap rewards of tourism. 

 

• Every year, approximately 1,000 people are evacuated from the mountain, and approximately 10 deaths are reported. The main cause of death is altitude sickness. Everyone climbing Mount Kilimanjaro should be familiar with the symptoms of altitude sickness.  

 

We decided on this challenge as we felt that it gave us both the greatest opportunity to raise loads of money for our chosen charity, which is where you come in….

 

The Charity

 

Our Chosen Charity is The Alzhiemers Society.

 

The Alzheimer's Society charity does amazing work in helping & supporting people that have this illness and varying other forms of dementia all of which are awful degenerative dieseases that affect the memory.

 

Alzheimer's and dementia are heart breaking diseases that not only affect the person that has the illness, but it really does have a massive emotional, draining and stressful impact on loved ones close to the sufferer. 

 

We have experienced this emotional drain and stress first hand and wanted to scale Mount Kilamanjaro as a tribute to the people that we know who have suffered both directly and indirectly from Alzheimers and Dementia.

 

The Facts and Figures

 

• There are about 800,000 people in the UK who suffer from Dementia.

 

• Dementia mainly affects people over the age of 65 and the likelihood increases with age. However, it can affect younger people: there are over 17,000 people in the UK under the age of 65 who have dementia.  

 

• Every pound we raise will help to support people affected by dementia so we really need all your help please, here are just some of the ways your money will help:

 

• £2,000 Could mean 160 callers getting the expert advice and support they need from the National Dementia Helpline.   

 

• £2,850 Could fund a PhD researcher continue vital research into understanding the causes of dementia, how it can be treated and, ultimately, to find a cure. 

 

• £3,900 Could Pay for three people with dementia and their carers to go to a weekly three hour Dementia Cafe sessions for a whole year, where they'll get the information to help them understand their condition and practical tips to help them cope with it. 

 

• £5,000 Could help in training one of our expert Dementia Helpline Advisers so that they can give people affected by dementia the advice and support they need.

 

• £7,500 Could pay for people affected by dementia to have an hour of one-to-one support a week for a year from an experienced dementia support worker to help them feel less alone and to identify the services that could help them.

 

As you can see your money really will help towards the research and support to the families of Alzheimer victims, so please give generously or what you can. Every penny will literally be benefitting the lives of Alzheimer and Dementia sufferers and their families.

The Blog

To keep all of our sponsors up to date with how we are getting on throughout our challenge we have created the following blog for you to visit.

 

This will be updated periodically to keep you up to speed with various other fundraising activities, how our preparations are going, how we are whilst we are up on the mountain, and photograph’s and experience’s of our time up on the Mountain once we have returened.

 

Please click the following link to be directed to our blog site: -

 

http://sininiandlisaclimbkilimanjaro.blogspot.co.uk/

 

The Donations

 

To make all of this possible we need to meet our target sponorship total. That said, with your help and generosity, we are looking to smash this target and pledge an amount of money to the Alzheimers Society that really can make a difference.

 

Thanks for taking the time to visit Our JustGiving page. please show your support to this worthy cause and donate what you can, c’mon we are scaling the largest Mountain on the African Contient!!

 

Thank you so much for your support!!

  

Lisa & Sinini  

 

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 - We raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.