Firstly - thank you for coming to this page. It means you care.
Secondly - please check www.amanikids.org
It is what this page is all about. It is a non profit organisation for street kids in Africa who are homeless or orphaned. They need education, food and medicine. And a little money goes a long way out there.
The cost of your morning coffee over a week, or a few beers down the pub, can do an awful lot of good out here. It can feed a single child for one whole month. Think about that!
Me and a bunch of people from work are going to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in September, to raise money for this charity. It is the tallest free standing mountain in the world. Its not exactly a walk in the park either. Most importantly though, we're going to visit the childrens home also - so we can tell you exactly what effect *any* donation you make, will have.
We're going to do plenty of things throughout the rest of 2007 to raise money. Some of us, including myself, are starting by running the Brighton Half Marathon on the 18th February. We also plan to ride the Randonee challenge - which is a 100 mile off road bike ride across the longest bridleway in the UK - gulp.
**update11th May** we completed the Half marathon, most of us coming in under 2 hours - I managed 1hr 42min 42sec - which was 958th out of 3208 finishers!!
**update July 15th** we are 2 weeks away from the Randonee challenge - after tackling various parts of the route (but not yet in its entirety), we are beginning to realise this is rather a challenge. Planning water and food is vital. Its unbelievable how much a) you need to drink b) you need to pee and c) how many calories you need to keep replacing. I have even stopped drinking until we complete it..lordy!*
**update July 30th*** well, what can i say. we completed the ride and i am vastly proud of us all. superhuman efforts all round and we rocked it. my stats were:
time:14hrs
dist:100 miles
Avg: 7.1mph
Max: 36.3mph
it was tough going between 30-60 miles, then for some weird reason it flowed a bit easier. i was lucky enough to have some company for the last leg and i think that helped a lot. I cant tell you how good that pint of beer was in the pub after!! respect to all who completed the challenge, some had it hard i know.
For fun here is my map of the entire route. More rider stats over at The Kili Climb site shortly.
****Update August 30th
We are two days away from the climb! help! All set to go..and pretty excited about it all..and slightly nervous.
We have organised our raffle, there are some cool prizes to win and the prize draw is on 22nd September, when we return! Full details here on how to enter here:
http://www.thekiliclimb.co.uk/fundraising-events/raffle/
****Update September****CLIMB COMPLETE!!
WE DID IT!
The climb was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve encountered – it was totally epic. Photos and words do not do it justice at all – you’ll just have to go and see for yourself! My best days were those prior to the summit day, which was frankly a bit of a nightmare and my memories of that day are rather dark to be honest because I was not feeling so great (major headaches=no sleep/lots of worry about whether my head was going to explode).
Anyway! My favourite memory was climbing the Barranco Wall – it was like something out of an Indiana Jones film – there was a real adventurous buzz in the air that day, equipment clanking and lots of shouting in the camp before we left. Brilliant. And scary.
In summary, I am totally chuffed that we all made it to the top in one piece, nobody got hurt or really ill, and we raised a shedload of money for a dedicated charity. Being able to visit the Amani Home and see how the money can help was really important to us, and I am even more pleased that we smashed our fundraising target.
We want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way - our clients, our colleagues and our friends and family. You have all been absolutely wonderful and we could not have done this without you, so thank you again. Notes from the team and pictures of our journey are here.
The total amount raised currently stands at £12,402.72. Our target was £10,000.00.
*******
Please spare whatever you can. Even a pound will make a vast amount of difference here.
Many thanks for your support, wish us luck!
Will Lockie
ps. Amani means 'peace' in Swahili
**Donating through this site is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to sponsor us: Amani will receive your money faster and, if you are a UK taxpayer, an extra 28% in tax will be added to your gift at no cost to you, nice**
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