I’m raising money for the sulphur miners that work inside mount Ijen. mount Ijen is an active volcano that bellows plumes of poison smoke and has a vast acid lake in the crater. Visiting the volcano as a tourist is breathtaking, however, if you’re a miner working there, that phrase is a lot more literal. These men get suffocated by sulphur gas constantly when mining the hardened sulphur and many can’t afford gas masks, so only have a wet towel they keep in their mouth as protection, this work leads to awful respiratory diseases and shortens their life expectancy dramatically.

In 2023 i was lucky enough to visit MT Ijen and this is where i met Haqim, my tour-guide. Haqim is a very special person that cares for these miners like their family, even going as far as teaching them english and helping them transition from miner to tour-guide like himself. Whilst i had the pleasure of having him as a guide, he went into detail about the miners work day, it starts with a long hike up to the volcanos ridge and then down to the crater, all before sunrise, then they start mining, trying not to get burnt by the molten sulphur and dodging the gas clouds, once they have filled up there baskets with 50-70kg of hardened sulphur they have to hike all the way back with it balancing on one shoulder. This extremely hard and dangerous job doesn't even pay £10 a day.

After talking with Haqim i knew i had to do something to help, thats why in February, I'm completing the 3 peaks in 24 hours, this involves driving myself to and summiting Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden. With your help we can make a real change to these miners day to day lives, by raising this money they can buy gas masks and protective clothing or use it to pay for medicines or just to take some time off to spend with their family, Because thats the only reason they’re working in these conditions, its to provide for their family.

Any donations really do go a long way for these miners, if you can, please donate, you will be changing someones life.