Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  I have just completed the greatest challenge of my lifetime - climbing the World's highest peak Mt Everest @ 8,848m (and threw in another 8,000er as well - Lhotse, the World's 4th highest peak @ 8,516m)!

After the double ascent, I then went on a 10 day trek, up and down the hills, through jungle in pouring rain being attacked by blood-sucking leeches - to visit the extremely remote village of Chhitre, where dZi Foundation is building a school - which I'm raising the funds for, met the villagers, and laid a stone on the school myself.

Please donate to support this project, as these poor village kids are currently getting their schooling under a temporary rain shelter.  Help me exceed the fundraising target so that we also can support further dZi projects in the region.

I have worked hard for this challenge and put significant effort into finding the right charity partner, and after all my due diligence pre and post my climb (incl. actually visiting the village) I can reconfirm that this is an extremely well run and efficient charity, doing great work in Nepal.

Please donate generously... I'm making a personal donation of GBP5,000 because I thoroughly believe in this cause and have a strong personal connection to it.  Of course I don't expect other people to be in that ballpark - but any and all amounts are welcome, it is totally up to you - but I can assure you that I have done a tremendous amount of research here and if you ever wanted to donate a generous amount to the RIGHT charity, trust me - this is the opportunity.

Thanks and kind regards,
Thomas

More info on www.Thomas-2013-Everest.com

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*** IMPORTANT NOTE:   If you are a UK taxpayer (in the current tax year, whether resident or non-resident), please select "UK Gift Aid" which allows the charity to reclaim 25% tax without it costing you anything extra (note: you cannot make an anonymous donation, but need to provide contact details for the Gift Aid reclaim, which dZi/JustGiving will take care of). For other nationalities, you can donate in a number of currencies incl. EUR, AUD, HKD, CAD, SGD and AED***

(FYI:  Because dZI Foundation has only recently been UK registered, they will need to claim the Gift Aid retroactively, and therefore even if you click to elect Gift Aid, you may get an email saying "Gift Aid: £0.00" even if you elected it, but this is normal, they will reclaim it later from the tax authorities.)

Note for US tax payers: You can make a tax-deductible donation via the dZi web donation page  (make sure you put “EVEREST2013” in the comment box for “Group”)