Chloe Climbed Kilimanjaro
Chloe Townsend is raising money for Children's Radio Foundation
Story
I am raising money through JustGiving for Children's Radio Foundation. I am a Radio Youth Journalist with CRF, and have been doing an internship in the CRF UK office for the past 2 months and am passionate about the work that is being done by the organisation. 100% of the money donated will go directly to the project based in Tanzania, part of which I will be visiting in Zanzibar; ZAPHA + (Zanzibar Association for People living with HIV Aids). I have seen how young people trained in radio production can be agents of change locally in their communities and further afield creating awareness, breaking down stigma and educating on issues such as HIV Aids, xenophobia, cholera and early pregnancies. The CRF project in Tanzania alone reaches 5 Million listeners, and Tanzania is just one of 7 African countries in the CRF network, so the programmes going out are educating a huge amount of listeners and changing perspectives across the continent. To hear about how CRF works, and why radio is such an important tool for young people in Africa click here to watch a short video, or here to visit the CRF website.
CRF has created a model which is low-cost, with extremely high-impact. So every donation REALLY counts. I have just re-set my fundraising target to £1000, which would fund a whole mobile studio in a remote part of Tanzania, so an entire community could be reached by radio and have easy access to a brilliant form of education. I'd be extremely grateful for any support you can give, be it a few pounds or more.
Why Radio?
In 2011, only 6.2% of Africans logged on to the internet, over 80% have access to a radio. This makes it a crucial source of information. Radio can be used to educate, it can be used to start conversations in the community and spread important information. By teaching young people how to interview, research and produce a radio show, it empowers youth to communicate with the wider community about issues that they feel need to be discussed. Radio is portable, so can be used in places where electricity is not a given. It reaches remote places where television signals and newspapers cannot reach. Radio requires limited funds to run, so its possible to reach millions of people on the African continent in a cost-effective way.
What I am doing
On March 4th 2016, I am begining the 10 day trek on the Lomosho route, to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is Africa's tallest mountain, and the world's tallest free-standing mountain, standing at 5,885m. I will be camping along the way, and should reach the summit on day 8, we will begin to climb to the summit on day 7 at midnight. The temperatures on Kilimanjaro will rage from highs of 30C at the base, to about -23C at the summit. 1/3 of people who attempt to climb Kilimanjaro are unable to make it to the summit due to altitude sickness. So this climb is no walk in the park!
In the weeks following the trek I will be visiting some of Children's Radio Foundation's projects in Tanzania and volunteering for a month for an NGO.