Rahul climbing Kilimanjaro for Vipingo Village Fund (and Mt. Kenya too!)
Rahul Talwar is raising money for The Vipingo Village Fund
“Rahul Talwar's fundraising”
on 2 January 2011
Story
UPDATE – CHALLENGE COMPLETE!
As you can see, I made it to the top of Mt. Kenya too, and will soon return home.
Thank you once again to all of you that dug deep to give, and thank you for spreading the word. You have made an incredible difference to these children’s lives, and your help in completing this challenge will never be forgotten.
Rahul
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UPDATE - MT. KENYA
Thank you for continuing to support this effort! We are now over 2/3rds of the way to the target and there are some important updates to the plans for the children of the Future Hope School.
My time in Kenya is coming to an end and so I have decided to climb Mt. Kenya in early May before I leave, to complete my part of this challenge. All I ask in return is for you to please continue to give whatever you can spare and help get us to the target, which is now so close!
Once you have given, please do let others know you have done so and share this page via your Facebook status so others can read this and hopefully give too. We desperately need publicity to get the word out and we simply cannot do it without YOUR help! The need for reaching the target is now more important than ever, as I shall explain...
YOUR MONEY --> ACCOMMODATION FOR “HIGH RISK” KIDS
During a recent visit, I got the chance to talk to Carol and Peter about their plans for the children, and how they intend to use the money raised here. There was lots of good news, including the progress many of the kids were making in their classes, as well as the development of the new library and classrooms. Sadly, they also had some news that was very disturbing.
Despite the best efforts of everyone at the VVF, there are still a worrying number of children deemed “at risk”. These are children who are severely neglected and not given proper care when they leave the school to return to the village. This is a very serious matter as these high risk children, many of whom have AIDS, are not being given their medication by their guardians, are not kept clean and are often sent to school in clothes that are filthy and in tatters. Poor hygiene quickly leads to sickness and with an immune system destroyed by AIDS, a child can die from illnesses as minor as flu or diarrhea. There were even instances where one elderly guardian, for no good reason, refused to take the seriously sick child to the hospital, despite the VVF sending over a paid for taxi! It is unbelievably frustrating to hear things like this because there is a lot of hard work being put in to improve these kids future. To hear that one little girl, quietly standing next to me, had been raped in the village, was very hard to bear.
Because nothing can be done once these children are in the incapable hands of their guardians, the decision has been made to build accommodation for these high-risk children so they can be taken care of by the staff 24/7. This is where your money will be spent and as you will appreciate, the sooner we raise the money, the quicker we get these children under proper care.
I appreciate that you will receive many requests for help from various charitable causes and that it is extremely difficult to decide which to support. I would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to read my appeal and hope that you will consider my efforts to be worthy of your support.
Rahul
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KILIMANJARO UPDATE!
As you can see from the photos, I made it to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro! Thank you for all your good wishes and messages of support. I had your encouraging words in my mind during the final push, which was the hardest bit of the tiring climb to the top.
We reached the summit, Uhuru Peak, on 2nd March at around 10:30am. We had set off late, at 2am, due to a horrible windstorm, and I suffered a fair bit of altitude sickness through the night, which made getting to the summit all the more sweet.
I would like to thank all those who have given so very generously and helped publicise this page over email and Facebook. Thanks to your efforts and generosity, we have raised close to £3000 to give to the Future Hope school here in Vipingo. The target is very much in sight now and I am confident that we can get there. Please do continue to share this page with your friends. I am extending my stay here in Kenya to give us some more time so please help get us to our target and send me up Mt. Kenya!!
Rahul
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Thanks for visiting my page! I’m very excited about this challenge, and I need YOUR help!! The aim is to raise £5000 for the Vipingo Village Fund in Kenya, which seeks to improve the future of over 100 young children whose lives have been devastated by HIV. Most of these children have lost both their parents to the virus, while many are HIV positive themselves! Without the VVF fund, these children’s lives would be nothing, over as soon as they are born.
In order to raise the money I aim to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Then, if we reach the target amount, as a special thank you for all your generous donations and good wishes I shall climb down and then go climb Mt. Kenya! Now how’s that for a bargain?!
HIV IN KENYA
As you are probably aware, Kenya suffers from one of the highest HIV rates in the world. But the ugly truth is that even the official statistics provided are inaccurately low due to ignorance, lethargy, stigma and a lack of proper education. The young children here, most of whom are under 10 years old, are all either HIV positive themselves or orphaned by the virus. The VVF, with your help, seeks to step in and look after these children…
FUTURE HOPE MONTESSORI SCHOOL
The school started as a small nursery school 2 years ago but has now grown into a Montessori school with 6 classrooms, a dining hall, kitchen, library, loo blocks, offices and a store! The children, who are orphaned and living with elderly guardians who have nothing themselves, are fed 2 healthy meals every day of the year, even during the holidays, when they can come play and spend their day at the school. As you can imagine, the costs have grown with the added responsibilities taken on by the VVF and as the entire project is funded by donations, your help is vital.
I feel very passionately about this and I cannot stress enough just how much the VVF helps these children. There is so much more to tell you about the Fund, such as the community projects and the conservation efforts, so if you would like to read more, please click on the following link:
THE CHALLENGE
While working in nearby Mombasa, I have the pleasure of being able to visit and meet everyone involved, from Peter and Carol Hardman, the passionate founders of the charity, Halima Seif, who tirelessly takes care of the day to day running of the whole school, to the staff that look after the cheerful children that make you feel like part of the family as soon as you arrive. I am pleased to begin my little adventure to help.
This February 26th, I will attempt to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain in Africa at 5,895m and if the target of £5000 is met, I will attempt Mt. Kenya, which at 5,199m is the second highest!
I’ve never ever done anything like this before, so it gives me a sort of nervous energy that’s difficult to explain. The challenge I face in the upcoming months is building enough endurance and I will be sure to keep you updated. Please "like" the following link and share with your contacts too:
I’m both thrilled and scared to be taking on this challenge but, as is true with so many things that are really worth doing, this cannot be a solo effort! I need YOUR support, not just to raise the money, but also to muster up the internal strength I know I will need to meet the physical and emotional challenges that lie ahead. Knowing you are supporting me will make it a lot easier, and so much more rewarding.
WHY DONATE?
Because most of us are very fortunate to lead lives unaffected by the horrors of HIV. Every child deserves a fair chance in life, starting with a clean bill of health, but sadly that is so far from what these children get. Orphaned at an incredibly young age, or burdened with the virus themselves, these children have no future to look forward to if nothing is done. We cannot wave a magic wand over the problem but by donating to this cause, even a little bit, you will be making a very, very big difference to the childrens future. Future Hope seeks to educate all pupils with a firm set of values, and to find the potential in every child. This is only possible with your help.
WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES
Obviously you would like to know exactly how your money is being used. You will be pleased to know that other than some local staff, many of whom are also HIV positive, all those who work here do so on a voluntary basis. Every last penny you give goes straight into this project. Here are some examples of how YOU are making a difference…
£60 feeds a child 2 meals a day 365/7!
£22.50 provides everything for a child for a whole month!
£15 provides a set of clothes and uniforms for a child
£5 provides medicine for a child for a whole year!
£270 meets all the costs for a single child for a whole year!
Please give; you will be making a HUGE difference to these childrens lives, and I can’t even begin to express how good you will feel when you start seeing the amazing results of your donations!! And please, share this page with your friends and family too, because the publicity you help generate will go a very long way in helping yet more children!
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for believing in this effort and in the important work of the Vipingo Village Fund — and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for offering whatever support you can!! Please do give today, and then tell your friends to do the same!! You will be giving these children the chance they deserve!
Rahul
PS: All the costs involved in the climbs will be funded by me, which means ALL your money goes straight to the VVF and its children!!
As a bonus, the government will add an extra 28% in Gift Aid to all eligible donations by UK taxpayers, which means we’ll be raising even more, and everyone’s a winner!