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From 7:20 A.M. onwards on the 15th August, all four of the Hudsons were successful in summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5895m high. At the time of writing, over £6000 has been raised,  which is fantastic and will pay for over 60 operations for the disabled in Zambia. However, we feel we can raise even more and so  we have raised our target to £6500, which would equate to 65 operations!

In early August this year, Patrick and Ed Hudson and their respective teenage sons George and Charlie climbed Mount Kilimajaro in aid of a cause that is very close to our hearts with three generations of the Hudson family having lived in Zambia. The charity we are climbing for aims to get people living in impoverished rural areas of Zambia who have lost limbs or are disabled back to normal life as far as possible by recovering their mobility with a combination of surgery, prostheses (artificial limbs) and therapy. In Zambia, 95% of these disabled individuals have no access to orthopaedic surgery or prostheses. People with disabilities in these communities are almost without exception hidden away, ignored, and victimised and with no support invariably have to suffer in silence and isolation. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world and has no public welfare system or social security support.  

We are climbing in aid of charity called "500 Miles"  because it supports  " Flyspec " to a significant extent and all the money that we raise will go to this cause. Flyspec is run by two orthopaedic surgeons, John Jellis and Goran Jovic  based in Zambia and giving their time to the cause on a voluntary basis. In 2009, travelling 32,758 nautical miles by air (John and Goran are both also pilots and fly themselves to clinics where they can) and 31,026 kilometers by road, they made 107 visits throughout Zambia seeing 5,258 patients and performing an astonishing 1,527 operations at an average cost of around £100 per operation. In addition to paying for the transport and other costs of these visits and treatments and the prosthesis for the patients, Flyspec also pays to train local Zambian staff to make prostheses and to maintain the charity's workshops and infastructure, this helps ensure that its activities will be sustainable in the future. For just £100 per person those working with Flyspec are making a real difference and completely transforming impoverished people's lives for the better and in many cases allowing them for the first time in their lives to be properly mobile, independent and able to support themselves....a truly amazing achievement.

Flyspec do these amazing things in very difficult circumstances, and there is absolutely no doubt that anything you can give will make a real difference where it counts. As 500 Miles has absolutely no administrative costs, you can be sure that whatever you can donate will go straight to help those who need our help most.

If you would like to know more about 500 Miles and Flyspec you might like to watch the very moving video clip in the following attachment: http://500miles.co.uk/500miles_dvd.html  

 

Thank you very much for any help you can provide,

Patrick, Ed, George and Charlie,

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