Thank you for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.  At the end of August this year I will be attempting to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with a group of 19 others, in order to raise money for the charity BEHT, the Bhagvatinandji Education and Health Trust.  BEHT was set up almost 13 years ago by my uncle, and is a charity close to my family. It works in India to provide relief to the poor, the handicapped and to victims of disaster, amongst other things.  As well as actively raising funds and providing relief post both the 1999 cyclone and the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, BEHT has undertaken long term projects in the area, opening schools, elderly homes and medical centres to name but a few.   

For me, the decision to take part in the climb was simple – if my dad is giving it a go at 60 I don’t really have any excuses!  It is more importantly though, my way of being able to make a small contribution to an extremely worthwhile cause.  I visited the school that BEHT set up in Chaparda in 2001 just a couple of years after it had opened, and have seen first hand what a difference they have made to those children’s lives, and the outstanding work it has continued to do over the years.  The proceeds raised from this climb will go specifically towards a hospital project in Chaparda.  A hospital is being built to serve up to 250 villages, a total population of around 600,000 people, a lot of whom currently have to travel up to 100km to their nearest health centre.  The money raised will be used to fund hospital equipment, needed to ensure that the hospital will be able to open at the end of this year, on schedule.