A group of Maltese youngsters will be participating in the 12th Kilimanjaro Challenge in Africa. They will be climbing the highest free-standing mountain at the end of this month, in a bid to raise money to help an Ethiopian community. The event is being supported by insurance firm GasanMamo.
Mount Kilimanjaro is a dormant volcano in Tanzania, the highest mountain in Africa, about 4,900 metres from its base and 5,895 metres above sea level. The mountain is part of the Kilimanjaro National Park and a major climbing destination.
Over the past 11 years, more than €720,000 were collected by the Maltese people through the challenge for 10 projects in Kenya and Ethiopia, all of which were orchestrated by the Missionary Movement Jesus in Thy Neighbour, founded by the late Fr George Grima.
“We are proud to give a helping hand to this charitable initiative. GasanMamo has been following previous challenges, which were always coordinated by the challenge founder Keith Marshall, and we have admired the persistence and determination of various teams over the years to complete important projects within the Ethiopian community. We feel we should make our presence felt in helping the Maltese group collect €90,000 to finance the completion of a centre for children with disability in Bonga, hence finishing off a project started by Fr Grima, who sadly passed away in 2017,” said the firm’s managing director Julian Mamo.
This is a €1.2-million ambitious project which is due to be completed thanks to the generosity of the Maltese people and the hard missionary work by the beloved Gozitan priest. Way back in 1987, Fr Grima founded the Moviment Missjunarju Ġesù fil-Proxxmu and carried out charity programmes in Brazil, Ethiopia and Kenya, setting up 200 homes in total. GasanMamo had supported Fr Grima’s initiatives on a number of occasions.
“We feel it’s our duty to keep remembering Fr Grima and keep him close to our hearts. Supporting this cause is another sign of recalling his beautiful memory and all the work he did during the years in the mission,” Mark Mamo, the firm’s general manager, added.
Expedition member Taryn Mamo Cefai said the KC12 team has been training since March and will be heading to Kilimanjaro on Christmas Eve. After spending eight days on the mountain, the team will continue their journey into Ethiopia to inaugurate the project.