The excitement was palpable among the Kilimanjaro challengers yesterday as they gathered at the airport to board their flight for Tanzania where they will scale the highest mountain in Africa.
The 5,895-metre ascent is the last phase of the eighth edition of the challenge, which saw the group of 18 people successfully raise €65,000 for a kindergarten to be built in Gambella, Ethiopia.
The kindergarten will be called the Nirvana Azzopardi Kindergarten in honour of the late TV personality who tragically passed away last year following a two-year battle against cancer.
I’ve always wanted to do something which would help people who are less privileged
The kindergarten will be inaugurated on February 6 and will cater for 200 children aged between five and 10.
It will also run a daily feeding programme and children will be taught basic hygiene.
“I’ve always wanted to do something which would help people who are less privileged than I,” participant Marthese Zerafa told this newspaper as she bid farewell to her family.
“The challenge will help the destitute children in Ethiopia and is also something which I will enjoy – even though I’m the oldest participant at 53. But we’ve been training and trekking for a year so I feel prepared.”
The team will arrive in Tanzania tomorrow and will attempt to reach the summit on the night between January 4 and 5 to coincide with the full moon.
The challenge runs hand-in-hand with Moviment Ġesù fil-Proxxmu, coordinated by Mgr George Grima, which finances and manages hundreds of projects involving the poorest of children in Brazil, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Since its conception 10 years ago, the challenge has seen almost 100 hardy expedition members from all walks of life take on the world’s highest free-standing mountain.
They have raised in excess of €450,000, which has been invested in building a school and convent in the Ethiopian village of Bulbula as well as a house hosting 100 physically disabled, deaf and blind children in Kenya and a clinic in Sakko, Ethiopia.
The team is made up of Annaliza Cauchi, Lara Barbuto, Justine Mangion, Nikita Taliana, Alishia Dimech, Stefania Buhagiar, Marthese Zerafa, Samantha Galea, Graziella Sant, Natasha Livori, Austin Cachia, Owen Vassallo, Daniel Farrugia, Brian Cremona, Karl Bartolo, Juan Ellul Pirotta, Chris Criminale and Keith Debattista.