September 2001

KILIMANJARO OR BUST!

Childaid organisers, DENIS BUCKEY and JOHN O'LEARY, are hoping the more adventurous among The Champion's readers will be moved by their account of the annual Kilimanjaro climb that they will enlist for this year's expedition and raise funds for the street children of the Mukuru slums in Kenya.

If you dream of making the world a better place, then sign up to climb Kilimanjaro in 2002. Kili is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free standing mountain in the world. At I9340 ft, it is approximately seven times the height of Carrauntoohil.

A super standard of fitness is not essential but a reasonable measure is advisable. To put this in context, one is trekking for six days for periods of six to nine hours. The climb and descent of the peak will take anything from fourteen to eighteen hours' strenuous walking. Potential climbers have, of course, six months to train and prepare themselves.

The ages of those participating in the past ranged from 18 to 60. Ironically, a 54 year old was the first to reach the peak last year. This clearly indicates that undertaking such a venture is within the capabilities of most people well into middle age.

The purpose of the expedition is to raise funds for the street children of the Mukuru slums in Kenya. The funds will build a new school to cater for those children who otherwise would never receive an education. Many are homeless, of single parent families and are casualties of tribal clashes. Many are malnourished and sick.

The school project is led by Fr Pat O' Toole of the Holy Ghost Fathers. Pat, who is originally from County Mayo, has been pastor to the impoverished people of the slum for over twenty years. Half a million people survive in the slum. Overcrowding is rife and sanitation elementary. People dig a deep hole and that's it. Of course, when the floods come, as they do in the rainy season, the red earth turns into marsh, latrines overflow and disease is rife.

Families somehow exist in corrugated iron shacks, measuring 10’ x 10'. These hovels can accommodate up to ten people. There is no electricity and the lucky ones make do with oil lamps and charcoal stoves. Funerals are frequent as people's resistance is low due to poor nutrition and insanitary conditions - AIDS is the great killer. The slum is characterised by the large number of single mothers and female-headed households. Opportunities for these women are non-existent and many resort to brewing illegal liquor or commercial sex. Sadly, many of the children do not receive any education. Many are orphaned, abandoned, addicted to glue or are engaged in prostitution. They have almost no chance of survival. A large proportion will die from beatings, hunger, drugs, diseases from dirt or uncared for wounds.

The climb is organised by Childaid, a humanitarian organisation formed by Irish Aid Workers and Defence Forces' personnel who worked on street children projects in Africa and continue to support these projects by organising the Kilimanjaro climb.

Prior to the climb, participants will actually visit the Mukuru School project outside Nairobi. The existing school is unlike no other school in Ireland. Wooden huts topped with galvanised roofs and earthen floors pass for classrooms. When the rains come, the earth floors turn to mud. The accommodation standards would not be acceptable on a modem cattle farm in Ireland. Climbers will experience their relief and development education at the coalface.

The climate varies dramatically during the course of the expedition. Volunteers will encounter tropical temperatures in the lower reaches of the mountain to below freezing as they near the summit. The trek through the rain forest speaks for itself. ! What is essential is careful preparation, having the clothing for all types of weather, following some basic rules and being prepared to put up with a fair measure of discomfort, combined with physical effort and altitude adjustment.

Throughout Mukuru, the reality is that hundreds of children are dying of malnutrition and disease. For the survivors, life is unimaginably hard. Their water is dirty, their food is scarce and medicine is beyond their means.

Perhaps the greatest tragedy of all is their lack of education. Given the opportunity of going to school, these children could develop the practical skills which would enable them to break out of the cycle of poverty forever.

The new school will cater for those children most at risk. In addition to providing basic primary education, it is hoped to provide skills training to allow students to earn a living. The alternative is to allow them sleep on the street and endure a harsh and short life.

This is where your adventurous spirit can help.

It will be the experience of a lifetime to climb or attempt to climb the highest mountain in Africa, while simultaneously working with Childaid to help the poorest of the poor. This is your big chance to stop sitting on the fence and do something positive for the destitute children of the Third World.

To facilitate potential climbers two options are available. The first expedition will kick off in March 2002 and the second in June 2002. Both will take about eleven to twelve days.