Saturday, March 6th, 2004:

Plucky Limerick women set to reach their peak on Kilimanjaro
By BARRY DUGGAN

Out of Africa: Mairead Wilkinson, Ballybricken, and Emma Cross, Dublin Road, who are climbing Kilimanjaro this week for charity (LL)

TWO Limerick women were climbing to the summit of Africa's highest mountain and one of the world's largest volcanoes this weekend.

Emma Cross 20 from Dublin Road and Mairéad Wilkinson 24 from Ballybricken were high into their ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania this Wednesday evening.

Kilimanjaro is an extinct volcano reaching a height of 5,895m. It has not spewed lava for over 300,000 years. The pair were hoping it would not awaken this weekend.

"It's stayed dormant for 300,000 years now - it better not erupt over the next few days or we could be in a bit of trouble," said Mairéad.

The women are part of 22 member Irish team who flew into Nairobi last Monday. All 22 began their assault on Kilimanjaro early this Wednesday morning in aid of Childaid.

Before leaving, the duo had to receive eight painful injections each.

"We got shots for Hepatitis A and B, typhoid, polio, dytheria, yellow fever, tetanus and flu jabs - not the most comfortable experience we ever went through," said Emma.

When climbing to the summit, which is known locally as Uhuru, the women will go through four different climates. "We climb through tropical, moorland, desert and arctic conditions.

"We have to go around the crater of the extinct volcano on the way up and it is snow-capped at the top all year round, so we will definitely be bringing the cameras," said Emma.

Another name for Kilimanjaro is Kilima Njaro, meaning shining mountain in Swahili. This volcano's highest and youngest cone is named Kibo. Along with Shira to the west and Mawenzi in the east, the three cones make up Kilimanjaro. Kibo has not been active in modern times, but steam and sulphur are still emitted.

Both women like outdoor sports and activities and were looking to forward to their adventure.

"It is our biggest undertaking ever," they both said.

Emma is a third year sports science student in UL. Mairéad is an environmental science graduate from UL and is employed by Mr Binman as an environmental officer.

"I have climbed most of the mountains in Munster and have also climbed Ben Nevis in Scotland and Snowdon in Wales," said Mairéad.

The girls are accompanied this weekend by two porters each.

"Being a porter is a full-time job in Tanzania. One of the porters carries your food and the other carries the bag with gear and clothes for you. Everyone climbing the mountain has two porters each, so there will be over 60 of us going up the mountain," said Emma.

To communicate better with their porters, the duo have been learning Swahili phrases over the past few weeks. "Jambo means hello and pole pole means slowly slowly, but there will be no need to tell us that," said Mairéad.

After Kilimanjaro, the two women will visit the slums in Nairobi to see the fruition of their fundraising. Here many children live in desolate conditions on the streets and all moneys raised will go towards improving their horrific plight.

"The idea to do all this came from a friend who did it two years ago. I decided I wanted to do it and asked Emma to come along and she had no objection. We are privileged to be part of this worthy exercise," said Mairéad.

Emma and Mairéad had to raise €4,000 each for Childaid to go on the once in a lifetime expedition. They thanked everyone who helped them including their sponsors: Mr Binman, Dunnes Stores, O'Driscoll's, Corbally; Trinity Rooms, and the Students' Unions in the three Limerick colleges.