Climbing mountains

Remember the 3 peaks 3 weeks challenge that I mentioned a while ago? Ten women are climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Meru and Mt Kenya as a fundraiser for local beneficiaries, including the School of St Jude.

Well they are now in the middle of the expedition. You can read daily reports here.

This group of amazing women have raised $300,000 so far.

Between mountains, they visited St Jude’s. Here’s what they say.

After sorting out our luggage at the hotel we loaded back up into the cars and headed out to St. Jude. The school is an amazing example of how education can give even the poorest children an opportunity to succeed. Gemma Rice, founder of St. Jude, led us around the campus which has grown from 1 classroom, 1 school bus, and 3 students in 2002 to over 20 classrooms, 17 school buses, and 800 children this semester!

The children came out to greet us, proudly wearing their dark and light blue uniforms, and couldn’t have looked any more precious than when they donned their wide-brimmed sun hats. Gemma asked grade 6 if they knew why we were there and they replied by correctly stating each mountain we would summit. When we asked them why we are climbing mountains, many looked confused. We, too, have had times when we feel confused as to why we are climbing mountains! We made sure to stress the point that we are building a secondary school for them – of which grade 6 will be the first to use. In 2009, that class will graduate primary school and enter secondary school. With the funds we are raising from 3 peaks, the new secondary campus will be built.

More on St. Jude to come tomorrow. We are all very impressed by the education they offer and will be spending a day at some of the student’s homes. Donations are greatly appreciated as we near the $300,000 AUD mark. Please visit the donations page on our website for more information on how you can be a contributor!

There’s a lot happening! Get on board!