A minute of beauty

Remember the team of ten women from around the world who climbed three of the highest mountains in Africa in fewer than three weeks to complete the 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge in January this year? They raised $295,000 for three projects in Africa, including the School of St Jude.

St Judes greets the climbers

Their great effort was filmed by Serac Adventure Films. The film will be released later in 2007, but you can check out a trailer here.

3 peaks 3 weeks climbers on Mt Kilimanjaro summit

Take time to watch this minute of beauty. Then think about going yourself!

3 peaks 3 weeks challenge

Well, the ‘3 peaks 3 weeks Challenge’ has reached all its goals. The ten women have succeeded in climbing the three East African mountains in three weeks, and have raised $250,000 for the three projects they are supporting – the School of St Jude, Laikipia Wildlife Forum and Students for International Change. The School of St Jude will use the funds to build classrooms at the Usa River campus, Laikipia will use the money to support their community conservation work and International Change will buy three new mobile HIV testing vehicles.

Mission Accomplished! 10 women who did it!

How did these ten women raise so much money?

In their last dispatch from the field, the team gives a wrap-up of this BIG achievement.

One of the first successful events was a black tie dinner held in Wagga Wagga, Australia. Though it is a small town which rarely sees such a formal event, the community pulled together to support us and in that single night, raised over $15,000! Similar events to that were held in Tucson, Arizona and in London, UK. Pub crawls proved to be very effective, especially for our age group, and we appreciated all of the folks who came out for a good night at the bar in support of our work. Other events included movie screenings, overland treks, barbeques, and marathons. Some events were more successful than others, and we began to learn what worked and what did not. We tried selling chocolate, t-shirts, and Christmas cards. Most of these smaller initiatives did little to raise money, but were great for raising awareness and spreading the word about what we were doing. We met with companies across the globe in hopes they would put some of their “good will” money towards helping Africa.

A breakthrough came when Serac Adventure Films said they would film the trek. You can look out for the release of the film about the climb and the three projects that will benefit from the funds raised.

We are departing and going our separate ways, but have no doubt that the friendships we have made will last forever. Walking down the mountain together on the final day gave us one last time to take in what it meant to be a part of such a great group of women. Each one of us now has 9 new friends, 9 new sisters, and 9 new bridesmaids. The relationships we have made over the past 3 weeks, and even more, over the past 2 years are incredible. We have successfully completed the 3 Peaks 3 Weeks Challenge and are leaving Africa with a feeling that we truly made a difference and that many lives will be bettered by the work we supported. We sincerely hope that we have inspired you to challenge yourself.

These amazing women plan to make this climb an annual event and keep the momentum alive. You can check out their website to keep in touch or join up!

Where do we look for inspiration in our lives? We don’t have to look too far when we see energetic and committed people taking on challenges and then figuring out all the details they need to learn in order to succeed.

You can join inspiring women like Gemma Sisia, step into your own set of challenges that will develop your talents to the benefit of others. What else is a life for?

School visitors

The first building at the School of St Jude was started in 2002 by a working-party of Australian Rotarians. Each year, several groups of Rotarians come to help out at the school and do some sightseeing.

In an earlier post I showed the work accomplished by a group of Rotarians in September. Well, November saw the arrival of another group of eleven hard working Australian Rotarians who assembled the timber cut by the earlier working-party into around 170 desks and chairs for next year’s newly sponsored students.



While they were on the job, no one at the school could have a sleep-in because the group would be up at 6.00am hammering away! However they did a great job and by the time they had left had assembled around 170 desks and chairs. It’s great to know that all the new sponsored kids who will enroll next year won’t have to sit on the floor!!

After the rewarding work of making something useful, there is the fabulous chance to see the Serengeti!

Wildebeest migration – one of the Seven Wonders

The School has always welcomed visitors –

We love visitors! The children and staff love visitors! Even our supposedly ferocious Alsatian guard dogs love visitors! We are very proud of our school and so we enjoy being able to show it off. For this reason we have a special visitors program for people who would like to drop in for a day or up to two weeks and join in activities, explore the area or just relax and soak up the atmosphere in and around the school.

Visitors tend to fall into one of two categories: younger backpacker types who are travelling the world in an adventurous way, and older people who wish to contribute their skills and energy to a worthwhile project that is making a real difference. I think this kind of travel is called ‘values-based travel’ or ‘authentic tourism’ some such marketing category.

We are excited because it looks like we may be able to visit Tanzania this year. There are some good flight deals in May, so that might be the time!

REMINDER: The ‘3 peaks 3 weeks’ challenge starts on 6 January. Ten women will climb three mountains (Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Kenya and Mt Meru) in three weeks as a fundraiser. The School of St Jude is one of the beneficiaries, and they have raised an amazing $220,000 so far. Check out!