The 18-people strong contingent, which will be doing this year's Kilimanjaro Challenge has left Malta earlier today, destination Tanzania. The team will start the ascent of Kilimanjaro on the 30th of December and it expected to reach the peak on the 6th of January.
Since the launch of this year's edition in July, over 50 group and individual activities were held, with the aim of raising a target of €65,000 for the construction of a Kindergarten school in Gambella, Ethiopia
This project will be named in honour of the late Nirvana Azzopardi.
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.
The €65,000 target sum was superseded earlier this month.
At 5,895 metres above sea level, Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Extreme heat at the foot of the mountain and extreme cold at the summit, high elevation and occasional high winds make this a difficult and dangerous trek.
The Kilimanjaro Challenge started off eight years ago when Father George Grima, who for the last 25 years has managed hundreds of projects involving the poorest of children in Brazil, Kenya and Ethiopia, approached Keith Marshall for assistance in funding a project, and the Kilimanjaro Challenge was born. Since then, the challenge has seen almost 100 expedition members raising over €450,000 for various projects including the construction of a school and convent in the Ethiopian village of Bulbula, a wing for a 3-in-1 project, a house hosting 100 physically disabled, deaf and blind children in Kenya and a clinic in Sakko also in Ethiopia.