The Kilimanjaro Challenge 11 team left for Tanzania to climb Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world. The team is made up of 18 individuals from all walks of life who took on this big physical challenge with the sole purpose of raising money to help a community in Ethiopia.

In the past 10 years, over €650,000 in funds have been collected through the Kilimanjaro Challenge, headed by Keith Marshall, Austin Cachia and David Schembri for 10 projects in Kenya and Ethiopia. All of these projects have been co-ordinated by the Missionary Movement Jesus in Thy Neighbour founded by the late Fr George Grima, who sadly passed away in September of this year.

The projects completed so far have all been successful in growing the community where they have been implemented. This year, the project is a kindergarten in Wush Wush in Ethiopia, a small village, home to about 800 families who live in extreme poverty with high levels of malnutrition and health diseases. The school will host 150 children and will also offer a daily meal. It will be dedicated to Philip Bonett.

The KC11 team has been meeting up since January and has completed a year of intense training in preparation for climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, standing at almost 6,000m. Through various events held throughout the year and various company donations, the team has collected €75,000 needed for the completion of the project.

The team left for Africa on 27 December. They will take eight days to climb the mountain and later they will be travelling to Ethiopia to inaugurate the kindergarten.