On June 29th 2009, Mona Friedrich, a student from Sussex University travelled to Tanzania, to scale Africa’s highest peak and dormant volcano: Mount Kilimanjaro. Mona did so as part of Childreach International’s Challenge Event: Climb Kili 4 Kids, raising vital funds for our education and healthcare projects in the Kilimanjaro district. In a short interview, Mona describes the drive behind her trip, the eye-opening experiences along the way and lessons learnt by the end.
Leila Kirstie, Ellie and Mona (Left to Right) at Uhuru Peak, at the top of Kilimanjaro
1. When did your trip commence?
We flew to Nairobi on the 29th of June 2009. The whole trip lasted for three weeks which included five days of climbing Kilimanjaro, two days of project visits and then ten days of individual travel, where people could decide to do a safari, go to Zanzibar or do something independently. I stayed in Africa for three months after the trip and went travelling through Tanzania, Rwanda and then back to Uganda to work and visit my host family and friends.
2. How was the trek part of the expedition? Gruelling? Inspiring?
Climbing Kilimanjaro was a gruelling and inspiring experience. It was definitely the most amazing and difficult thing I have ever done. The landscape was breathtaking, especially the first and last days when we walked through the rainforest. You pass through four seasons in four days; each and every one of them is unimaginably beautiful. I loved the fact that every single minute of the climb was an adventure. The last night was by far the greatest challenge. We started walking at 11pm and walked 8 hours until sunrise through the dark and the cold. I’ve never had to push myself so hard to keep on walking, trying desperately not to fall asleep. Those were definitely the most tiring and exhausting hours of my life but as soon as the sun came out and I saw where I was actually standing tears came to my eyes, goose bumps ran up my arms, the view took my breath away. The sun shone a shimmering red, orange light over the land outstretched before us. I felt like I was standing on the top of the world.
Mona and her fellow explorers begin the trek toward the summit
3. Which Childreach International projects did you visit? What were they doing?
We visited two projects, one primary school and one Vocational Training Centre. In partnership with Childreach International, the primary school were painting new classrooms and constructing new buildings including a kitchen, toilets and more classrooms. Whilst at the school I enjoyed meeting the children face to face; we played and planted trees in the time we had. Following this, we visited the Vocational Training Centre. We were greeted with a warm welcome and a speech, and continued to ask questions and watch the children develop their sewing and carpentry skills.
4. What made you want to support Childreach International in particular? Do you have the same ideals in regards to the value of education and sustainable development?
Since I spent quite a lot of time in Africa and volunteered in an NGO myself, I know how difficult it is to find a productive sustainable organization, and even though the current views on international development are very controversial, I support Childreach International’s ideals of working with local communities by encouraging children and families to take on the responsibility of planning and implementing projects. Their aim to strengthen community networks and give people ownership of projects, which provide good quality education, health and child services, are strategies that I hope will contribute to sustainable development in the areas supported by Childreach International.
5. How much did you actually raise? What were your fundraising tactics? Did you use a website or hold any other sort of events to raise money?
I raised £2350 all together. At the beginning I thought that raising all of that money would be very difficult and would take up a lot of my time, but I soon realized that if you put a little effort into it every couple of weeks, constantly talking to and reminding potential donors, it is not very time consuming. I set up a Just Giving account and sent e-mails to everyone I knew and told them to forward it to everyone who might be interested. The rest of the funds added up through group fundraiser events like bar crawls, cake sales and collections at Crawley shopping centre. The collection at the London Underground brought in quite a lot of money as well. Volunteers who worked at stations like King's Cross, made over £600 in a single day! Before I knew it I reached my target and even though it did take up some weekends it was certainly not as difficult as I expected it to be.
6. What did you take from your experience seeing the projects first hand?
It was interesting to be able to experience what we were supporting and also to see the progress being made which was partly due to our contributions. This was important for me to take back home and to tell my sponsors who were of course curious to know what their money was used for. Now I am here preparing for my next climb in 2010. Already I am excited and cannot wait to get on that magical mountain again!
Mona Friedrich
To find out more about Kili 4 Kids and other Challenge Events with Childreach International contact David by email challengeevents@childreach.org.uk or call 0203 137 5500.
Additional information about the Challenge Events is also available in the Challenge Events section of our website.
Leila (Left), Mona (Right) standing on a rock face of Kili
Kibo, Uhuru Peak: The Summit of Kilimanjaro
Leila, Kirstie and Mona with one of the porters at their campsite
