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1.Fund-raisers set sights on Kilimanjaro

1. Fund-raisers set sights on Kilimanjaro
CARISSA KOO, Sunday Morning Post 18 September 2005

A group of mountaineers have raised more than $1 million for a children's charity through a planned assault on Mount Kilimanjaro this month.

Twenty people between the ages of 30 and 60 - 16 Hong Kong residents, three former residents, and one South African - will travel to Tanzania on September 30 for the expedition.

Money raised will go to the Christina Noble Children's Foundation, which helps children in Vietnam and Mongolia. See www.cncf.com

Organisers have already collected about $818,152 of $1.29 million pledged.

"Since everybody who does this walk is paying their own way, any sort of sponsorship in kind would be gratefully received. All monetary donations go to charity," said Derek Smyth, spokesman for the Mount Kilimanjaro climb and the director of the Christina Noble Children's Foundation.

"The foundation thanks everyone for putting not only their money, but their time into it."

The idea followed last year's climb of Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, which raised more than $500,000 for the foundation.

The Kilimanjaro "sporting adventure", as Mr Smyth describes it, will be the foundation's main fund-raising event this year.

"Some of it is about raising money, and a lot of it is about raising awareness - so people are aware of the difficulties children in Southeast Asia face."

Teams will leave Hong Kong on September 30 and return on October 11.

Participants had prepared for the climb by trekking every other weekend for months.

Check out www.skyline-technologies.com/clients/cncf/kilimanjaro/donation.php for details.