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Leathley couple elated as mountain climb provides charity with £3,000 boost
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| Garrie Bolton and Margaret Robinson |
A RETIRED Leathley couple have raised thousands of pounds for charity by climbing Africa's highest mountain.
Fifty-five-year-old Garrie Bolton, and Margaret Robinson, 56, of Cinder Lane, secured £3,000 of sponsorship money by trekking to the 19, 344ft (around 5,895 metres) peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.
The money will be used to help struggling communities in Tanzania, and means the charity the couple founded in 2006, Helping Africa 100, has now raised £16,000 in the last 12 months.
Mr Robinson said: "After six days trekking up the mountain, we began the final ascent at midnight - an exhausting eight-hour climb through snow and ice - before reaching the highest point, Uhuru peak, at 19,344 feet.
"We were elated. It was the hardest physical challenge of our lives, but what's even more important is that the money raised will make such a big difference to the lives of others in Tanzania."
The proceeds from the challenge, which they completed in February, will go towards sustainable projects and help provide homes, education, vocational training, food, clothes and equipment.
The charity - whose name refers to the fact its founders and trustees are volunteers and pay for their own expenses and administration costs -has now raised a total of £22,000 for impoverished African communities since it was formed.
Ms Robinson says the ethos is to provide people with the resources they need so they can become self-reliant, rather than depend on handouts'.
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| Margaret with Rosie, an orphaned HIV/AIDS victim they are trying to help. |
She said: "We have raised some money through garden parties at our home and we are slowly building up a group of special friends' who are either making regular standing-order donations or are partaking in special fund-raising events of their own including sponsored runs.
"Online donations are also received via our website at www.helpingafrica100.com. We are hugely grateful to those who help us and local businesses in the Otley area have been very supportive.
"But we are also very conscious of asking others to dig deep so we wanted to do something extra ourselves this year, hence the Kilimanjaro Trek.
"It's often a real eye-opener for our donors to see how far the money goes in Africa and just how much it can help communities achieve."
The £16,000 collected over the last year has gone on a wide range of projects, which have included providing:
l A home and education for 37 abused, neglected and/or orphaned children (£1,500)
l A new centre for 125 primary school age children, with living accommodation for orphans (£7,000)
l A centre for 120 disadvantaged teenagers, including towards arts materials and wood carving tools, an English teacher, secondary school scholarships and sponsorship of two teenage boys to go to a vocational tour-guide college (£3,000)
l An HIV/AIDS awareness, testing and counselling programme for a remote mountain village of 1,200 people (£1,200).
The couple founded Helping Africa 100 after carrying out voluntary work in Tanzania with the charity Cross Cultural Solutions (CCS).
They have made a several trips to the country and taught and worked in orphanages, children's centres and a nursing home caring for people with HIV.
In the UK they work to raise awareness of the problems being faced by many Tanzanians, and the ways they can be tackled, by giving presentations to voluntary organisations and schools and feedback sessions to donors.
5:59pm Wednesday 7th May 2008
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