Following the success of Kilimanjaro 2015, on the 3rd July 2016 at 6 am, a group of staff and students of St Dominic's 6th form college reached the summit of Africa's highest mountain - Mount Kilimanjaro at 5895m to watch a stunning sunrise over the African plains! This huge achievement raised over £14,000 for Kujali's orphan support programme in Moshi, Tanzania. Of the 16 staff and students that started the climb, 12 successfully reached the summit and descended safely after 7 days of hard walking and climbing. The group did exceptionally well and were faced with many varied challenges along the way.
As part of the visit, the group also met the orphans that Kujali is supporting, at the Rainbow Centre, and had the opportunity to mingle and make some new friends. The orphans were given school bags, t-shirts and stationary, all of which were collected by the students at St Dominics before embarking on the journey. The students of St Dominics have described the trip as a life changing experience.
Well done and thank you from Kujali!
An extract from an article written by Katarina Piponi, one of the students involved in this climb:
"At Kilimanjaro International airport, the 'this is it' feeling finally hit. We had set foot in Africa, packed with camping gear and essentials, 11,000km away from home, looking at the faces of our fellow team members and seeing a mix of tiredness, excitement and restlessness. We swiftly departed to meet the orphaned children of the charity, Kujali. Transformative is the only word that comes to mind when attempting to explain the feeling of walking into the Rainbow Centre hall filled with orphaned kids singing their national anthem. Glancing around the room seeing faces lit up with a spark of joy and happiness because of your presence changes perspectives. To see these kids, who have very little does make you wonder what you take for granted, for as something as basic as a rucksack for us, means so much more to them than we can imagine. As the team proceeded to hand out gratefully donated clothes, shoes, bags and other accessories, a special bond is formed between every student. Older students, who were fortunate enough to have remained in school until senior years, would discuss various topics with the St Dominic’s students, such as the Brexit vote, current economic decline of the pound and so on which positively surprised us, due to their wide knowledge and interest. Thus, the Rainbow Centre visit came to an end with a game of football and a large photo, engraved in the memory of each St Dominic’s student."