Do they know it’s Christmas…….

I bet you’re now humming away to yourself right now (and shame on you if it’s the 2004 version)!

For many children Christmas can be a time of devastating loneliness, shame and despair.

Without the Kids Company’s support many children won’t receive simple acts of kindness like a hug, a present or a hot meal. Every year the Kids Company honours the trust children place in them by holding a huge party so that all their children can feel the joy of being a child at Christmas. 

Sadly, this year the need is greater than ever. This Christmas day The Kids Company is preparing to welcome over 3500 children and young people, as well as over 200 volunteers. They also expect to support a further 3500 in the community with desperately needed food and gift parcels. 

On Christmas day at Kids Company children will enjoy hot food, individually wrapped presents, storytelling, fun and games. They can make hats and puppets, create a Christmas mural or join in fun activities such as football and a bouncy castle! Volunteers work tirelessly with the Kids Company arts team to make a magical Christmas wonderland. 

Through children’s laughter we experience the potency of kindness.  Please, show you care and take 5 minutes to donate a couple of pounds and help make this a Christmas to Remember for vulnerable children who would otherwise feel abandoned. 

What it means to me…….

Between my training schedule and the trek arrangements it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that as well as trying to climb a couple of mountains I am also trying to raise £3,000 for the Kids Company.

I’ve always believed that in many ways I would find the fundraising harder than the mountains and between Christmas and the global economy it’s proving harder than ever!

I know what it’s like.

I’ve been there, sitting at my computer, minding my own business, when the email comes through:

“So and so is having their toenails pulled out for charity, PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY”

Once I’d remembered who so and so was I’d make a mental note to sponsor them.

Then a couple of weeks later I’d be sitting at my computer, minding my own business when:

“So and so is STILL having their toenails pulled out for charity, PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY”

After thinking “Crikey, that’s taking a while”, I’d make another mental note to sponsor them.

And this would continue on a regular basis until eventually I’d bump into so and so (who’s now walking with a pronounced limp) and realise with horror that I never did get around to sponsoring them.

Now I know what it’s like to be on the other side of those emails, anxiously checking my Virgin Money Giving page several times a day willing it change and the feeling of dread when you realise just how far you have to go to reach your target.

“You will change………You must change………..Please, please change……”

But then when someone does donate there’s a surge of pride and satisfaction as you realise that there’s someone who agrees with you.

Someone has decided that YOUR challenge and YOUR cause is worth their hard earned cash and just as importantly they've taken five minutes out of their day to make sure you get it!

Simple economics dictates that some donations are worth more than others but the truth is every one matters, it doesn’t matter if you’ve given £1 or £100, you’ve taken the time to do it and that’s what counts.

Because at the end of the day, when I’m struggling on the mountain, having my moment of doubt, it’s your names and comments, not the amounts, that will carry me through.

Leaving, On A Jet Plane…….

I’ve finally booked my flights, and whilst there was never any doubt that I was going to go but with a decent chunk taken out of credit card it really does feel like the point of no return!

I had hoped to have them sorted a while ago but I was waiting for confirmation of the date that I would need to arrive and  also because I wanted to spend a little time digging around reviewing my options were before parting with my hard earned cash.

I wouldn’t consider myself a nervous flyer but I do like as much comfort as possible (who doesn’t) and it was looking as though my best options were going to be a choice between Ethiopian Airlines and Kenyan Airways.

Irrational thought prevailed as I worried about pretty much everything, the condition of the planes, food, entertainment (?) and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t shake the vision of bouncing around in a 1930’s cargo plane with a couple of goats and a dozen chickens for company!

I wonder what the food's like!

I’ve no doubt that I’m being grossly unfair to both Kenyan Airways and Ethiopian Airlines (whom I’m told have one of the newest fleets in the skies) but I could have kissed the man at Dial-a-Flight when he told me that I could fly Virgin and change at Nairobi.

And after the better part of two weeks trekking up mountains and generally “roughing it” I thought so much for austerity and treated myself to the relative luxury of Virgins Premium Economy for the flight home!

“How Do You Solve A Problem Like Mt Meru” …….

Mount Meru stands a little over 40 miles to the West of Kilimanjaro and by all accounts has a character and charm above its status as an interesting warm up.

However I’m sure that it’s only the tiniest percentage (if any) of those that head to this part of the world Tanzania that come for Mount Meru rather than its more illustrious neighbour.

So with this in mind I knew that the odds were that having (successfully?) tackled Kilimanjaro I probably wouldn’t be coming back to this region making it now or never time for Meru!

I now faced three problems:

1.     Most operators only offer Meru as part of a Kilimanjaro package.

2.     I had a very limited timeframe.

3.     Doing it on my own was likely to be prohibitively expensive.

The first two problems were solved thanks to John from Warthog Mountaineering who arranges a lot of the Kids Company expeditions, including the Toubkal trek last year.

We were able to confirm that his operator in Tanzania was available to arrange the trek but as I feared doing the trek on my own pushed the cost to almost $400 more than I had originally budgeted.

So what do I do?

To make sure every penny I’m sponsored goes to the Kids Company I’m already covering the costs of the Kilimanjaro trek, so my finances are already stretched and I’ve yet to book my flights, however this should be the trek of a lifetime so is this really the time to be frugal?

In the end it didn’t need much thought or discussion to decide……

MOUNT MERU IS ON!