Members of this year’s Kilimajaro Challenge are making a last-ditch attempt to collect the remaining €4,000 required to fully fund a new school in Bonga, Ethiopia, where 700 underprivileged children will start receiving their education.

The volunteers leave Malta on New Year’s Eve and venture up the slopes of the highest free-standing mountain on the planet, Kilimanjaro, in the hope of making it to the summit while fund-raising for a worthy cause.

The 16-strong team have been training for the past few months to be able to conquer the 5,895-metre Mount Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise funds for the school.

The structure is almost complete but another €4,000 are required to fully fund the construction works.

The primary school, which will be named after Victor Licari, will be inaugurated on January 20 and will open its doors to students in September.

Mr Licari served as the first lieutenant and later Lieutenant of Honour of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in Malta. His efforts to help the needy spurred his family and friends to help raise funds to build the school in Ethiopia, making formal education accessible for children in remote areas.

Challenge founder Keith Marshall, who had initially started the initiative with the late Fr George Grima, said the €4,000 will cover the construction costs which a further €12,000 will be used to furnish the school with school desks, benches, whiteboards and school furniture.

“In Bonga we’re creating this school for 700 children. It’s going to be a self-sustaining school whereby 300 children will be asked to pay a nominal fee to be able to carry the poorer kids. It’s an ambitious project but we’re still short of our target. We leave on New Year’s Eve for the climb and we plan to inaugurate the school on January 20. Our projects depend on people’s generosity but I am a firm believer that miracles do happen,” Mr Marshall said when contacted yesterday.

Residents from the region have repeatedly requested resources, as the region does not have a qualified primary school for its children.

Mr Marshall explained how over the past 12 years the challenge raised nearly €1 million for 12 projects in Kenya and Ethiopia. All were coordinated by the Missionary Movement Jesus in Thy Neighbour, which was founded by the late Fr Grima.

The funds were collected and invested in several projects such as the construction of a school and convent in the Ethiopian village of Bulbula,  a house hosting 100 physically disabled, deaf and blind children in Kenya, a clinic in Sakko, and kindergarten schools in Gambela, Dembidolo and Jemu – all three in Ethiopia.

Last year’s team managed to raise funds for the kindergarten in Wush Wush, Ethiopia, a small village home to 800 families who live in extreme poverty.

Apart from regular gym sessions, the participants on this year’s challenge met regularly for long and gruelling treks in Malta’s hilly countryside. The participants make sacrifices in the full knowledge that their efforts will, at the end of the day, translate into a project to help the needy.

Donations may be sent on the following numbers:  5150 2084 – €5; 5160 2028 – €10; 5180 2095 – €25

SMS: 5061 8062 – €4.66; 5061 8861 – €6.99; 5061 9261 – €11.65. Otherwise directly via bank transfer on Bank of Valletta KC13 bank account: MT67VALL22013000000040025925353.

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