Trekking Mt Kilimanjaro for charity

THREE women from Brunei, Huwaida Ishaaq, Michelle Charlene Basir and Anggie Jong, are planning to climb Mount Kilimanjaro from October 22 to 29 to raise funds for the less fortunate children in Africa via Childreach International.

Speaking to The Brunei Times, Huwaida Ishaaq said that they have chosen to support Childreach International as part of their 'big hike' to add meaning to their journey.

"Childreach International (a London-based international development charity) has been doing a great job to raise funds in countries like Cambodia, Bangladesh and Nepal," she said.

"In Cambodia for example, they have helped pregnant mothers gain better access to health and medical support," she said.

"While in Nepal, this non-profit organisation provides special support to bring health to children, particularly in the areas of hygiene and giving them medical support, whereas in Tanzania, they help provide clean water to those in need."

"Water is such a basic need, but in some parts of Tanzania, some of them do not have access to clean water," she empathised.

"Not just that, Childreach International also has a project in Tanzania to make water accessible in schools so that children can look forward to continue their education with the provision of this amenity."

Huwaida added that what makes Childreach International aid sustainable is also because they have also combined some of their efforts with challenging activities that appeal to a lot of people and at the same time, able to raise public awareness.

"In India, for example, they help raise funds by organising a biking event," she said.

On a personal level however, Huwaida disclosed that going to Mount Kilimanjaro has always been her dream.

"It has been at the top of my bucket list," she said.

In addition to this, she said, her training is also a way for her to discover and see more of Brunei's natural treasure. "We are lucky that our country has a policy to protect our forested land, so that we can enjoy them for generations to come," she said.

For Michelle, her reason to participate in the fundraising hike was because of one difference between Brunei and Africa: "We grew up as very privileged kids, all of us in Brunei especially," she said.

She said that "education-wise, everything is free and everything is subsidised" in Brunei. So because of this, she said she wanted to help the less fortunate children in Africa.

For Anggie, the climb is also a way for her to remember her friend who passed away earlier this year.

"Life is short," she said. "Two years back, (we) hiked Mount Kota Kinabalu (together). (Both of us) had actually planned to go to Kilimanjaro."

Backed up with these kind of motivation, all three of them have thus been doing a lot of fundraising together for the hike and for the children in Africa.

Huwaida said, "We had done a garage sale recently, which was set up by a friend of ours," adding that they plan to continue with garage sales in the future.

In addition to this, she said that they have also been inviting the public to join them in their hiking-cum-training activities as a "chance for us to share about Childreach International".

In terms of preparation for the challenge presented by the 5,895 metre high Mount Kilimanjaro, Huwaida said that they have begun hiking Bukit Shahbandar together as a group yesterday and plans to do this once a week.

She also said that besides this group training, they have also been doing training on their own.

"It'll be mostly hiking for me because I like hiking different places," Huwaida said. "So may be on Sundays, I'll go to different jungles, but I'll stick to (Bukit) Shahbandar (at least) twice a week. "

Michelle, the Sports Scientist among them, added that she usually does "runs and strength training", while Anggie said that besides hiking Bukit Shahbandar twice a week, she has also been using the treadmill.

"But as we go along, we will get some advice from Michelle and see what else we can do, what we need to do so that we can feel ready for Kilimanjaro," Huwaida said.

The trio agreed that the challenge that Mount Kilimanjaro presented was not so much about overcoming fear of heights, but about reaching the peak without catching altitude sickness.

"We have to be careful of this because altitude sickness is (unpredictable)," she said. "We can't know who (will be hit) and how it will hit."

For those who are interested chip in, they can go to https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/huwaida, where "what has been donated will straightaway be used towards charity". The Brunei Times