It's crazy but it's true! During September we'll be attempting to summit Mount Kilimanjaro (yikes!). As inexperienced climbers this will be a huge personal challenge but it does give us a fantastic opportunity to raise some funds for a really worthwhile charity. We are funding our trip ourselves so every penny donated will help people in real need.

Two years ago, a friend of ours left behind her life in Wiltshire to join the team at Doctors Worldwide based in East Africa.  It is an independent charity, funded entirely by private donations, and we can't think of a better way of giving something back to the wonderful people who will be accompanying us on our adventure than by raising funds for a charity that will help their local communities.  After all, we will be attempting to summit their iconic mountain.  

Please give whatever you can to help us reach our target - every pound will be well spent.  For example, £20 will buy life saving antibiotics for up to ten children, and £50 would fund the safe delivery of two babies and provide medical care to mother and child.  So if we hit our target of £1,000 imagine how many people will benefit.  I've provided more information about Doctors Worldwide below if you are interested to know more about their work.

So..... on to the challenge of our big climb!

Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest free standing mountain in the world, standing proud at 5,895 metres (19,341 feet) and many people are unsuccessful in their summit attempt!  We are preparing to encounter all four seasons during our time on the mountain with temperatures ranging from a scorching 27C at the bottom to a freezing -29C at the summit!  Our trek will take 8 days walking/climbing, averaging 6 hours a day and we will have the major issue of altitude sickness to deal with too.  We set off on 22 September and hope to summit at Uhuru Peak during the lunar eclipse on 28 September.

We will be tackling the Lemosho route to the summit, a relatively new route and known for its beauty and remoteness. 

Our training regime has included trekking the Yorkshire 3 Peaks and Ben Nevis and over the next couple of weeks we will be tackling both Mount Snowdon and Scafell Pike.  Equally challenging has been a seven day green juice detox (don't ask!).

Our mascot for this adventure will be Garfield our bear who accompanies us on all our travels (see photo) but who is a novice climber too!  If we make it to the top (and hopefully we will!) we will send all our supporters a photo of Garfield at the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro.  How can you resist such an offer?  

Thanks again for reading our story and for every penny donated.  Thank you!  Thank you!

Annie and Gary xx

Doctors Worldwide focuses on creating long term and sustainable health solutions for communities and provides medical relief and humanitarian aid where it is most needed. Set up in 2000 by a group of international medics, Doctors Worldwide have undertaken numerous projects across Asia, Middle East, Central America and Africa with a simple aim: to help local communities to develop, build and sustain health services such as maternity clinics and hospitals.  They have also responded to many of the serious emergencies and disasters of recent years including the East African famine; floods in Pakistan; Haiti; earthquake in Kashmir; and the 2005 Asian Tsunami in Sri Lanka.

None of this work would be possible without the generosity of donations and volunteers and we hope you will want to join us in supporting this great cause. Doctors Worldwide aim to help provide the basic human right of access to healthcare - can you imagine how you would cope without the services we all receive through our NHS?  We can't. Doctors Worldwide realise that long term sustainability comes about by being committed to local communities for the longer term and their cultural approach allows them to understand how things get done locally.  They do their best to ensure that all donations are spent transparently and wisely and aim to tell all donors where their funds have been spent.  If you would like more info please visit www.doctorsworldwide.org