So this year my chum Kenny and I both turned 30. I had decided in my 30th year I wanted to do something BIG and as part of a 30 before 30 list, I decided to book a trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, luckily Kenny is bonkers and wanted to do it too. Further down the line our equally impulsive and adventurous friend Jo, decided to also tick the big mountain off her list too!

So on 22nd October 2015 as a team, we will head off to Tanzania to take on the mighty mountain over a 10 day trek. And we're bricking it! Just to add that not only is the big Kili 20,000 feet, the highest peak in Africa and highest free standing mountain in the World. It’s also twice as high as Kenny went in a plane to sky dive. And we are attempting to walk up it!

As well as being a massive adventure we have decided to raise funds for a charity that Kenny and I  are trustees of and that Jo has been a long time supporter of , The John John Trust. Over the past 10 years the trust has funded individual sponsorship and educational buildings, supplies and large scale projects in 5 African countries. What makes this charity so close to heart is that it is in memory of a good friend, John, who died aged 19. In his memory and with the support of hundreds we have managed to achieve wonderful things through the trust and the impact we have seen has been humbling. We decided in 2014 after 10 years, we would start to wind down the trust after seeing through all of our financial commitments to our beneficiaries. We committed to take on additional work that would be funded by our remaining fundraising activities and something that will carry the legacy of the charity. In addition to funding a full build of a school Library in Uganda we are putting our remaining support, and raising funds for St Mark's Primary School  in Uganda. 

Our good friend and fellow trustee Emily has just returned from volunteering as a doctor in Uganda. Whilst there Emily befriended one of the special care baby unit nurses, Edith, and her husband Charles. They showed Emily to the school they had set  up a few years back for orphans and vulnerable children in the area. They run it hand to mouth, with no regular income other than Edith's salary. They do an amazing job.There are about 150 kids and 7 teachers. 

Emily saw that the buildings were awful, really poor quality and falling down. Most classrooms are just wooden sheds,  the worst one being  the baby class where about 40 little ones have their nap on the floor of a cramped tiny room (see photos below). 

Emily brought this to the trustees attention as a consideration for funding as part of our legacy work and we all agreed that we couldn't think of a more worthwhile and fitting way to put our remaining funds and efforts towards, supporting the selfless work of individuals who are trying to make the lives of the children in their community a little brighter and a little safer. 

We will be raising money to put towards the school rooms and specifically the baby room to begin with. With the aim of funds being used to create safer and more comfortable space for the children to learn and feel at home. This work, along with the library project will remain in the communities for generations to come.

In 10 years we have grown TJJT to be something that is very special to everyone who has been involved. We believe that a lot of little action make a really big difference.

We would gratefully accept any donation you can make and please be reassured that none of the funds raised will go towards any of the trip costs, we have paid for all of this ourselves and our frightening bank balances can testify to that.

Thank you for anything you can give, I can promise you it will get our asses up that bloody big mountain!

Thanks so much

Ami, Kenny & Jo xx