In early September I will be flying out to Tanzania with a group of friends to climb Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for Standing Voice (www.standingvoice.org) which focuses on improving the lives of people afflicted with albinism in Tanzania.

We are taking the Lemosho Glades route up Kilimanjaro that takes eight days from start to finish: six and a half days of ascent and a day and a half of descent. We will be starting in the low jungle lushlands of Tanzania and building up to the rocky, glacial ice and snow at the peak.

On the last day of the ascent we set off for the summit at midnight for the final 6 hour climb in total darkness to arrive as dawn breaks on the summit of the tallest mountain in Africa: "The Roof of Africa".

Kilimanjaro is no easy feat. Only 66% of those that attempt it actually make it to the summit primarily due to altitude sickness as it peaks at 5,896m (19,340 ft)!

I fully intend to make it and have already begun an intense and gruelling training programme to make myself as fit as possible for the climb.

At the toughest moments on the mountain and particularly the night climb to the summit I will focus my mind on the suffering of these people afflicted with albinism and try and imagine how hard their daily lives are in struggling with disability, abandonment and ostracisation. I will especially focus on the plight of those children abandoned by their own parents.

Please note that 100% of whatever you choose to donate goes directly to the charity as I have personally paid my own costs in association with the climb itself.

About albinism:

Albinism is an inherited condition that affects the production of melanin in the body.  People with albinism are extremely vulnerable to skin cancer – shockingly, in Tanzania where the UV index is very high, 98% of the albino population die from skin cancer before the age of 35.

Worse still, those born with albinism in Africa are likely to be ostracised and violently abused by their community. This problem is at its worst in Tanzania, where – since 2007 – 75 people with albinism have been brutally killed for their body parts to be used in witchcraft rituals, widely believed to bestow good fortune and wealth.

Those who have survived have been left mutilated and since the killings began, more and more children with albinism have been abandoned by their parents and left to live in government camps for their protection.

Standing Voice is a force for change, a glimmer of hope for these ostracised people.

The charity is currently focusing its work on:

*   Launching a comprehensive camp refurbishment and restructuring program to vastly improve the abhorrent conditions in government compounds established to house abandoned children with albinism
 
 *   Continuing to grow the network of regular skin cancer screenings and clinics into new districts across Tanzania, reaching 3000 people with albinism. An average of 10% will go on to receive further treatment

 *   Implementing visual impairment screening for 3000 people with albinism across Tanzania,  referring those selected for specialist ophthalmological treatment

 *   Completing building work on the Ukerewe Umoja Training Centre, which will benefit over 480 people with albinism and an estimated 2,000 people without albinism each year

 *   Screening the film ‘In the Shadow of the Sun’ in hundreds of remote towns and villages across Tanzania where the murders have been most prevalent, reaching thousands of community members. The film outreach team, delivering talks alongside the screenings, will include albino rights activist Josephat Torner (Standing Voice Director of Advocacy), leading dermatologists and a well-respected traditional healer /witch-doctor.

 *   Exploring new areas of research in collaboration with partners (primarily dermatologists and other medical professionals) to promote informed and effective advocacy in Tanzania

 *   Delivering a life changing  education to 200 more children with albinism

Please sponsor me to take on Mount Kilimanjaro for this worthy cause and make a real, tangible impact on these people's lives.