The team departs on 16 December and will be back on 23 December. Although the children are too young to understand the location and size of highest peak in Africa, Wessels and Du Plessis hope to inspire them in realising their own potential to succeed in life regardless of background or circumstances.
"We drew a picture of a massive mountain and as the donations came flooding in, we coloured in a different part of the mountain. All of it has now been coloured in thanks to the generosity of the public, community organisations and companies. One of the companies, Omni-HR, donated R50,000.
"We've included the children in the project right from the start and encouraged them to practice with us by climbing one of the small hills close to the school. They are now as excited as we are about Kilimanjaro!"
Preparation for the climb includes strenuous cardiovascular exercise, activities that come more naturally for Wessels than Du Plessis. "Being active is certainly not something that I'm used to," says Du Plessis. "Sandra is very adventurous and is always out on her mountain bike or taking part in triathlons. As for me, I haven't even done a two-day walk let alone climbed a mountain! I still have a lot of training to do before we leave, but I'm very excited about the challenge and look forward to reaching our goal."
The Môresterretjies crèche, established in 2010 on a farm called Morgenster that belongs to one of the members of Durbanville Hills Wines, takes care of the wellbeing and early learning development of farm workers' children between the ages of three and five. The preschool was started by community groups: Kenridge Dutch-Reformed Church; the social services organisation BADISA; and the Durbanville Hills Trust, established in 2000 by Durbanville Hills Wines to improve the quality of life of the workers and their children on surrounding farms.
The trust has put in place a number of community projects, mainly dealing with education and skills development. In recognition of the outstanding work the cellar has been doing in this regard, it received the Ethical Award at the international The Drinks Business Awards 2011.
If you would like to donate equipment, food supplies such as biltong, dried fruit and energy bars, or contribute to the 2016 fund already started, please contact Sandra or Melinda on 076 788 9955 or 084 668 1082 respectively.
Follow their journey on Facebook by visiting Môresterretjies Conquer Kili Fundraising Effort on Facebook.
