Altrincham man climbs Kilamanjaro (From Messenger Newspapers)

Altrincham man climbs Kilamanjaro for school in Burundi

12:00pm Saturday 25th August 2012 in News By Kate Banks, Reporter

AN Altrincham man who climbed Mount Kilamanjaro last month has raised over £,1000 for a school for orphans and widows in Burundi.

Adam Hughes, 28, of Acacia Avenue, was inspired to organise the climb by his friend and former colleague, Geoffrey Butera , who is from Burundi himsel,f and who’s charity, Africa Teaching Christian Service (ACTS), built the school.

Adam said: “I’ve been involved in charity work before but I wanted to do something more personal and tangible, so I organised the trip with a few friends.”

At time of print, Adam’s total on his Virgin Money Giving page stood at £1,046.88, which he said will go towards containers of food and clothes to the school, as well as other improvements.

Adam arrived in Tanzania on July 21 and began the five day ascent of the mountain the next day.

“The first three days were great,” said Adam. “We went up a kilometre each day and we saw lots of forest, wildlife and monkeys.

“Then on the fourth day a lot of us got altitude sickness, which is like having the worst hangover you could ever imagine!

“It was still an amazing experience though.”

Adam climbed all four peaks in the UK, including Snowdon and Ben Nevis, last year, and completed some high altitude walking in Machu Picchu in 2010, but considers Kilamanjaro a huge step up in more than one sense.

To donate to Adam’s page visit http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/adamhughes or http://acts.ijuru.com/ to find out more about the work of ACTS.