Story

Introduction:

My name is Charlie Tregoning; I am 11 years old, have been brought up in Dubai and go to Ludgrove School in England. In March 2023 my family and I went on holiday to Zanzibar, which was my favourite holiday ever, and we spent a lot of time playing with the children there. What I did not realise at first was that these children were always available to play with me because they were unable to go to school. Whilst the schooling is free there, children cannot go to school without uniform and many cannot afford the uniform, so, sadly, they just don’t go to school.

I wanted to raise money for this cause but wasn’t sure how to go about it. When my parents were introduced to one of the founders of Larchfield Orphanage in Tanzania, we realised this was the perfect place to raise money for, to help these children with their ongoing needs for education and facilities. 

The Challenge:

We had considered taking on the climbing wall equivalent of Kilimanjaro but were then spurred on by an adventurous friend who said, “forget the wall, climb the mountain!” So we are! My father and I will set off in February 2025 to scale Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. At 5,895 metres, Kilimanjaro is Africa’s highest mountain. We are training across UAE and in the UK too. I am nervous but very excited about our challenge.

Charity Project:

In 2011, as a response to the desperate plight of Tanzanian children who have been abandoned by parents – either by reason of disease and death, divorce or other incapacity to maintain the family unit, a group of Tanzanian private citizens decided to register a children’s home and to call it, “Larchfield”.

Their aim is to provide a happy, safe and secure home for homeless children, to foster an environment where each child can flourish and develop to his or her full potential regardless of race, sex, religion or other defining characteristics. They would like to promote self-reliance by encouraging life sustaining water resource management and agricultural programmes supporting a nourishing staple diet and organic supplements from arable and non–arable farming; and to provide a focus for cultural community projects and to offer profitable skills and employment within the community.

FUNDRAISING:

We ask you to give generously and we are visiting the orphanage in late December to meet the children and see how our fundraising will support their ongoing needs and further their education.

This challenge is held in association with the local not-for-profit Gulf for Good, whose purpose is to change the lives of underprivileged children around the world.

The breakdown of how donations are distributed is as follows:

- 75% of funds raised go to the Larchfield Children's charity

- 15% of funds raised go to Gulf for Good (a not-for-profit in the UAE and registered UK charity) for their sustainability

- 10% of funds raised go to International Humanitarian City for their emergency response work

IACAD licence no: PRHCE-003172571

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