I am Andrew Olayo, currently an IB student at Waterford Kamhlaba and wanting to give something back. My Challenge is to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (5,895 metres) and raise Rand 58,950 for new WK Scholarships.
If I’m being completely honest, I’m not sure how I found myself mountain climbing. There was no particular factor that pulled me into this lifestyle but here we are now, it’s a crazy world we live in.
My mountain story began in July 2022 when my Chemistry teacher back then told me about an excursion to climb Mount Kenya. I was sceptical at first because I had only been on a handful of small hikes my entire life to that point, however, I was intrigued by this particular prospect and at the time impulsively signed up to be a part of the excursion. It’s safe to say that I do not regret my decision in any way whatsoever.
After scaling three peaks in the span of a month (2 practice runs and Mount Kenya itself), I knew that I would not be able to just stop there. Therefore, in 2023, I had my sights set on Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa. The stakes were of course much higher given the complexity of Kilimanjaro itself but I was up for the challenge nonetheless and successfully scaled my second mountain in as many years.
They say the third times’ the charm so I decided to go back to Kilimanjaro this year, and would like to turn this into a Kamhlaba Challenge so I can positively impact someone’s life whilst pursuing my passions. A win-win situation really so here we are………
As a student I would be very grateful for your support!
Andrew
To stay in touch and connected: androlay@waterforduwc.net
There are two payment platforms below – Payfast which works best with South African cards and PayPal for international cards. If for some reason the payment platforms fail to deliver for you, please do have a look at other routes for payment which can be found in the link below. The WK SA Trustees FNB account in Johannesburg (South African Bank Transfers) is a possible alternative and if you use that route please mention “Kilimanjaro Challenge” on the payment so the Treasurer will ensure it goes to my challenge!