Evelyn, who is an international percussionist, literally “played” her way up the mountain with her drumsticks to raise awareness of the challenges faced by Africa’s 52 million children and young people.

Her fellow climbers – who included a visually impaired Ugandan woman, a hearing impaired Ugandan man, a disabled Ugandan sportsman and two Kenyan men with physical disabilities caused by childhood polio –took on the climb ahead of International Day of Disabled People on Friday 3rd December.

Evelyn said:

“We know that rocks and stones do actually sing, they do create interesting sounds, so I took a pair of sticks because I was curious to find out what the mountain might sound like!”

“There are more than 52 million disabled children in Africa and too many are without hope. The only way we can make a sustainable difference is by including these children in Africa’s future development. I chose the challenge of climbing Kilimanjaro because I wanted to make a difference to our next generation.

“I have good reason to recognize the importance of education and inclusion for ALL children; it empowered me to make my own unique journey in life. The disabled children supported by AbleChildAfrica desperately need inclusion. Enabling these children means enrichment, quality of life, and reduced dependency for them, their families and communities.”

It wasn’t the first time that Evelyn played “Rock” music. Earlier this year she led a project using music to teach geology to children in Cumbria by building a “lithophone” which is a xylophone make of stone.

All the climbers hope their venture will highlight what disabled people can achieve when given the opportunity and help raise money for projects working with disabled children in Africa.

You can make a donation online here.

Tonight is the final night before the AbleClimbsAfrica team makes its assault on the summit.

We’ve talked about some of the disabled African climbers in the team including Florence, Fred and Shikuku.

We’ve also heard about the great contribution that AbleChildAfrica’s patron, Dame Evelyn Glennie is making by being on the climb, inspiring the team and bringer wider attention to our important work.

It’s also worth mentioning that there is a team of UK climbers who are on the climb and raising funds for our charity.

One is AbleChildAfrica supporter Espen Svendsen who is so committed to the cause that he is going to spend his 35th on the mountain this Thursday!

Espen, who lives in North London, was inspired to take part in the climb because he believes that every child should be given an equal opportunity in life.

He was also drawn by the idea of combining a personal challenge with raising money for a worthy cause – and he’s already raised £6,000 so well done Espen!

Speaking the final phase of the climb Espen says he is looking forward to Standing on the very top of Africa and expects to feel elated!

He says that climbing Kilimanjaro is the biggest challenge he’s taken on. Espen says that through life he’s had every opportunity to do what he wants, when he wants to and he realizes that everyone isn’t so fortunate.

He’e pleased to be returning to East Africa because he thinks it is a vibrant place, full of life and joy.

Before the climb he said “no doubt there’ll be a lot of sweat, tears and altitude sickness involved in this, but I’ll be darned if I don’t make it to the top”.

You can send Espen a very special birthday present this year by making a donation to AbleChildAfrica today.

As The BBC website says: “Kenyan Frederick Ouko and his Ugandan team-mate, Florence Ndagire, haven’t let their disabilities get in the way of their success”

You can hear their interview right now by clicking on the following link and forward the podcast to the final third of the programme.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bwg9d#synopsis

They are lead by our patron Dame Evelyn Glennie who says she has I chosen the challenge of climbing Kilimanjaro because she wants to make a difference to our next generation.

“There are more than 52 million disabled children in Africa and too many are without hope. The only way we can make a sustainable difference is by including these children in Africa’s future development” she said.

Evelyn has now met team of disabled African climbers including the remarkable Florence Ndagire, who has overcome her visual impairment to become of the the tiny proportion of disable girls in Africa who get an education and find meaningful employment.

Florence said:

“We are all tired of being viewed as objects of sympathy alone, what we really want is the chance to help ourselves and make choices about out own lives. So many well-meaning projects still fall short of this by offering young disabled people limited options, but AbleChildAfrica is different”

We wish Florence, Evelyn and the very best of luck as they set off on their remarkable journey today. If you want to show your support please making donation online by clicking here to donate http://www.justgiving.com/Evelyn-Glennie

The Challenge is to swim a one-mile swim in the heart of the capital http://www.greatswim.org/

The Royal Victoria Dock, venue of the British Gas Great London Swim, is situated in the East End of London near Canary Wharf in the London Borough of Newham.

The one-mile course will be set against the magnificent London skyline, with views of Canary Wharf and the rejuvenated London Docklands area, providing the perfect backdrop for a Great Swim.

For many the biggest challenge of the British Gas Great London Swim may be overcoming the fear of swimming in the Thames. However contrary to popular belief the water quality is in fact very good and is acknowledged to be one of the cleanest metropolitan rivers in the world. This is largely down to the Thames being tidal.

We we are really pleased to have Juliet, who is the daughter of one of our Trustees swimming for us in add of our life changing work with disabled children and, if you are impressed as we are by her attempt to swim in the Thames please consider contributing to her fundraising at http://www.justgiving.com/Juliet-Turnbull0

It was an honor and a privilege to be able to do this. I met inspiring and incredible people who are overcoming difficulties and barriers that no one should have to face.

I found out pretty quickly that the impact USDC has in the lives of disabled children in Uganda is dramatic. They literally offer a life line to children and families who are living lives which are simply unimaginable to me coming from England. I met physically disabled children who literally dragged themselves 5km a day in order to get to school and secure the education they knew would change their lives. I met parents who had given up everything to fight for the rights of their disabled children. I met school teachers who spent their free time going to the most remote of villages to find and enroll in school disabled children who were being hidden at home. In the areas where USDC does not yet work due to lack of funding people knew about the organisation and were pleading for USDC to come to their district.

In each of the districts we visited members of the Parent Support Group, which USDC supports. They took us to meet families whose entire family life had been changed. In Lira (North-East Uganda) we met a family who had nearly fallen apart when their little girl was born with club foot, something which would be corrected at birth where I come from. Left unchecked club foot can be completely debilitating. This little girl had stopped being able to walk, she was in huge pain, bullied by other children, and her parents were ostracised from the community where disability is seen as a curse. They had started to hide the little girl and had become desperate as they had no idea what the solution was. The parent support group found this family, USDC funded corrective surgery for her and counselled the family. They also work to change attitudes in the community by providing information about disability and are working with the family to get her into school when she is old enough. Without USDC this little girl’s entire life would have been very different.

I also made a point of visiting some of the districts where USDC does not operate to see if there was much of a difference. Uganda is made up of over 85 local districts. Currently USDC only has funding to operate in 15 of these. I noticed a dramatic and unnerving difference. In some of the districts where USDC is not present the levels of disabled children in school were shockingly low, the facilities were terrible if in existence at all and levels of health care and knowledge about disability were appalling. Human rights exist and Uganda has fantastic national policies on disability and yet people are still suffering. It is USDC’s hands on community based solutions that translate this into reality in the places where it can afford to work.

I met one 19 yr old visually impaired man who was studying with 7 year olds because his parents had refused to send him to school seeing no value in educating him. It was only when he reached adulthood and could openly defy his parents that he stared school. He was one of the most intelligent and determined young men I have ever met. Yet he has wished away his entire childhood so that he can make his own decisions and get an education. This would not have happened had there been a USDC presence in this district. Parent Support Groups would have been out in his communities finding and supporting him and his family. There would have been active work in local schools to ensure that disabled children get to school.

Traveling around Uganda showed me that a lot work still needs to be done. I also learnt that over the past 25 years USDC has worked up a holistic model of support which WORKS – where USDC is people’s lives are better; it is as simple as that. One of the parents put it like this “USDC came and brightened our lives. They have given us the power to stand for ourselves with our children and make things better.”