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.

The feedback from the training, which was to help exsisting teachers to work with children with special needs more effectively, was excellent and we are so grateful to Katherine for giving her time and energy to make the training happen. Just before Christmas Kat also arranged for an art day for some of the disabled children whom we work with – As you can see from this picture they seem to have had an amazing time! Some of their work will be on show at an event in London which will take place in June!

Want to go the Extra-Mile to help Disabled Children in Africa? Get in touch with maryann [at] ablechildafrica.org.uk and keep watching this space for details aboout more ways to help!