Climbing Kili for kids with cancer

Branded Danone Clover Kids ‘Caring for Our Children’ campaign flags displaying sponsors’ logos were carried to the top of Kilimanjaro and photographed. Flags and photos were presented to the sponsors when the team was back in South Africa and recovered from the effort.

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Mariano Lozano, Tracey Lee, Alan Needham and Clive Freeman aimed to reach the 5985-metre summit and set off on 16 March 2008 to begin at the Mechame route with its steep forest paths, easy scrambling and airy ridges to reach the icy summit on the 23 March 2008.

Alan Needham reports that the team took four and a half days to reach the top and one and a half to descend. “We spent long and arduous hours walking at a snail's pace,” Needham reports, “completing the Kili shuffle and avoiding the dreaded altitude sickness. We passed through a spectacular range of scenery as we approached the elusive summit, which was often wreathed in mist and cloud. The tremendous … effort [was] rewarded when we summited at 10 o'clock on the morning of the fifth day.”

“…[W]e will always recall the success of raising funds for children and their families in times of suffering and need.”

The daunting climb was the first initiative for the 2008 Danone Clover Kids ‘Caring for Our Children' campaign, and it's especially noteworthy in that the four adventurers conceived and launched the attempt on their own account. Fellow employees showed their support by contributing through the Danone Clover website. The idea was that the higher the team got, the larger the contributions would become. Small wonder they made it all the way to Uhuru Peak! Suppliers to Danone Clover also showed their support by sponsoring R6000 towards the challenge.

Stéphane Jacqmin, Danone Clover's Marketing Director, says that R130,000 was raised by the event. “We rightly predicted this to be a remarkably successful fund raising event for our 2008 campaign,” Jacqmin says, adding that as in previous years, the campaign will be linked to the winter sales of Danone Clover yoghurt, dairy fruit juice blend, maas and Ultramel Custard sold.

“We have committed ourselves to a donation of R1,5 million this year, and the money will be used to finance the fifth ... CHOC House, which is planned for East London. Consumers can also contribute R10 to the [cause] by sending the words DCK by SMS to 38277 on the on-pack sticker on participating products.”

Each CHOC House is a sanctuary for children with cancer. Accommodation is offered to those who live too far away to travel in and out every day for their treatment. Danone Clover has over the past four years raised funds for CHOC Houses in Bloemfontein, Soweto, Cape Town and Pretoria. Thousands of children with cancer and their parents have benefited from staying at the houses, a home away from home.