As a British child growing up in Dubai, Charlie Tregoning, 11, has travelled to many places, but Zanzibar, where he visited two years ago with his family, stands out in his mind.
Charlie spent his days racing along the beach and playing football with the local children. While he was having fun, he wondered why they were not in school. That is when he found out they could not afford the uniforms and stationery they needed to attend. He wanted to help.
Two years later, Charlie is about to head back to Tanzania to climb Mount Kilimanjaro with his father, Harry. They are raising funds for Larchfield Children’s Home, which helps children just like those who Charlie befriended on his trip.
The non-profit organisation, based in the remote district Mkuranga, about 60km south of Dar es Salaam, was set up in 2011 as a response to the plight of Tanzanian children who had been abandoned by their parents.
Tanzania’s orphan crisis
The country is experiencing a major orphan crisis, with more than 2.5 million children living without one or both parents, according to the World Forgotten Children Foundation. The reasons include high poverty rates, natural disasters, conflict and the continued impact of HIV and Aids, as well as other diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.
Larchfield’s aim is to provide a secure shelter for homeless children and foster an environment where they can reach their full potential. Inspired by this mission, Charlie is using the platform Yallagive.com to raise funds in the coming weeks in association with Dubai charity Gulf for Good and Dubai-based Mount Kilimanjaro expert Sean Burgess, who founded global expedition company Impact Adventures.
Harry said so far they have raised Dh32,000 ($8,710), although that is a long way from their goal of Dh200,000. They plan to distribute 75 per cent of that to Larchfield Children’s Home, 15 per cent to Gulf for Good and 10 per cent to Dubai’s International Humanitarian City for its emergency response work.
“They are doing some really interesting projects to make Larchfield self-sufficient,” Harry told The National. However, many are half-built and need additional funds to complete the work. “One is they’re trying to build a fish farm there. It’s miles from the sea, but the aim is that the fish will feed the children and they’ll sell the excess to the local hotels, so there will be some increased income.”
The orphanage also wants to encourage water resource management and other agricultural programmes to support a nourishing staple diet and organic supplements from arable and non-arable farming, and to offer skills training and employment within the local community.
'Incredible’ journey
Mr Burgess, who has climbed the Tanzanian volcano more than a dozen times, was keen to get involved. “What is so special about this project is that Charlie’s not just doing it for himself,” Mr Burgess told The National. "He’s doing it because he wants to raise money for a charity, which for an 11-year-old, that sense of humility he has to look beyond himself in a world that seems to be quite self-absorbed, is just incredible."
Charlie and Harry, who is going to support his son, leave Dubai on February 15 and will start climbing the next day. It will take five days to reach the summit, then another two to come back down. “I think it’s going to be powered by Haribo,” Harry said with a laugh. “I think [Charlie] will bound away in the hills, but then as we get higher up, it’s going to get more tricky … hopefully I’ll be feeling all right and then my job will be to keep him going.”
Mr Burgess, who works with schools in the UAE to organise outdoor education and adventure trips, said Charlie was the perfect age to take on the challenge. “From a physical point of view, I always say that the kids run up the mountain because, unlike us oldies … we have achy knees and achy backs.”
Mental and physical preparation
Charlie has been training at Wadi Shawka in the UAE with a weighted backpack. He has also trained in cold weather and snow in England, where he attends boarding school.
“My parents also took us to visit Larchfield over the Christmas holidays to meet the children and understand everything better,” Charlie said. “Knowing who and what I am really climbing for I think will spur me on in the harder moments.”
It is also important to Mr Burgess to get children off their digital devices and into the wild. “Our whole philosophy is getting kids enjoying being outdoors and building those life lessons – teamwork, leadership, communication, resilience – that I think we’re starting to lose now with technology. We’re doing a lot more with schools now, because we want kids in the UAE to have experiences like this.”
For Charlie, ultimately, it is about pushing himself to help those orphaned children, as well as “spending special time with my father and making everyone who has supported me and helped me proud”.
