The Tanzanian government has specifically requested that funds raised by this event be spent on three key areas of need:
- Health- Environment
- Education
In addition to these criteria, it has also been asked that a focus be given to the Kilimanjaro region itself.
100% OF FUNDS GO DIRECTLY TO PLANT WITH PURPOSE, ONE DIFFERENCE, AND WORLDSERVE. 501c3 nonprofits
CHARITY #1: Plant With Purpose
Plant With Purpose began working in Tanzania in 2006 to address the severe problems of deforestation and poverty that beset rural communities. Traditionally, when families need farmland and fuel, wood for cooking or heating, they have resorted to cutting down trees in Tanzania’s original forests.
Plant With Purpose works with 38 different communities in the regions surrounding Mount Kilimanjaro to create alternatives to deforestation, and share the tools needed to empower local people replenish the land and improve their lives. Working with a local staff of dedicated Tanzanian foresters and agronomists, Plant With Purpose also promotes the use of wood-saving stoves, soil conservation techniques and water conservation. So far over 2,000 families have begun improved vegetable gardens and together planted over 1,000,000 trees in farming and reforestation efforts. As a result of these efforts, forests are being preserved and restored and rural communities have hope for a better future for their children.
Tanzania’s natural-growth forests are in trouble. So much so that Tanzania could lose it’s entire forest cover in under a century if more is not done to reduce the current rate of deforestation – which is estimated at around 1 million acres each year and growing.
Besides the loss of habitat for so many of Tanzania’s amazing flora and fauna and other land degradation issues caused by this deforestation, Mt Kilimanjaro itself is severely affected by this practise. For thousands of years, the Serengeti winds would sweep over the cool and humid forest air, carrying this moisture to the top of the mountain and replenishing the glaciers and snows on the summit. The deforestation on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro has contributed to the melting of it’s glaciers, as the hot and dry East African Trade Winds now stay dry and warm accelerating the demise of the snowcaps as this airflow reaches the summit. These dry winds also no longer replenish the glaciers, therefore aiding in the demise of these magnificent mountains of ice.
The current glaciers of Kilimanjaro, made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s short story “Snows Of Kilimanjaro” in 1936 (and movie released in 1952), are almost 12,000 years old. Hemingway once described the ice fields as “wide as all the world, great, high, and unbelievably white in the sun”. In the last century, these beautiful glaciers have lost 82 percent of their ice since 1912—the year their full extent was first measured.
According to the UN, Tanzania ’s population is growing by over 2% per year. This has led to an increasingly high rate of deforestation due to their reliance on charcoal as a cheap energy source for most households in towns and rural areas respectively. In addition to this, farmers are burning down and clearing forests to make ways for bigger crops to cater for this growth.
By reversing deforestation, Plant With Purpose helps the poor to restore productivity to their land to create economic opportunity out of environmental restoration. Since 1984 they have helped thousands of people in nearly 250 villages around the world to lift themselves out of poverty and reinvest in their future.
Plant With Purpose is thrilled to be chosen to partner with Wings Of Kilimanjaro and we are looking forward to the tremendous impact we will have together on lives and lands in the Kilimanjaro region.
plantwithpurpose.org
ONE will also identify schools in the Kilimanjaro region that are in need of resources, skills and infrastructure and deliver upon these needs accordingly.
Unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation are two of the biggest problems facing impoverished people in many parts of the world. Nearly one billion people are without access to safe water supplies and everyday millions walk miles just for something to drink.
In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is often unprotected and likely to make them sick.
In Tanzania, only one out of every two families has access to clean, safe drinking water.
Tanzania regularly experiences water shortages due to environmental and human factors. The region has two rainy seasons a year, the short wet season and the long wet season, and only a handful of natural water sources. In addition, poor water infrastructures and a lack of funds to develop existing water sources also contribute to inadequate amounts of clean, safe water for the Tanzanian people.
Many rural communities rely strictly on water sourced from boreholes and wells – putting them at risk of diarrhea and other waterborne illnesses. Since such diseases account for over half of the diseases affecting the population and more than 80 percent ofTanzania’s population living in rural areas – it is essential that Wings of Kilimanjaro focus on programs that help make clean water more accessible for people in the Kilimanjaro region.
The One foundation will be working together with the WOK team to provide sustainable and community led water and sanitation programmes in 2013. Together, the teams will work through local implementing partners to ensure that the most appropriate and lasting clean water solutions are implemented in the communities most in need. Together, with Wings of Kilimanjaro we will help provide responsive and sustainable solutions to those in need in Tanzania.
onedifference.org
Each child represents a future, the future of the community, and the future of Tanzania
Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world. It has over 1,000,000 children who have been orphaned as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and many thousands who live on the streets. These orphans are often malnourished and at times go hungry due to a lack of in adequate food supplies (nutrition) and access to clean water. Others have stopped attending school due to a lack of the money to pay for tuition or basic school supplies or in the case of older girls the cultural requirement to care for their younger siblings.
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
- Nelson Mandela
Taking in to consideration that the average daily income in Tanzania is less than a dollar, education can be simply seen as an unattainable luxury. The One Foundation will be working together with the Wings Of Kilimanjaro team to assist in identifying key areas of need in local education programs in the Kilimanjaro region.
CHARITY #3: WORLDSERVE
“One cannot help but be very impressed by the vision of Wings of Kilimanjaro – an extraordinary adventure travel and sports event of extreme paragliding from Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa. However, it is not just a unique stage for adventurers, but a great opportunity to help some of the neediest communities in Tanzania to receive safe, clean water and other vital assistance. I am delighted to give my support to the Wings of Kilimanjaro initiative and all those that will take part as they raise funds for charities serving communities in Tanzania.”
Douglas M. Pitt
Goodwill Ambassador, United Republic of Tanzania
WorldServe International is a community development Charity working in close cooperation with Maji-Tech, a social enterprise it founded in 2002. Headquartered in Arusha, near the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Maji-Tech specializes in safe water projects requiring deep Borehole drilling and the installation of water pumping, storage and delivery systems.
“Maji” is the kiswahili word for ‘water’.
