Spotlight
Kenyan Boy to Climb 3 Mountains to Raise Funds for his School to Buy a Bus Lang'ata West Primary School, where he studies, has over 1,500 pupils who either walk every day to school or have to use public means to get to school. This poses a dangerous situation for the children going to school. The students often get to school exhausted.
J
oshua Kimkung, an 11 year old Kenyan boy, is preparing to conquer 3 Mountains: Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Meru and Mt Kenya in a bid to get his school get a bus. For Joshua, hiking is not a new thing for him, just last ye a r , he s uc c e s s f ully summited Mt Kenya to the peak. It took him 6 days, a not so popular hiking route, a positive and enthusiastic spirit to reach the peak at only 10 years old. “I climbed Mount Kenya for the first time in 2019,” Joshua says, adding he “decided to climb Mount Kenya after I had tasted the beauty and adventure of Le Satima.” Before the thrilling adventure, Joshua had “hiked various hills in the country” to prepare his “system both physically and mentally.” The prep hikes included hiking Elephant Hill, Rurumeria and Ngong Hills. The Mount Kenya climb took him six days, from 21st to 26th November 2019. “We used Kamweti Route, which is not as popular with mountain climbers as the other routes. It was snowing on as we climbed higher, and one of my cherished memories is walking in the snow and scooping it with my gloved hands.I had a very supportive team of experienced hikers, and my mum was also with me,” Joshua narrates. His desire to summit 3 mountains stems from the want to raise funds for his school to buy a school bus. Lang'ata West Primary School, where he studies, has over 1,500 pupils who either walk every day to school or have to use public means to get to school. This poses a dangerous situation for the children going to school. The students often get to school exhausted. Joshua lives far from school and there are challenges with the private
BY SOPHIA NJERI He wakes up at 5.45am and runs for about 3.5km 4 times a week. Every afternoon he plays football from 2pm 5pm 4 times a week and when not playing football he goes for an evening run. Joshua will be the first 11 year old boy to attempt to summit 3 mountains back to back. His mother, Martha Mugi Kimkung, photographer Danson Njoroge and c ousin T re v or P e te r Tumbula will accompany Joshua on his trail on the 3 mountains. Mt Kilimanjaro will take 8 days to scale, Mt Meru will take 5 days to scale and Mt Kenya will take 5 days to scale. Joshua has had prep hikes which prepares his body for the ultimate climb. Last year in January 2019, he started the New Y ear with the Kijabe Waterfall Chase. It is located in Kijabe Kinale Forest, at an altitude of 2600m. owned buses. The bus that Joshua uses This moderate hike took him about 7 carries other children from other schools hours. The place is beautiful, and it has a waterfall. Him and his having a total of 4 different schools in the magnificent same bus. The bus has to go to and from team walked through a village, along the each school which takes quite some time railway track, and higher up a hill to see and sometimes the bus may leave without the waterfall before ascending further to some pupils due to lack of follow up from the summit. In March 2019, he hiked Rurimeria in the coordinator, this has happened to the Aberdare Range. It took about 9 Joshua several times. During last year’s hike to Mt Kenya, hours to climb to 3860m. Later, in May Joshua raised a total of Ksh 143,940, same year, he hiked the bamboo trail of which has been used to organise and Elephant Hill. This would lead to another engage new logistics for the current hike in September, which combined campaign towards 3 summits. This year Elephant Hill and Mount Kinangop. This he decided to exceed his limits and 34km hike helped him understand his summit 3 mountains on the December 1st body better, as he got closer to the Mount to the 23rd and raise the full amount Kenya expedition. Other places he has hiked are Le Satima, Sleeping Warrior & needed. Joshua will be hosting a virtual dinner Ugali Hills, and Ngong Hills. Le Satima on the 27th of September to facilitate he’s was his first hike, in 2018. It is within scale up Mt Kilimanjaro. Attempting to Aberdare National Park. summit 3 mountains back to back will be Y ou can follow Joshua’s hike on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and via hiswebsite a challenge, which Joshua is preparing for. www.joshuakimkung.com/home
22 I Inversk Magazine I OCTOBER 2020
