Illawarra residents support African community through What's your Kilimanjaro challenge

What's your Kilimanjaro by Forever Projects is an annual fundraising campaign which sees the community picking a challenge and symbolically trying to conquer their mountain, all in the effort to financially support female Tanzanian business owners.

Penelope Thompson, 11, has been rallying for the cause for years now with her eight-year-old brother Angus Thompson joining her last year.

The siblings have taken on the challenge of swimming 18km in a month with the goal of raising $1200 by the end of October.

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"We are swimming 18km because it is three times the height of Mount Kilimanjaro," Penelope said.

With 7km completed so far Penelope and Angus are making the task look easy, with hopes of going past the 18km mark.

Their mother Leia Thompson is proud of her children's generous efforts.

"I'm very proud of them, they're challenging themselves to work hard and they're putting in time and effort to raise money," she said.

Wollongong school teacher Stacey Walsh has teamed up with her children Isaac and Maddi to walk 62km this month.

"We are walking 62km which is equivalent in distance to the climb up Mount Kilimanjaro," Ms Walsh said.

The PDHPE teacher has known and been inspired by the Forever Projects founders Mark and Anna Dombkins for years and decided it was time for her to step up.

"It's pretty inspiring what they do, one family has been able to invoke so much change," Ms Walsh said.

In the past, Ms Walsh invited Mr Dombkins and his adopted daughter Shay Dombkins to her classroom to speak about their journey.

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"I also teach Year 7 religion and in religion they study a unit called affirming human dignity so the What's your Kilimanjaro challenge fits perfectly with the whole idea of encouraging our students to do what they can to help others when they are in a position to do so," she said.

About 30 students from the school have signed up for the challenge.

Mr Dombkins said the What's your Kilimanjaro fundraiser came into being in 2018 when a community member decided to climb Sublime Point in Austinmer.

"Sublime Point has a 300m elevation so he decided to do it 20 times in a week to match the measurements of Mount Kilimanjaro and he got his friend to sponsor him, his company matched it."

The community member ended up raising $28,000 and that was the start of the annual campaign.

"Since we began, we've raised $560,000 and are hoping to reach the million mark in the next two years," Mr Dombkins said.

Mr Dombkins expressed his gratitude for the community for coming forward and getting involved in whatever way they can.

"It is great to know that so many young people are learning to be generous and thinking about other people from such a young age. "

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