Sixteen Maltese are preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest mountain, in a campaign to raise funds for the building of an orphanage in Kenya.

The expedition, which is being held for the fourth time by the Reaching Out Group, will be holding several fund-raising events before their departure.

Group leader Keith Marshall, coordinator of Reaching Out, said the participants started intensive training for this difficult expedition last October.

They hoped to raise €65,000 for the orphanage, which will take abandoned children, and children whose parents fall victim to Aids or tribal wars. The group members will pay for their own expenses to go to Africa. The climbers include 16-year-old students to 45-year-old professionals.

Mount Kilimanjaro is almost 6,000 metres high and is the highest free-standing mountain in the world. It presents an exhausting challenge, with climbers also risking hypothermia and frostbite at higher altitudes.

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