A CAMPAIGN has been initiated for disabled foreigners to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, with the first group of Israelis who live in the United States of America starting the journey on Friday.
The tourists said they had been amazed to hear of various tourist attractions in Tanzania and in a special way wanted to link up with people with conditions that somehow limited their movements to conquer Mt Kilimanjaro– Africa’s highest.
The six-day journey started at Marangu Gate yesterday, with one of the participants, Shannon Barnes, saying they would show the world that they are able to do what other people do, conquering Mt Kilimanjaro as their biggest test to accomplish.
“We are eager to scale Mt Kilimanjaro. We want to show the world that disability is not inability and we can conquer the world’s highest free standing mountain. We are setting out on the mission here at Marangu today,” Barnes said.
The campaign for the disabled persons to hike Mt Kilimanjaro is coordinated by Popote Africa Adventure, whose top official, Sabina Kweka, said more groups of disabled people from different countries would be coming for the same purpose.
Kweka said the initiative had been made possible through collaboration of the company with different international institutions that deal with the disabled people.
They have since signed a contract to enable the disabled and other people with special needs from across the globe to come for tourism purposes.
“This is just part of a huge number of the disabled people. It is the first group that is being escorted by other people who are not disabled from America. There will be other big groups coming soon,” Kweka said.
