2 February 2004

PRISON TEAM REACHES SUMMIT
UNESCO Culture of Peace Project

A Prison Service expedition team have reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro – Africa’s highest mountain.  Eight of the 12 strong team made it to the top at around dawn (local time) this morning despite blizzard conditions and temperatures of around –25C.

Speaking from Kilimanjaro the team leader, Colin Ward, said that everyone was tired, battered and bruised but overwhelmed to have completed this stage of the expedition. 

The team flew to Nairobi on 20 January and first climbed Mount Kenya before attempting Kilimanjaro.

They have been preparing for the expedition for over a year tackling peaks in the Mournes, Donegal and Connemara as well as undertaking grueling personal training schedules. 

In between climbing mountains the group took time out to deliver much needed education packs, under the auspices of UNESCO, to a small village school on the Tanzanian border run by Lisburn missionaries, the Reverend John and Margaret McCammon.  They also visited a mobile health clinic to donate £5000 they raised in the months prior to their departure.  The clinic provides vital medical care including an immunisation programme for local children in this remote area of Kenya and again there is a local link as the clinic is run by Ronnie and Maggie Briggs from Lisburn.

The team owes a  large debt of gratitude to British Airways for their support and assistance.

The expedition is supported by the Northern Ireland Prison Service Sports Association.

Don McBurney, Director, UNESCO Youth Ambassador for the Culture of Peace, commented that the team deserves much praise for a brilliantly executed expedition and one which has allowed a coming together of agencies and companies  to enable many children to benefit from both financial support, health care and educational supplies. Congratulations were also received from the UK Permanent Delegation to UNESCO in Paris.