Hi, my name is Patrick. I am a Third Year student at Oatlands College in Stillorgan, Co Dublin.

I am very lucky to be one of 16 students in my school chosen for a volunteer trip to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania in October 2025 to help support the Teretta Foundation www.terettafoundation.com.

The Teretta Foundation is a non-profit self sustainable project dedicated to helping vulnerable children through education, healthcare and infrastructure. The Foundation will eventually house 96 at risk children in dorm style accommodation. They have already built one classroom, a dormitory, and can currently provide a home for 48 children.

On the trip, our TY group will be supporting the Foundation's work by helping to build a new classroom, and buying and delivering essential supplies to local people in need. We will visit a disability centre with the outreach organisation Maisha, where they build made-to-measure wheelchairs for children in the area. We will also visit a local maternity hospital where we will provide much needed supplies to new mothers and their babies.

At the end of our trip, we will have the opportunity to spend two days climbing Mount Kilimanjaro!

The €3,500 I am hoping to raise will go towards essential expenses for our trip. This includes the cost of travel to Tanzania, accommodation and food for the 13 days, and the hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro. It also includes a direct donation to the charity to pay for essential supplies and will help to support local jobs.

I will be helping to organise and participate in a lot of fundraising events over the coming months with my classmates to fund participation in this amazing experience and also to support the Teretta Foundation. I also hope to get a summer job to help fund my travel. I already organised a Christmas tree collection locally to start my fundraising.

I am doing a sponsored walk up Bray Head on 2 March with our group and we have plans for a cycle challenge in April, bag packing and many other activities.

Any donation you can make is very much appreciated.

Thank you.

Patrick