Challenger Profile

I am a clinical medicines management pharmacist and worked in the NHS for over 22 years, - I have loved the most part of it- Yes, the grueling work but especially the good friends that I’ve made along the way. I am a mother of 3 awesome boys and my husband who’ve always supported me no matter what hare-brained ideas I always come with (like this challenge). I have 4 sisters and 2 brothers who are so proud of me for attempting this challenge.

I have awesome friends who are more like sisters and so when one of them, Uju asked me to embark on this Kilimanjaro challenge as a birthday gift for her jubilee year, I laughed my head off. Climb a mountain! Me!! At the same time I was also in grief mourning my recently departed dad so climbing a mountain was the least thing on my mind.

But she was climbing for a children's charity organisation, a cause close to my heart. How could I refuse. I had to find a way to get myself on that mountain with her- and so here we are.

I have come to know about compassion UK through Uju and the more I learnt, the more my heart sang as this was a charity that supported a cause that means so much to me. I set up Angel Rays Foundation 12 years ago, a non-profit with a simple and personal approach to help provide basic human needs for survival like food, clean drinking water and improved infrastructure to motherless babies orphanage in Enugu, Eastern Nigeria.

Getting involved in this challenge is far greater than me. You see, I’ve never been the outdoor or gym kind of person so I will definitely be out of my comfort zone but my motivation will be that every step I take to reach the summit is a reminder of that one child who will benefit.

I believe that life doesn’t owe us anything but we can make a difference to the world with acts of compassion for people in need, especially our vulnerable children living in poverty. Our compassion is the promise of their hope renewed.

I’m not optimistic that this is going to be sufficient to conquer world poverty but I’m so proud to be climbing with all the awesome people in my Kilimanjaro group who are willing to keep scratching at the surface with the hope that one day, one child’s life at a time, it will be deep enough to make a big difference.