Climb for Leaders is delighted to announce its support of CENIT, the Center for the Working Girl, in the south of Quito, Ecuador. The Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a Catholic order, founded CENIT in 1991 in response to their observations that the prevalence of child laborers in Quito had increased greatly due to urban migration, debt crisis, and an increase in poverty. To learn more about CENIT, please see this short video on CENIT.

They sought to give these children the necessary skills, talents, and education so that they could find work away from the streets and hopefully break the cycle of child laborers. Over nineteen years later, CENIT continues to be run by a group of nuns from the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. These nuns work in conjunction with about 35 Ecuadorian paid professionals (including teachers, administrators, psychologists and social workers), and around fifty foreign and national volunteers in order to locate the child workers, befriend them and their families, and eventually integrate them into an educational program. CENIT helps working girls (and boys) and their families overcome grinding poverty and improve their quality of lives through education and job training, nutrition programs, health and social services, psychological help, and recreation.

On a recent visit to the school, Karim H. Ismail, co-founder of the Climb for Leaders, interviewed Sister Blanca Rosa Chuquimarca. She said, “The majority of the children have suffered from various types of abuse, be it psychological, physical or sexual. As a result they often have deep-rooted problems. We at CENIT believe that in order to achieve a real change in the life of any individual, it is necessary to work with the child, his or her family, and the community. As a result, despite the fact that CENIT’s title is “The Center for the Working Girl”, CENIT helps children and family members regardless of gender, although it continues to place special emphasis on helping female children due to the fact that they tend to have a disproportionately large workload. CENIT is able to be effective due to the variety of programs we have, all of which confront the problems of working children, each with a different emphasis.”

Sister Rosa continues: “We are delighted to have the support of the Climb for Leaders, who we are confident can help us meet some of our key program objectives. Our community health clinic provides general health services to about 2,000 patients every year. The schools give educational and life skills to around 250 children per year, many of whom would not otherwise have the opportunity. The street outreach program helps over 190 children and parents by bringing educational recourses to the streets, and our drop-in-tutoring center (CEA) provides tutoring to about 70 children, helping them integrate into the school system. The time that Climb for Leaders students can volunteer here, and any funds they can contribute, will help sustain and strengthen our existing programs, some of which we sometimes have to trim back due to a shortage of funds, and growing costs.”

The #1 question we get asked is: how does your international leadership program differ from what many schools currently offer their students, either on their own, or via a service providor?

So we put together this comparison that shows how we differ along a host of key factors. In addition to these substantial differences, one of the key differentiators is our fanatical emphasis on safety, risk management and customer service. And above all, the role we assume with schools is that of a true partnership, which is essential to successfully pulling off  the programs we offer, and achieve the benefits we have seen schools and students enjoy.

- Essay
- Physical training
- Fund-raising
- Expedition
- Exploration
- Service project
- Environmental sustainability
- Wide-spread benefits
- Program costs
- Preparation and length

Please go here to access

>>>>  Climb for Leaders Ultimate Student Challenge – comparison with other programs <<<<

We’d be pleased to discuss this comparison in more detail.

Climb for Leaders is delighted to announce a partnership with the Hawkers Market Girls Centre (HMGC) in Nairobi, Kenya. The HMGC was created in 1993 to empower young women between the ages of 12-21 years from the Mathare slums and other similar areas, enabling them to become educated, self sufficient, as well as emotionally and physically secure.

The HMGC provides its students with a safe and secure class environment that feels more like a home than a school. The centre offers students FREE meals and lessons daily, and opportunities in skill development, as well as the opportunity to become a part of a greater organization. For as part of the Kenya Girl Guide Association, the students benefit from a life-long sisterhood, improved self esteem, and a greater sense of self worth.

“On a recent visit to Nairobi, we were delighted to learn first-hand from the program coordinators of the successes—and challenges—that the program had. Young girls from poverty stricken backgrounds now have a great opportunity to future independence and a solid livelihood, which will make a huge impact to a growing number of families,” says Narmin K. Ismail, co-founder of Climb for Leaders. Read the rest of this entry »

Climb for Leaders is delighted to announce a new destination: a three week trip to Vietnam for high school students from independent schools in North America.

Says Narmin K. Ismail from Climb for Leaders, “Students will get to experience a challenging six day trek, culminating in hiking to the top of Mt. Fansipan, the highest mountain in Indochina, at 3 143 m. It is located in the Lào Cai province in Northwest Vietnam, 9 km southwest of Sa Pa Township in the Hoang Lien Son Mountain Range. Fansipan is dubbed “the Roof of Indochina”; it is approved as one of the very few eco-tourist spots of Vietnam, with about 2,024 floral varieties and 327 faunal species”

She adds, “They will also spend part of their trip making a difference in the lives of school childern aged 11 to 18 in Ho Chi Minh City through hands-on-participation with the Saigon Children’s Charity, which was established in 1992 to help children escape from the cycle of poverty by giving them an education and an opportunity to enhance their life. And they will get to experience the wonderful history of Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon and other destinations, which are replete with UNESCO designated sites.” Read the rest of this entry »

“In all past expeditions, we have struggled with how to involve more students than just the ones participating in the climbs,” says Narmin K. Ismail, co-founder of the Climb for Leaders. “We recently added a new component via www.Kiva.org: the ability to lend funds to help alleviate poverty, via the Internet, from a portion of the funds that students raise. This way, hundreds of students in the school can each lend funds to entrepreneurs based on geography, gender or other criteria, which greatly enhances their world view,” she adds. “Since the funds are loans and not donations, when the loans are repaid (98.5% of loans are repaid), funds can be loaned again, or loaned out by another student the next year, thus involving even more students.”

Kiva’s mission is to connect people, through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

Kiva empowers individuals to lend to an entrepreneur across the globe. By combining microfinance with the internet, Kiva is creating a global community of people connected through lending. Read the rest of this entry »

Climb for Leaders is pleased to partner with Amani Children’s Home in Moshi, Tanzania, on the foothills of Kilimanjaro (see http://amanikids.org/).

Amani is dedicated to the protection of Tanzania’s most vulnerable population: street-children and AIDS orphans. It is estimated that there are 2.5 million orphaned children in Tanzania.

Since its founding by Tanzanians in 2001, Amani has rescued hundreds of children from the perils of life on the streets, where they face a high risk of HIV transmission, malnutrition, and abuse.

Amani, which means “peace” in Swahili, provides healthy food, education, counseling and medical care for every child who turns to them for help.

“We first visited Amani in 2006, and were very impressed by the director’s professionalism and determination to expand and improve the services that Amani provided. We strongly endorsed Crescent School, Toronto’s decision to support Amani, which they have done every year since then through fundraising and community service visits. Since 2006, Amani has moved to much larger premises, grown substantially, and supports hundreds of kids within at Amani and in the community. On our visit to Amani on March 1, 2010, we are delighted to see first hand their progress, the quality of their programs, and the impact they are making in the lives of some of the most needy children in Moshi,” says Narmin K. Ismail, co-founder of Climb for Leaders. “We look forward to students who undertake future Climb for Leaders expeditions also supporting Amani through community service and fund-raising efforts.”

Valerie Todd, Amani’s Director, said, “Street-children are among the most vulnerable of all Tanzanian children. At Amani, homeless kids not only find safety, nutritious food, clean clothes, and medical care; they also find education, love and, whenever possible, the chance to grow up as part of a family. By raising awareness of and support for Amani, the students who participate in Climb for Leaders expeditions will make a difference in the lives of hundreds of Tanzanian children, offering each one hope for a brighter future.”

Trips are being organized for December 2010 or Spring break 2011.

For details, please visit http://www.climbforleaders.com/expeditions/africa.

To see a slide show of images from the recent visit, please click on any of the items below.

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All students who participate in the Climb for Leaders expeditions now have an innovative way to mitigate the environmental impact of their trips.

“All future expeditions will involve the students setting aside at least 10% of funds raised to be contributed to an environmental project of their choice,” says Narmin K. Ismail, co-founder of the Climb for Leaders. “Each student participant will be required to identify an environmental project in the country they will be visiting, which they feel is worthy of receiving funds raised. The students will then review all their selections among themselves, and come up with the ONE environmental project that they ALL agree most deserves to receive the funds set aside.”

“Our goal is to ensure that there is in-depth due diligence, great learning about different environmental initiatives, and strong consensus-building among the students,” adds Ismail. “This approach offers the students complete ownership of the edn result, and the funds contributed will normally be twice what typical carbon-offset projects call for, thus making a significant impact to the recipient project.”

Climb for Leaders is proud to facilitate a three week trip to trek in the spectacular Himalayas of Nepal for high school students from independent schools in North America.

Says Narmin K. Ismail from Climb for Leaders, “Students will get to experience what life is really like high up in the Annapurna range of this beautiful mountain kingdom. Students will hike to Annapurna I South-Face Base Camp at 13,550ft/4130m in the 360 degree panoramic mountain amphitheatre known as “The Sanctuary”.

They will also spend part of their trip making a difference in the lives of Nepalese school children through hands-on-participation with the Hope for Himalayan Kids project – a project which provides the best environment for proper care and development for orphaned, abandoned and at-risk children in the Pokhara area of Nepal.”  Read the rest of this entry »

Climb for Leaders is delighted to announce that arrangements have been finalized for a three-week trip by a small group of independent school youth leaders to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The trip consists of a seven-day climb to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, a four day safari in the finest game parks in the world in Tanzania, and a week living in a local community in Tanzania and helping with school development projects. Funds raised will support the wonderful work at the Ilkurot Village Nursery & Primary School near Arusha, Tanzania and impact the lives of hundreds of children and their future.  See http://www.maasaiwanderings.com/ilkurot.shtml.

Donna Duggan, an Australian who started the school when she saw the high need in the area, said, ” We welcome the involvement of student leaders with raising funds and actively contributing on site to develop educational opportunities for the Maasai children in this area. The need is very high, and the impact will be felt for generations to come. One day, we hope that a future president of Tanzania might come from our school!”

Trips can be held in December 2010 or Spring break 2011.

For details, please visit http://www.climbforleaders.com/expeditions/africa.