Just over five years ago, Karim H. Ismail, the programme's founder, was in such poor physical shape as a result of long-standing back problems that he had difficulty walking to the end of his driveway, and was scheduled for major back surgery, which he fortunately managed to avoid. After a year and a half of intensive therapy and training, he completed the 60km Weekend to End Breast Cancer Walk in September 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 with a growing number of friends. He plans to walk again in September 2008.

In October 2004, he walked the Toronto ½ Marathon Walk in under three and a half hours. And on January 20, 2005, he successfully climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania with his 21-year-old daughter, reaching Gillman’s Point at an altitude of 5,865 metres. He indicates it was the most exhilarating (and physically challenging) experience of his life.

So he thought: why not take this experience, share it with others, and enable students and alumni of independent schools to undertake the challange of their lives by climbing the world's tallest free standing mountain while helping develop leaders through the support of local schools in Africa?

The first trip, focused on childern impacted by HIV/AIDS, was held in March 2006 (please see http://www.climbforhivaids.com). The trip was a huge success, and raised over $47,000 dollars, with most students sumitting the mountain.

The sceond trip, focused on children's educational development, was held in March 2007 - see News. The trip was a huge success, and raised over $200,000 dollars, with most students sumitting the mountain and everyone being hugely impacted by their week of community service at Leader's Today in Kenya.

Over the next year, climbs will take place on three continents: Africa (Tanzania), South America (Peru), and Asia (Nepal). The goal, by 2010, is to raise $1 million annually in support of development initiatives.