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Celebrity Rosie Motene is an accomplished actress in theatre, television and film, a TV soapie star and well known presenter, and a great MC. As a board member of (People Opposing Women Abuse) POWA, Childline and The Tomorrow Trust, she is also involved in campaigning against women and child abuse in South Africa. Picture: Ivan Naude. Supplied to Verve, The Star.

Actor, TV and film producer Rosie Motene is to climb Kilimanjaro with SA rockers the Parlotones in March to highlight the scourge of violence against women and children.

“I’m quite overwhelmed by this entire venture. I’ve always wanted to do stuff for the UN and the upliftment of girls has been a big passion for me.

“The fact that I can do all of this all at once is exciting for me,” Motene told the Saturday Star yesterday.

She will be joined by climbers from 53 other countries in the bid to conquer Africa’s highest mountain, under the banner Speak Out, Climb Up to draw attention to ending violence against women and girls in Africa and get governments to commit to outlawing such violence by 2015.

Motene said she had never pushed her body or mind to this level before.

“I’m used to staying fit and conducting a variety of spinning and toning up all the muscles on my legs. This however is set to be intense.

“It will also be my first time climbing a mountain. I’ve been told that I’m going to have to slow down from my fast-paced exercise routine and adapt to a much slower routine because of the altitude. It will be quite challenging,” she said.

To prepare, she’s spoken to many people who’ve successfully done the climb, including Top Billing presenter Ursula Stapelfeldt Chikane.

“Ursula has done it before. She told me just to keep going,”

Motene has been putting in two-and-a-half hours in the gym every morning since she learnt about the climb in December.

She also does boxing and intense leg exercise routines and carries a 10kg bag of sand daily. This weekend she will be hiking 21km and plans various other hikes after that.

She has been been following a strict high-protein and low-carbohydrate diet which includes eating eggs, chicken, fish, red meat, drinking gallons of water and cutting out alcohol and fizzy drinks.

“I’ve got to keep focusing. I’m going to have to pack very minimal clothes and these include my own firm underwear for five days, two tracksuits, boots, sneakers and toiletries.”

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the yearly campaign Unite to End Violence Against Women: 2008-2015 five years ago, followed in 2010 by the Africa Unite Campaign as a regional component.

Motene said she had seen a change in the government’s approach to the abuse of women and children compared with previous years.

“Now there is a vested interest from corporates as well. But the laws that we have are not strong enough. We have made strides but we have a long way to go,” she said.

Motene, who works with organisations such as Childline, said she always emphasised that equality between young boys and girls “starts at home”.

Meanwhile, the Parlotones’ forthcoming album titled Journey Through the Shadows will be used to highlight the Africa Unite Campaign and other social issues.

All four members of the band will be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

The climb to the 5 895m peak is planned for March 5 to 9 with the peak being summited on International Women’s Day on March 8.

l For anyone who would like to support the climb, financial donations can be deposited in this account:

UNDP Johannesburg Regional Service Centre, Standard Bank Business, Cheque Account 220024030, branch code 001255 SWIFT code SBZAZAJJ.

The deposit reference should be Kilimanjaro Climb 00063095. - Saturday Star