Cape Town – A student from the University of Cape Town on Thursday submitted Mount Kilimanjaro, making her the first female quadriplegic to do so.
Ability activist, 21-year-old Chaeli Mycroft, the co-founder of the non-profit Chaeli Campaign, made history on Thursday with the Chaeli Kili Climbers group.
“Chaeli ‘Kili’ Climbers have reached the Summit!!!” announced the group on Facebook, “We have received confirmation from Discover Africa that (seven) climbers, including Chaeli, reached Uhuru Peak between 7:28am and 8:37am”.
The climbing group had been planning the Kilimanjaro trip for two years before travelling from Cape Town to Tanzania in late August.
Mycroft, who has cerebral palsy, was awarded the 2011 International Children’s Peace Prize and in 2012, she became the first-ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Laureate’s Medal for Social Activism.
She was also a youth keynote speaker at the 2012 Unesco conference in Paris on Inclusive Education, and in 2013 she was awarded the World of Children Youth Award in New York.
The Chaeli Campaign runs nine programmes: Wheels Are Big Deals, Therapies Programme, Inclusive Education Programme, Pay-It-Forward Ambassadors Programme, Chaeli Sports and Recreation Club, Advocacy Programme, Vocation and Rehabilitation, Resource and Therapy Centre, and the African Odyssey.
ANA