Group beats mountains to raise fund

A GROUP of trekkers from Bundi, in Madang, climbed the country’s two highest peaks in a fundraising effort to provide scholarships for students.
The team, led by Kumura Foundation director Vincent Kumura, climbed to the peak of Mt Wilhelm from the Madang side. The summit is usually reached from Gembogl, in Chimbu.
The team of six men from Karizokara and Yandera villages started the three-day hike to the summit of Mt Wilhelm (4,509m) on Aug 22 from Yandera.
They then travelled to Ialibu in the Southern Highlands where they began their trek to Mt Giluwe (4,367m). It took them an hour and 30 minutes to reach the summit at 9.30am on Saturday, Sept 1.
It was part of the Kumura Foundation Saving a Generation Two-Summit Challenge fundraising campaign.
The aim was to raise K35,000 to provide between 15 and 20 scholarships for poor and disadvantaged children of six primary schools and the remote St Michael’s Brahman Secondary School in Bundi, Madang.
“Due to heavy rain, we were delayed by a day at Greenwell, Bundi,” said foundation treasurer Gandine Rudolf.
Accessing the summit of Mt Wilhelm from Bundi, in Madang, has never been done before.
Trekker Butai Erman, of Yandera, said what could have taken them three hours “took us six hours as we had to literally cut and navigate our way through dense rainforest, shrubs and alpine grasslands up the steep slippery rocky cliffs”.
“What a wild, untamed and beautiful area it is. Thank God we are here,” Erman said after reaching the top.