A GROUP of friends took on the three peaks challenge to raise more than £1,000 for a school project in Sierra Leone.

Wendy Thomas, from Aberystwyth, took on the Welsh Three Peaks Challenge with her friend Natasha Evans from Llanybydder - climbing Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan in just 15 hours in July.

The pair took on the challenge to raise money for the Kids’ Crusade Foundation - formed by Daniel Egan who became friends with Wendy while lodging with her during his time studying for a Masters at Aberystwyth University.

They were joined at the summit of Pen y Fan by Daniel, his partner Dan Fulham, and Natasha’s partner, Steve Rees.

Wendy said: “In January 2020 (just before Covid hit), I had the chance to visit some of the projects Daniel had spent the last two and a half years working on in Sierra Leone.

“The one closest to his heart - and now mine - was a school he helped build and runs in a rural village about four hours’ drive outside of Freetown, the country’s capital.

“So rural is the village; it has no roads nor electricity, no shops nor services. “The school, with its seven teachers and 150+ kids is the soul and beating heart of the village.

“It provides employment where none other exists, and opportunity which is scarce.

“Through the Kids’ Crusade Foundation, Dan built five classrooms and continues to part-fund the teachers’ salaries to the tune of £25 per teacher, per month.

“In one of the world’s poorest countries, with high corruption, rampant inflation and no social welfare system, this meagre amount is the difference between life and death.

“These seven teachers are committed and inspiring.

“The primary school kids they serve are eager and able.

“Dan said he’d love to increase the monthly salary of the seven teachers from £25 per month, to £40 per month.

“To you and me that might not seem a lot but I knew it’d make such a massive difference to these wonderful teachers’ lives.

“In total, that increase amounted to £1,260 for the whole academic year, and so to try and raise this, in July this year I decided to complete ‘The Welsh 3 Peaks Challenge’ with Tash.

“The plan was to complete the three peaks, totalling 14 miles whilst ascending 7,700 feet, all within 24 hours.

“Despite being July the rain was appalling on all three peaks, but we powered through, and just 15 hours later we’d arrived at our third and final peak, exhausted, soaked through but with an amazing £1,375 raised.”

The Kids’ Crusade Foundation funds multiple continuous, year-round programmes in partnership with three charities Daniel has previously worked at including a children’s home in India, four rural nurseries in Malawi and three schools in Sierra Leone.

To donate to any of their projects you can donate at gofund.me/cd55851c.