Moville’s Geraldine Mullan and her friend Katie Fitzpatrick have raised well over €33,000 for charity after climbing Africa’s highest mountain last month.
The grand total raised is still to be revealed, as Geraldine says there are many more offline donations too.
Unstoppable Geraldine took on the trek with Katie, the owner of Little Stars pre-school in Moville, to raise funds for Derry charity Children in Crossfire.
They completed the mission at the end of last month, just weeks after Geraldine said goodbye to her beloved mum, Margaret Connaughton, who passed away in Galway.
Geraldine conquered the 5,895m mountain in honour of her mum and husband John and children Tomas and Amelia, who perished in a road tragedy at Quigley’s Point on August 20th, 2020.
When she reached the top of the mountain last month, Geraldine shared a heartfelt gesture in the form of a little plaque with the names of her late family and the word ‘HOPE.’
Geraldine at the summit of Kilimanjaro
Reflecting on the trek, Geraldine said her loved ones carried her through.
“What can I say- Kilimanjaro you were amazing, once in a lifetime experience & one I’ll never forget,” Geraldine wrote.
Geraldine and Katie were in a group of 18 strangers for the trek, but they soon became fast friends.
“Each day brought its own trials & tribulations. We laughed, we cried, we fell but got back up again. Altezza were phenomenal – the exceptional care Victor and his crew of 78 (I kid you not, there was a crew of 78 looking after 18 of us) did. They catered for all of our needs,” Geraldine said.
“We soon got to know each other very well-when you’re down to the basics of camping on the mountain for 6 nights, you do get to know your team mates very well.
“One of our mantras was “one team, one dream” & our team was just that-if someone was struggling, there was always someone to help you, cheer you on, make you smile, dry your tears, make you laugh & each day brought us closer together as a group, we chatted, we got to know each other more, we learned more about our wonderful guides and their families and realized that Kilimanjaro is a magical place that holds something for everyone.”
Geraldine and Katie’s online fundraiser is currently at £27,884 with support from 347 donors. Donations are still being accepted at https://justgiving.com/page/children-in-crossfire-trekkingkili25
Geraldine has shared a million thanks to every person who has supported her: “Thanks to each & everyone of you for supporting me along the way, my family & friends for believing in me, for getting out on those cold wet days when I was in training, to my amazing tent mate for the week Katie Fitzpatrick for all the laughs along the way, to everyone who has donated online and offline (both Katie & I are utterly blown away by everyone’s kindness and generosity), to everyone’s well wishes before during & since my trek, & last but not least to my beloved John Tomás Amelia and most recently mum who helped me put one foot in front of the other, not just on my Kilimanjaro trek but everyday since our fateful night 
it’s simply “one day at a time”.”
