Susan Smith, LEH 1996-2003, who now works as a Senior Strategic Account Manager for PwC, attended the Holles Connect Joint Financial Services Networking Event in the City earlier this term. She arrived a little late, having come straight from completing altitude training in preparation for the trip of a lifetime to Tanzania.
 
All the hard work and preparation paid off, and she describes the trip as: “Quite the adventure and probably the toughest thing I have ever done. “
 
The climb by an intrepid team from PwC, plus friends and family, to the roof of Africa involved thousands of shiveringly cold steps to reach the 5895-meter summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.
 
However, she was spurred on in the knowledge that it was all for an amazing cause: “I did it with eight other colleagues to raise money for the PwC Foundation which supports a number of charities including Wellbeing of Women and Samaritans. 
 
“We did the Machame route which is five days up and two days down with hiking of four to eight hours a day. For summit night, we woke up at 11pm for some dinner before starting our climb at midnight in the dark.”
 
Susan has smashed her original fundraising target of £1,000, with a current total over £2,000 (including gift aid) to date.  If you would like to show your support, you can still do so on her Virgin Giving page here.
  
The PwC Foundation is a registered charity, set up in October 2011 to promote social inclusion and sustainable development in the UK. Wellbeing of Women is dedicated to funding research to improve the health and wellbeing of women and babies. This research covers issues such as endometriosis, preterm birth, stillbirth and gynecological cancers.  The PwC Foundation partnership with Samaritans will help them train 500 volunteers, who could answer an additional 105,000 calls each year, being there when people really need it.