A Bolton School pupil has become one of the youngest people ever to conquer to Africa's tallest mountain.
Twelve-year-old Abbas Kambalia scaled Mount Kilmanjaro with his parents, who are doctors, to raise more than £20,000 to help those in need in their parents' homeland of Tanzania.
Dr Hussein Kambalia, a heart surgeon at Manchester Royal and his wife, Dr Insiya started a charity last year called Kidney Care 4 All, to provide better care and conditions for those with kidney failure all around the world.
The doctors have travelled to Tanzania multiple times to help educate and teach other doctors on how to care for patients and perform life-saving simple operations.
To raise money for the charity to continue the good work, the doctors arranged a launch event trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, along with their 12-year-old son, who attends Bolton School.
Dr Kambalia said: “We decided to climb Mount Kilimanjaro because it’s close to the hospital we have been working with for the last six years.
“This is a lifelong project we have been thinking of since early in our careers.”
The Bolton School boy has also become one of 10 youngest people to reach the summit.
Dr Kambalia , who lives in Bolton with his family, said: “Everybody said it was the hardest thing they’d ever done.
“It was exhilarating and incredible, and we had a good group with great camaraderie.
“It was a once in a lifetime thing for us all because physically it was really tough.
“My son was incredible as well, he found it mentally tougher but physically he was fine and he even wants to do it again, so I think he’s taken an interest in it.”
Dr Kambalia’s parents were born in Tanzania and the family often visit the country, when the doctors both realised that the care for those with kidney failure was poor and needed work.
He said: “The more I went out there, the more I realised that the care is so poor, and they don’t have access to dialysis and kidney transplants the way we do.
“We wanted to educate them and teach the doctors specific operations they can do.”
The work of both doctors has led other hospitals in Tanzania to call the team asking to also be taught the skills.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here