Joburg boy, 10, becomes one of the youngest to summit Mount Kilimanjaro

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A 10-year-old Joburg boy has conquered Mount Kilimanjaro in support of keeping the #GirlChild in school. Retshegofaditswe 'Tshego' Hatang, from Little Falls in the West Rand, reached the top of the highest mountain in Africa on Thursday afternoon. His father, Sello, burst into tears when he arrived at the top to find his son already there. "I was super proud of him after realising what he had managed to do," said Hatang. The Grade 4 pupil at Victory House is the son of Sello and Thembi Hatang who have both summitted the mountain before. Hatang is the Nelson Mandela Foundation's Cheif Executive and both him and Thembi were part of the previous groups of people who climbed the mountain to raise funds to buy sanitary towels for underprivileged girls.

While Tshego's summit was not besieged by many problems, Hatang said the biggest challenge was the extreme cold and wind.

"There was so much wind there and it was extremely cold. Tshego had five layers of pants, three pairs of socks and six layers on top.

"Despite that, he complained of being cold and unable to feel his toes. I had to even give him my jacket."

Hatang said although Tshego wanted to continue to Uhuru Point, "I had to be a father and say he can just stop at Stella Point as he was too cold".

Speaking afterwards, the only thing exhausted Tshego could say after his accomplishment was "I'm excited".

Preparations for the climb included hiking and climbing in the Drakensberg Mountains, the Suikerbos hiking trail, the Hennops hiking trail as well as the hiking trails in the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens.

The Star