Moving Mountains was officially registered in March 2002. It has developed into a substantial charity with an operational NGO in Nairobi and in Kathmandu, projects all over Kenya and high in the Himalayan Khumbu. Annual expenditure is in the region of £150.000.00 and all administrative overheads are covered by Adventure Alternative Ltd, ensuring that all the money raised goes to the beneficiaries.

The charity was founded by Gavin Bate who has been working in Kenya and Nepal and carrying out charitable work since 1991. His efforts began in a small way at Muthurwa Primary School in Nairobi, but quickly developed to include individual sponsorships for children, project work and family support.

The considerable time that Gavin spent in the slums gave him invaluable insight into the inner workings of a slum society, the needs of the individuals and the community, and the requirements to improve things. Fundamentally he saw systemic breakdowns in the family unit, and the link between child and school. By working on incremental changes within the micro-society and providing money which was precisely injected at the right point, Gavin was able to see the value of relatively small amounts of investment going a long way.

Gavin's experience was based on as many mistakes as successes in the early days, faced with corruption at every level and insincerity from many people. But consistent integrity and honesty started to pay off when the children themselves responded strongly to a combined programme of education, counselling and controlled financial assistance. Links between families, schools, churches and local chama (co-operatives) were restored and former street kids began to be seen as assets rather than liabilities.

Integral to the ethos of starting a charity was the manner in which Moving Mountains would be paid for. Gavin is Director of Adventure Alternative and it was a principle of his that the company should pay for the charity overheads. As the charity grows and the time it takes to manage all the projects increases, this becomes an ever more difficult aim to uphold. Recently Gavin started a fourth arm to the charity, Moving Mountains Ireland, which is seperate organisation dedicated to raising funds for the work carried out in Kenya.

Over time the number of projects has increased dramatically, but all fall under the same management principle of close co-operation with the local communities and committees, and close attention to expenditures and accounting transparency. We believe strongly in the principle of relevancy, sustainability and accountability. So far the work we have done in Kenya and Nepal has been almost totally successful.

We are looking to consolidate all our projects to an extent that they are using their full potential to the value of the community and the people within it. Most of the projects have short term and long term aims. We don't want to build structures which we then can't afford to fill with children.

In Nepal the efforts to build a 'green village' is in its 5th year and well on the way to becoming a truly sustainable success story. Our plan is to look at the issue of deforestation in the region by continuing our work on more sustainable cooking methods. We have been working on providing villagers with businesses that benefit from the electricity they now have, and this will continue until the wealth of the village increases to a self-sustainable level. Already the school has developed and people are coming back to the villages from the city.

In Kenya the projects are far-reaching and well-established. We want Moving Mountains to be seen as a 'one stop shop' for young people who can look at their education, training and employment as part of a single vision. Most charities only take their beneficiaries as far as primary school, but we believe it is better to offer a 100% support to fewer people, and rely on the considerable ripple effect this generates. There is plenty of evidence to show that this is a better way of offering 'charity'.

We are offering the chance of any person to come out and help on our projects because we understand that Westerners have a strong interest to 'get their hands dirty' and help out practically, as well as just raising money. This is in the early stages but has so far proved very popular. We need to be sure though that donors do not end up trying to control the work of the charity and the Trustees.