BY AMY ROSE HARTE
A Newtowncunningham woman spent six days trekking the Himalayan mountains to help raise money for charity.
Arlene Devenney, 23, who works in the AIB in Letterkenny, was the youngest in a group of 20 Irish volunteers who collectively raised over ¤100,000 for the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
"It's a great cause and I wanted to raise some money for charity," said Arlene, who raised E4,750.
"The association need over ¤3 million a year to function but they only receive a small percentage of this from the Government to actually run the foundation.
"They've also started helping autistic children, by using dogs to calm down children that can get very hyper and this method is proving really effective down in Cork at the moment."
Arlene responded to a radio ad in June which was looking for volunteers to undertake the challenge, organised by an English-based group called Across the Divide.
She was obliged to follow a strict training programme to ensure that she was in the best of health before beginning the ambitious feat.
"We were going to be walking on average nine hours a day for six days so they wanted us to train and prepare ourselves well. I began eating better and walking two hours every day.
"I still was nervous going over because I thought I wasn't fit enough, but in the end the hardest things were that your head got quite sore and you found you couldn't really eat," she said.
Arlene and the contingent flew from Dublin to Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, at the end of October. Trained guides led them from Deerie, a local village, and from there they travelled through Duralieh and onwards to Pig's Peak, their final destination,
SNOWING
"It was a hard slog. The first few days it was 27 degrees when we were going through all the valleys and the scenery was just unbelievable.
"On the Friday it started snowing so we set up camp and then got up at 4am the next morning when it was freezing and pitch dark to climb to the top of Pig's Peak," she said.
Arlene was greeted with an array of international flags when she reached the top of the 4,170 metre-high summit.
"It was an amazing sense of achievement. I just stood there and took it all in. We couldn't see Everest because it was clouded over but the scenery was breathtaking and it was definitely worth all the hard work. I just kept thinking, this is unbelievable".
They spent the next two days making their way back down the summit towards Duralieh, to where the locals staged a festival of lights for them.
"They don't have anything over there but they were so accommodating and the kids were fantastic.
"They couldn't believe how they could see themselves in our digital cameras and hand-held video cameras. We were literally walking through people's back gardens when we were going through the valleys and they came out to say hello and give us water."
"Overall, it was a fantastic experience and I learned that if you really put your mind to something you can do it", she said.
Arlene collected money during the Fleadh weekend and at the Station Roundabout in Letterkenny.
"I'd like to thank everyone who helped me - Paul McGlinchey, Jason Black, AIB Letterkenny and the LYIT as well. Also to my family, friends and boyfriend who supported me the whole way though it." Arlene told the Donegal News this week.
