I am training for a celebrity weight loss Kilimanjaro trek in February 2011. The journey will be filmed for a television series.

Each one of the my trek participants (Muhammad Ali's daughter Khaliah Ali, former Biggest Losers Heba Salama and Ed Brantley and more)have famously struggled with his or her weight and are taking on the challenge up Africa's highest peak to get in shape and raise money for charity.

I, of course, am hiking the mountain to benefit Global Alliance for Africa with the hope of a better future for Africa's 18 million AIDS orphans.

That's right, I said 18 million. When I climbed Kilimanjaro in 2007, there were 13 million.

There is a whole generation of kids without leaders, teachers, and, of course, parents. That is where we come in...

Global Alliance for Africa (Tax Exempt ID E-9940-2068-02) , which is based in Chicago, partners with local African NGOs, religious institutions, and community-based organizations with the aim of helping households and communities to become self-reliant and to build the capacities to provide orphans and vulnerable children with shelter, education, health care, food security, psycho-social support, and legal services.

Here's how your donation can help:
$400 funds an urban water program
$375 buys a water pump for an agricultural initiative
$150 funds a youth's educational fees for one year
$130 buys a bookcase for a library
$100 funds vocational training for an adolescent for one year
$50 buys a reading table for a library
$35 buys a goat

Thank you for your support!