The Port Pirie woman has achieved an incredible feat, reaching the top of Mount Kilimanjaro in the culmination of the Kili for Kids project.

Half of the money raised from the project was presented to a dilapidated school at the foot of the Tanzanian mountain to improve its facilities while the remainder went towards foster children in Port Pirie and Port Augusta and on the Yorke Peninsula.

Already, the school has announced it will use some of the funds to finish a teachers’ house, enabling them to employ an extra three staff members.

Mrs Bearman started her trip with a visit to the Tanzanian school and went on to complete a feat even she did not originally believe was possible. While she described the scenery as beautiful and spectacular, she said it was a “hard slog” to reach the top of the mountain. “It was bitterly cold at the huts and conditions were very basic – more basic than what one imagines to be basic,” she said.

“Altitude is really what everyone struggles with because as much as you want to do things faster, the moment you do, your heart starts thumping and your head begins to throb.”

Mrs Bearman said positive thoughts from her family and workmates had pulled her through.

“People were passing me on a regular basis, but I focused on my own journey and tried not to look up too much as the end was never in sight,” she said.

“After we came down from the summit, one of the guys I met … made a comment about no-one expecting me to make it – and called me a dark horse.”