26 Apr 2026
A St Albans teenager has climbed the tallest mountain in Northern Ireland in a bid to raise money for his voluntary expedition to Cambodia.
This July a group of Year 10 students from Samuel Ryder Academy will take part in a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the South East Asian nation to live and work alongside local and rural communities.
Students will work on a variety of meaningful and sustainable projects as well as undertaking a personal challenge of a PADI open water scuba diving course.
Students have been tasked to raise the funds for this expedition themselves so 14-year-old Aaron Holland decided on a combination of corporate sponsorship and a personal challenge to climb Slieve Donard, a mountain situated in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland.
He raised the first half of his £5,000 target by presenting to local companies to ask them to sponsor him, convincing construction companies ROL, ECS Group and Mc Mullen Construction Ltd as well as St Kiernans Gaelic Football Club.
He explained that he would promote their logos throughout his fundraising tasks and during his Cambodia expedition by wearing their logos on his clothing.
While in Cambodia, Aaron will take part in various tasks including:
- Building wells to provide drinking water and water for farming;
- Building toilets to provide better sanitation for the community;
- Working on school improvement projects and extending classrooms;
- Constructing a library;
- Building chicken coops to enable families to raise chickens to provide a source of income;
- Taking part in reforestation work and wildlife conservation;
- Constructing village clay water pots to maximise water collection.
He said: “I am really excited about this life-changing expedition and have really enjoyed the challenge of raising the money by myself. It has taught me that if you work hard and focus, you can achieve anything.
“Presenting to the local companies face to face was really nerve-wracking but has really helped me learn good public speaking and communication skills and reaching the summit of Slieve Donard was an especially huge achievement for me because I have always wanted to climb it since I was a small boy.
“We can see the mountain range from my grandad’s house and my dad used to take us around the Mourne Mountains growing up as a child because he is from County Down, so it has personal meaning to me.
“It was a challenging climb and extremely windy at the top but I felt so proud of myself for completing it even though my legs were like jelly the next few days!
“I am mostly looking forward to learning a new culture and life skills, living away from home, being independent, making new friends and exploring new adventures in Cambodia such as visiting Ankor Wat.
To donate to Aaron’s Cambodia challenge, please follow this link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/camps-international-volunteering-expedition-cambodia-2026
