sponsorship amount

After a bit of research and a lot of guesstimate work we have come up with a preliminary budget to cover expenses for the rickshaw run autumn 2011 edition.

(drum rollllll) $9000!!! holy crap! who's going to sponsor that much?

 

the items included:

 

 

- vaccinations (cuz i don't want to end up with malaria and an amazing diarrhea) - flights - from bahrain to delhi to meghalaya. then from rajasthan somewhere to bahrain - travel insurance (and probably life) - accomodation for the 3 weeks (inclusive of before & after race) - petrol (heard it wasn't that cheap) and really 8L capacity for the rickshaw?! might need to carry extra gallons with us - visa for india - tech stuff: sim cards, internet usb for updating on progress, cam corder, GPS system - the rickshaw deposit of 1000 GBP - food (we put an allowance of around $2 per day) - rickshaw maintenance 

 

didn't add stuff like first aid kit, flashlights and bungee cords (might use them to pull rickshaw out of ditches and what not)...

 Meeting my fellow idiot Mr. T over shisha to figure out how we can sell this to a possible corporate sponsor.

will update once we know a bit more.

cheerio

 

sad that i am writing this just for myself. no one is reading this, i suppose. 

charity stuff

Me and T man sitting in a shisha cafe Saturday morning trying to come up with innovative ways to raise money for charity.

Current hypothesis: raise money for the Frank Water Projects and a local Diabetes-fighting charity. perhaps the Bahrain Diabetes Society (although, i'm not sure that qualifies as a charity).

 Tariq had a cool idea. Have video messages from all the amazing Indians we will be meeting, saying thank you to all of the people who donate to the charity. Something along the lines of "Hello. My name is Kumar. Thank you for your donation Jaffar" although, since we aren't raising money for them, i wonder if that's feasible. maybe something along the lines of "Hello Jaffar. My name is Kumar. Good on you raising money for diabetes, even though I don't have it and I don't know why the hell I agreed to say anything to these 3 idiots". hmm...

 on the sponsorship side (these guys will be paying for our trip to India, and all expenses at 5 star hotels along the way, including spa treatement, excessive dining and entertainment) we have a few companies in mind. considering no one wants to part with their money ever, and more so with the financial crisi, we have to be creative and think of ways in which companies feel like they are getting something from this (other than slapping their logo on the pimped out rickshaw).

hmm... 

in crisis mode...

Bahrain is home for all three of us crazy arabs partaking in the rickshaw run this autumn.

 uncertain times have befallen our lovely little island. it is not so lovely at the moment. but it is brewing up to be a battleground for other more sinister agendas around the region.

 scary times.

but the shaw must go on. we believe it is even more important now, and are in the process of choosing the other charities we hope to be donating to (other than the official ones).

how the hell r we going to raise that money is yet to be seen ? :p the economic picture of bahrain has been tarnished quite significantly and thus we will need to fight tooth and nail to raise the donations. got any bright ideas? how did you raise the money for your charity?

cheerio

mapping route

Google earth is absoloutely fantastic to use when trying to navigate a place like India.

 

I am planning to create a book with information on all stops along the way. This is the route that Google Earth suggested when I put in Shillong as my start point and Rajasthan as my end point.

 Probably will have to see whether or not this is the ideal route. I want to see some cool places along the way, so the route is subject to change.

Another neat tip for you guys out there planning this also: Wikipedia allows you to make a book out of wiki pages. I was amazed by this function, however basic it is. So basically, any wiki page you want to include you just add to the book, and then your final product you can print out and bring with you. Should help with some of the places. Screw you lonely planet! just kidding, we love you.

 

Peace in the middle east. 

team is finalized.

So we got our 3rd and final rickshaw runner on the team.

 

Hisham

Hisham

Tariq

 

Now, the planning really starts. We need to think of charity options also. Thinking of going on a India diabetes campaign and getting funding from diabetes associations.

 

Tariq is also an avid social media enthusiast. Happy to have him on board. I'm shit at blogging, so from now on you might get some quality information coming your way, written in a more structured and interesting way.

 

signing out. 

the beginning

It's a Thursday night.