Day 11 - Back on the road, on the coast
Day 9-10 - Admin in Istanbul
Day 8 - Another set of wheels in Thessaloniki...
Day 6-7 - New wheels in Belgrade.
Day 2-4 - Breakdown and stuck in Amsterdam.
Day 1 - Start point!
Rebirth
Ah … ! What’s happening?
Er, excuse me, who am I?
Hello?
Why am I here? What’s my purpose in life?
What do I mean by who am I?
Ecetera...
We're team Live to Drive, Drive to Die, and we've been born again (after having not even made it to the start line in 2014) to complete an outstanding and crucial task: driving to Mongolia in a 1L Dihatsu Hijet.
More to follow.
Tom
Phil
Nicholas
3x humanitarian aid workers who inexplicably decided they don't already have enough madness in their lives. Could indicate some underlying issues.
Team Vehicle
Below is a description of the origins of our team name:
“A team name that started as a joke, was originally seen as a bumper sticker on a bus in Lebanon. It was adopted as the working title of our team, and kept despite the serious nature of our fundraising campaign as it really does have a serious meaning behind it.
For humanitarian contexts it’s difficult to understand the difference in mentality of the local populations to those you would be used to at home. But in the “Live to Drive, Drive to Die” bumper sticker, this is personified. A life expectancy reduced, an acceptance of increased danger on roads, an acceptance of low safety standards, an acceptance of recklessness, a lack of a safety net etc. These are things people take for granted in much of the world, but they really are not the reality for most.
Live to Drive, Drive to Die. In driving to Mongolia on some of the world’s most dangerous roads, we hope in our own way to better understand, highlight and fundraise for people in these contexts. In the hope that one day they’ll be safe enough to not understand the irony in a morbid bumper sticker – much in the way we hope our team name causes a little, shock and a jolt of derision.”
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 20 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries. One person in three in the world lives in poverty. Oxfam is determined to change that world by mobilizing the power of people against poverty. Around the globe, Oxfam works to find practical, innovative ways for people to lift themselves out of poverty and thrive. We save lives and help rebuild livelihoods when crisis strikes. And we campaign so that the voices of the poor influence the local and global decisions that affect them. In all we do, Oxfam works with partner organizations and alongside vulnerable women and men to end the injustices that cause poverty.
Cool Earth
Cool Earth is the non-profit organisation that works alongside rainforest communities to halt deforestation and its impact on climate change. Half of the world’s rainforest has been destroyed in the last 40 years. And, contrary to the headlines, rainforest continues to be lost at a faster rate than ever. But it’s not too late. Cool Earth believes the rainforest can be saved. We just need a new approach. That’s why we don’t create reserves or put up fences. We don’t buy land. Instead, we put local people back in control of their forest. Local people stand to lose the most from deforestation but the most to gain from its protection. As such, they are the forest’s best possible custodians. That’s why all Cool Earth partnerships are community-owned and led – an approach that research is continually proving to be the most effective way to keep rainforest standing. By developing local livelihoods, our mission is to end the cycle of deforestation entrenching villages into further poverty. Creating strong, self-determining communities – not dependency. We are also the only charity that works solely where the threat to the forest is greatest, on the frontline of deforestation. And each of our partnerships forms a shield to make the neighbouring forest inaccessible to loggers – saving millions of acres of further forest.