We've just been sponsored by John and Pam

What we're listening to / Lo que estamos escuchando

We found this online radio station, and we love it. Latin rock 24/7.

Hemos encontrado esta estación de radio en Internet y nos encanta. Rock latino a toda hora.

[](http://www.nativorock.com/)

 

 

 

[](http://www.nativorock.com/)

New FB page!

Ahora es más fácil encontrarnos / Now it's easier to find us / Il est plus facile maintenant de nous trouver ! [https://www.facebook.com/LocaloMR2012](https://www.facebook.com/LocaloMR2012)

Some fundraising ideas...

The Lotus Children

We're not going to lie. Our first reason to join the rally was the adventure, the idea of cruising across two continents without a fix timeline or route. And that's still what drives us to do it. Yet, there's something else that perhaps we haven't completely come to terms with, and that is what our trip means for other people, other than to those who wait and hope for our safe return back home. So it happens that the rally is raising money for a quite admirable project, one that is improving - not without difficulties - the lives of 150 children struggling to survive their experiences of orphan-hood, abuse and homelessness. This is nothing new to us, as we come from a society that has also turn its back on its children. Although one can say that it is gradually changing for the better, there's still much to do. Fortunately some brave people have taken over the task of working towards that change and in ways that will not simply perpetuate the dependence on handovers. I would like to talk more about these projects as I learn about them myself. For the time being, if anyone is interested, here is the story of the Lotus Chidren's Centre:

"In 1993 Didi Kalika, an Australian yoga teacher living in UB was moved by the plight of the children living on the streets and founded the Lotus Children’s Centre. She started simply by giving food and basic medical care, and soon realized that serious change was necessary to make real impact.

With the help of friends, Didi arranged a yard in the ger district of Yarmag 15 km out of UB. The move to Yarmag was necessary to give children space away from their lives on the streets of UB. In 1995 Lotus Children’s Centre was registered as an official Mongolian charity.

Towards the end of the 90’s, the children Lotus served moved from mainly street kids to abandoned babies. Due to harsh economic conditions, some Mongolian families found it hard to keep their newborn babies. Mongolian authorities would ask Lotus to care for babies that were found under stairwells or in rubbish bins, often in the depth of winter.

Lotus started a Kindergarten at the Yarmag property in 1997. It was around this time that our summer camp started, sending kids to the National Park in Terelj for their summer holidays to play and swim. Didi was awarded Mongolian mother of the year award in 2001. She was also made a Paul Harris fellow by the Rotary Club of Canberra Sunshine. Due to the lack of necessary paperwork for Lotus children to start at government schools, in 2004 Lotus converted an old general goods store in Yarmag into a primary school. The kindergarten was moved into the same building. This was necessary to guarantee that all Lotus children would have teaching up to the 5th grade. Around this time the situation of children in Mongolia gradually improves, with less babies coming to Lotus.  Lotus Centre is now home to up to 150 children at any one time. It carries out many children and family support activities aimed at helping family units endure, and to alleviate the poverty cycle to ultimately provide basic rights to children."

 

Source: http://www.lotuschild.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=55 

Ready, set, fundraising!

I hope that you've had a good holiday season, with plenty to eat, drink and share. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy new year and that all of your projects become a reality. This year, we would love for all of you to cheer for us, send us your suggestions, messages of encouragement or simply let us know how stupid you think this idea is. Eitherway you can follow the preparations on our Facebook page ([https://www.facebook.com/groups/275539799200449/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/315032238516655/)).

This will be the adventure of a lifetime for us, that's for sure, but we're also doing it in the spirit of sharing and helping as we're raising funds to help the Lotus Children's Centre Charitable Trust ([http://www.lotuschild.org](http://www.lotuschild.org/)) and a second charity to be announce soon. And this is the second part where you can join in. You can help us out by donating some of your hard-earn cash to help get children out of the streets of the Mongolian capital, where winter temperatures can reach -50°C (-58°F). Simply go to our donations page: [http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/localo2012](http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/localo2012). You can also participate by sharing this message with others who you think might be able to help or those who would be interested in participating in next year's rally. We only need 1,000 UK Pounds that we hope to raise with a little help from our friends before the start date in late July.

So thank you all for your kind attention and your support. We'll keep you updated as we move on with the preparations and the fundraising.

Let's get started

Here we are, a little over seven months to the day when these three adventurists shall start off their journey across two continents, thirteen countries, over 10,000 Kms, about a quarter of the planet's total circumference. We can't wrap our minds around the idea, yet. But we are taking the time to prepare and to gather the support from our families and friends. On this blog you will find information about us (not yet but soon), pictures and videos, and updates of our progress both before and during the Rally. It is also an open platform for suggestions, comments and words of encouragement. We will be publishing more regularly as we get closer to the start of the Rally. You can also follows on Facebook ([https://www.facebook.com/groups/315032238516655/](https://www.facebook.com/groups/315032238516655/)) and visit our donation pages as often as you feel like to check out on the progress of our fundraising efforts (and invite others to pitch in too!) [http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/LetMeGodotCom](http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/LetMeGodotCom)

Thanks everyone!

Merci beaucoup!

Muchas gracias!