Paul O'Connell: I am involved in a charity expedition this summer to raise money for the Christina Noble Children's Foundation (CNCF).
How we’ll raise the money
Starting on the 21st of July myself and a friend from law school are setting off from Hyde Park in London with the aim of successfully arriving in Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia just ONE month later. We will be one of 200 teams taking part in the event- the Mongol Rally.
There are five routes that can be taken to Mongolia and we have decided to tackle the most arduous, though rewarding, of the five- the southern route. This will take us across Western Europe, south through the Balkans and east through Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and across the Caspian Sea to Turkmenistan; we will then head north through Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia; finally we will go east again through Mongolia.
This will be an epic journey, covering approximately 15,000 miles (or 1/4 of the worlds surface) requiring us to drive 400 miles a day! The challenge is then doubled by the requirement that the journey is made in a 1 litre banger (an old Micra or the like)!
Obviously its going to be an amazing personal experience, but our prime goal is to raise as much money as possible for charity. We need to raise a minimum of €600 for CNCF, though with your help we are hoping to raise much more.
We have set up a Just Giving webpage where donations can be made:
http://www.justgiving.com/perseverancemongolrally
The Christina Noble Children’s Foundation
We think you’ll agree that CNCF is one of the most respected Irish charities in the world and that it is doing amazing work in Mongolia; as such it is worthy of your support. The following is brief summary of the projects that CNCF is currently undertaking in Mongolia:
- The Sponsorship Program helps families who are in danger of splitting up or where children may drop out of school due to poverty. The family receives sponsorship for a child as long as he/she is living with them and in full-time education.
- The Sunshine Ger Village Project provides a shelter for street children and orphans in Ulaanbaatar . The shelter consists of 11gers and a kindergarten.
- Prison Education Project provides full-time education at the Boys' Prison and teachers work three days a week at the Girls' Section of the Women's Prison.
- Healthcare Project operates a clinic at the Charity Hospital five days a week, to provide free health care and medication to the children in the sponsorship program and street children. There is also a mobile night clinic for street children that travels the city's streets, bringing emergency medical treatment, medical advice and small treats to children otherwise abandoned to the ice and snow.
- Give a Ger Campaign is an emergency fund established to provide families in danger of becoming homeless, or otherwise inadequately or dangerously accommodated, with a family home of a Mongolian Ger.
Please feel free to visit the CNCF website for more information:
http://www.cncf.org/
Finally, we know that there will be the temptation to see this as funding us to go off on a holiday! We can categorically assure you that this is NOT the case. All money is directly given to the charities. Plus, we will be driving an average of 400 miles a day, which does not leave any time for sunbathing or sightseeing. Before signing on to do the rally we were clearly warned of the dangers involved in going through some of the most unstable countries in the world. In fact, past participants have been chased by armed bandits toting the weapon of choice in the region - the AK-47!
It’s going to be tough, but we firmly believe we can succeed, and to support CNCF it will be worth the risk.
Thank you, Paul O'Connell 2000. [May 2007]
|
