1. The Challenge
‘Long Road Home’ - a bike ride to raise money for children in the poorest parts of Asia
I am planning to cycle from Hong Kong to England to raise US$ 140,000 to (i) build recreation facilities at a refuge for street children in Cambodia, and (ii) set up community health initiatives in earthquake-affected areas in Pakistan.
Who am I
I’m a business manager at Reuters, currently based in Hong Kong, but taking up a new posting in UK later this year. Reuters support me to take unpaid leave and make my journey to the new posting overland, thereby raising money for charity.
The two charitable projects I’ve chosen to support are specific, so donors know exactly what will happen with their money. They were picked with the help of Reuters Foundation, and a Hong Kong-based hedge fund, ADM Capital. Both use sport as means of helping rebuild communities, focusing on children, especially girls. Both of the projects are additions to existing programs that have been remarkably successful in their achievements so far.
The implementation of the projects will be done by two charities: the Cambodia project by International Childcare Trust, through the M’Lop Tapang centre in Sihanoukville; and the Pakistan project by Right To Play. If fundraising is successful, then the work on building the sports centre etc can start before the end of this year.
On this site, you can find out more about the two projects in Cambodia and Pakistan, see how the fundraising is doing, find out about the ride and where I’m up to - and discover several ways you can get involved yourself.
And about the journey: I’ll set off from Hong Kong on 10 April, and expect to go through China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, then through the Caucasus into Turkey, before heading through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Holland, to the UK. I won’t be able to ride all sections because the time isn’t long enough to cover the 9000km before I start my new job, but I’ll ride as much as I can, linking where I have to by bus/train.
