They will of had 9 weeks out on Phase to get fit. The Adventure Phase saw them tackling arduous treks, challenging cycle routes and extreme rafting. The Environmental Phase was hard core digging, giving them a full body work out. While the Community Phase involved hard manual labour carrying heavy bricks building up their muscles ... But now it's time to see what they're really made of.
So on Thursday 16th December it will be every man for himself, as we cast off the Raleigh ethos of team work and pit them head to head up against each other. Those signed up so far are:
5K
Caroline, Hannah W, Kat, Raghu, Natalie
10K
Olly, Dr Phil, Rach, Hannah L, George, Simon, Coen, Michiel, Iain, Erdinch, Jen, Anniek, Arthur, Kim, Jonny, Owen, Jack, Hubertus, David, Ryan, Sam, Olivia, Sarah, Polly C, Anna, Dr Josse
Importantly though, they will all be raising money for Raleigh India projects, so we're asking Venturer & PM friends and family to sponsor them at http://www.justgiving.com/raleigh-india-fun-run/.
Fundraising money from venturers to join a Raleigh expedition covers the cost of their experience and of running our permanent field bases. However, it only goes some of the way of covering the costs of building materials and local labour for our projects which support marginalised communities and environments in India.
India witnesses a huge disparity between the urbanised wealthy and the rural poor. Although government initiatives are targeting this and attempting to redress the balance; changing an embedded culture in a sub-continent as huge as India is not a fast process.
By partnering with both local grass roots NGOs, government agencies and international NGOs, Raleigh has been able to access and address some core issues here in India.
The Community projects focus on a targeted areas, building relationships, friendships and exchanging culture, educating them in the importance of education for their children, community health, and giving them the means to sustain a their livelihood in an environmentally friendly way.
Our Environmental projects in India focus on educating communities and youth in reducing the human impact upon habitats to preserve the natural biodiversity. The projects concentrate measures on reducing the interaction between wild animals and people and the resultant negative impact on people or their resources, or wild animals or their habitat.
To learn more about the Raleigh India community and environmental project strategies please link here http://www.raleighinternational.org/countries/india
Although Raleigh expeditions are relatively small groups, the message we send in our presence and activities here has a huge multiplying effect. Through concentrated and sustained efforts our project groups have begun to make a tangible difference in the areas Raleigh India has focused. But we always need more money, as there is so much more we can do. So please dig deep and donate now.
All text by Polly Carpenter and photos by Polly Baldwin http://www.dynamicpictures.co.uk/ (unless stated otherwise).
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - we raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
