Shelterbox

Whilst we chose to support Practical Action because of the excellent, proactive work it does in supporting Peruvian communities, we also felt compelled to support another charity providing a very different kind of service.
Shelterbox's cause may resonate more with some of our sponsors, since they provide a flexible and immediate disaster relief capability. The output of the charity is beautifully simple and tangible - they provide a box.

In this box is a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items needed by families displaced for whatever reason.
The charity is reasonably new, but already 107,000 boxes have been delivered to people who need them, be it in Sudan, Pakistan or Japan.

What we've arrived at is two great charities, one offering disaster relief to families who need any help they can get, and the other offering a brighter future for those living everyday in conditions that we are considering to be adverse enough to warrant sponsorship to travel through!

Remember all proceeds go directly to the charities. (Chris and I are funding the trip ourselves)

To sponsor our efforts and donate your money to Shelterbox, please visit this page: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/QueGuevaraShelterbox

Practical Action

One of the great aspects of doing charity roadtrips is the opportunity it presents to understand some of the work that the charities do.

The first of our chosen charities is Practical Action, and they've been chosen specifically because they are delivering projects in Peru, the country we are travelling through. Chances are that we will be driving through communities that either are (or one day will be) impacted by the very projects our fundraising is helping to pay for. I don't pretend to understand a great deal about the challenges faced in Peru, though clearly poverty, climate and geographical isolation will be three of the main ones. The challenges that will make our road trip so treacherous, are issues that impact communities daily, throughout their lives. Transportation, communication and the Andean climate are but three key issues - and Practical Action has projects in place to try to improve knowledge and capability in each of these areas.

Why not read a little more about:
community telecentres
dissemination of agricultural tips via podcasts
coping with the big Andean freeze  and
harnessing windpower

To sponsor ¿Que? Guevara with your proceeds going to Practical Action - follow this link http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/QueGuevara

Challenge 1 completed

Chris and Rich both completed the Bristol Half marathon yesterday. Chris in a mightilty impressive 1hr 39 mins and Rich in a seemingly (it wasn't) more leisurely 1hr 55mins.

From this we can conclude that Chris should be in charge of "running to the next village to ask for help", should we find ourselves stranded in the Andes mountains in the New Year!

I can take charge of waiting with the moto-taxi.

If you're impressed with our exertions why not offer some post-race sponsorship (see either the charities page, or the links in the right-hand margin)

Bristol Half Marathon

Only 3 days to go until the Bristol Half Marathon now, and this represents the first charity fundraising 'action' that we're doing. Chris and I will both be sporting our Practical Action running shirts as we pound the streets of Bristol. We've been following a reasonably strict fitness schedule to get us into shape - and I think we're targetting sub 2hrs (me) and sub 1hr 50 (Chris) this time around.

Next month we're taking on the Cardiff half marathon (where we'll be trying to improve our times), so we should be in decent shape before we take on the mountains/jungles/desert in Peru!

Remember if you want to sponsor us, all money goes directly to the charities (none of it pays for the trip).