Team Blog

3 July 2009

The Mongol Rally, often described as the greatest adventure on earth, was the brain child of two Englishmen that decided that the world had become just a little too safe. Modern man, they argued, had become too molly coddled by a nanny state that imposed all manner of health and safety regulations which slowly strangled all excitement from our daily lives. As an antidote to this an adventure like no other was conceived, the Mongol Rally with its ambitious mission statement – fighting to make the world less boring.  There are only a few rules: you and a friend (or two) need to drive a one litre car from Europe to Mongolia taking any route you fancy, with no support from anybody while raising funds and awareness for a very worthy Mongolian charity. Sounds easy doesn’t it, until you realise that the journey will take you one third of the way around the world, in a car  that is spectacularly ill-equipped for the job, into areas for which there no maps with nothing but your wits and a friendly smile to get you out of whatever trouble you may get yourself into. This may sound just a little silly, but the rally forces contestants to travel slowly, spend time with locals and truly discover how every community along the way lives, has fun and how they cope with the same mishaps that are bound to happen along the way. Despite being called a rally it really is not a race but an adventure where the only measure of success is the number of stories you have to tell around the campfire.

Part of a very small South African contingent is Reza,  Zak and friend  that form  The Self Preservation Society. Their route will take them through a dozen countries in central and northern European including palaces few people would actually be able to find on a map like Lichtenstein, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland before driving most of the way across Russia and finally into Mongolia. The trip is expected to take about 25 days and updates on the team’s progress can be found on this site.

The trip is however not just about tomfoolery and having fun with the locals in far flung places, there is a serious side to this malarkey as well. The organisers have nominated a number of Mongolian charities that all teams need to raise awareness and donations for. These charities make a meaningful contribution to the lives of those who are unable to lift themselves onto the very first rung of the socio-economic ladder through programs that help communities become self sufficient. The charity that we have elected to support is Mercy Corps, an organisation that operates in rural Mongolia providing education and support so that these communities can take the first steps towards self reliance. To see the work that they do first hand have a look at their website www.mercycorps.org.mn and if you would like to make a contribution to this cause please go to www.justgiving.com/theselfpreservationsociety and donate whatever you can. It must emphasised that your entire donation goes to Mercy Corps, not a cent goes towards funding the trip to Mongolia or the organisers. Neither party comes into contact with the payment as the charity receives your online payment directly.
It is difficult to motivate supporting a foreign charity when there are so many South Africans in need.  Charity may begin at home but that is not where it needs to end. There are countries where charity simply cannot begin at home because there are simply no resources to hand out. It is the collective responsibility of the outside world to help these nations of which Mongolia is one.  By making a donation you are helping those that have nowhere else to turn.