THANK YOU! What have a geologist, psychologist, psychiatrist, two CEO's, one managing director, two young-offender youth workers, an archeologist, an airline pilot, two civil engineers, one architect, a scriptwriter and author, a union official and a doctor got in common? Answer: very little except for the fact that they all completed every last gruelling kilometre of the ride from Saigon in Vietnam to Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Together, we raised over £100,000 for  the most fantastic charity called MAG (Mines Advisory Group) and the sponsorship money is still rolling in. Thank you! Your generosity will do amazing things in Cambodia: Your contribution will help to clear mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) from this beautiful but troubled part of the world. The de-miners of MAG are working to clear fields in which local villagers can grow crops to feed their children and roadways to reconnect communities. Thank you. To witness the extent of contamination in both countries was shocking - but I was left with a great sense of hope and achievement that one day in the future, there will be no mine/UXO problem in Vietnam or Cambodia. Like many Asian cities, Saigon is busy, overwhelming and crazy but with a real sense of urgency and desire to succeed. Thanks to its european colonial past you get flashes - short bursts - of familiar architecture or shapes which rapidly fade back into the curlicues and finials of Buddhist argot. Reds and golds slash the scenery, scooters, advertising hoardings, cables, street food, noise, kids and shouting fill you with an energy you just cannot find at home. Let me tell you why I chose MAG to be the charity I supported: Charity can sometimes have a sense of dependance, of reliance. With that often goes a tinge of hopelessness, of inevitability that sometime in the future the collection tin will rattle once more. MAG's principles are simple: Go in, talk to the communities. Establish where mine clearance is needed to most benefit the community and get on with clearing mines. They breathe the soul back into the place - they give the land back to its people. Fields for farming, roads for trading, youth for regeneration. MAG employs and trains local people to become de-miners so that the communities being to benefit from mine clearance even before the mines and weaponry are fully cleared. Often, because agriculture is restricted by ordnance and mines, villagers will be tempted to actively seek UXO for its scrap value. These weapons are often unstable when handled and more so when being cut up for sale - the results can be horrific. I had the privilege to meet some of the MAG team in Cambodia. I was struck by their amazing dedication, good humour and professionalism; but more than that a huge desire to bring goodness to the region shone through. They thoroughly deserve our help - every penny is carefully spent with that simple purpose in mind. It was an uplifting and valuable experience. Be it on long roads lined with rubber trees, through banana jungle, dusty track or bustling village, I had you all with me in my head. Every push of the pedal, gear change or sweaty rest-stop made me think of what fantastic friends and colleagues I have. Hollering greetings to children at the side of the road, high-fiving at 30km/h gave me renewed drive to push on to the end and to help my fellow riders achieve the same. On a bike, you experience the earthy richness that countries like these have to offer. I wish you could have been there with me to feel it to. As we cycled into the temple complex at Angkor Wat I felt great sadness that the ride was nearly at an end. The grandness and majesty of the temple spoke of the ancient and proud heritage of this region and as we watched the stone turn bronze in the setting sun I knew that we had all done a good thing. Thank you once again. See my pictures of the trip at http://gallery.me.com/micaelams/100031

Updated on Feb 15th 2011 at 10:41 AM from the JustGiving API

Check out our GPS track log of the cycle at http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=967000&code=30df78e6d9daf22584b0c54fe5034223 Thanks Peter Hibbert

Updated on Feb 9th 2011 at 6:24 AM from the JustGiving API

Check out the pictures of my ride at http://gallery.me.com/micaelams/100031

Updated on Feb 9th 2011 at 6:22 AM from the JustGiving API

The cycle was absolutely amazing - a beautiful country with a sad history which leaves their spirit undimmed

Updated on Jan 28th 2011 at 3:26 PM from the JustGiving API

At Heathrow T4 and ready for the off! No better way to wish me luck than with a nice donation to MAG

Updated on Jan 27th 2011 at 10:05 PM from the JustGiving API

31 degrees in Ho Chi Mihn city tomorrow. Hot!

Updated on Jan 27th 2011 at 10:01 PM from the JustGiving API

So... The training has been going well including a bit of heat training and some altitude training too! I've really not been on my bike enough so whilst I am fit, I've not gotten the miles in... So, slightly apprehensive as I pack my rucksack for the flight tomorrow

Updated on Jan 27th 2011 at 9:57 PM from the JustGiving API

Rather glad that my JustGiving App is working again!

Updated on Jan 27th 2011 at 9:56 PM from the JustGiving API

Completed the Grim in 1:07. That put me 75th out of 2000 competitors. Pretty good, huh?

Updated on Jan 27th 2011 at 9:54 PM from the JustGiving API

Ready for the rescheduled Grim 8 this weekend. Yesssssss!

Not grim enough...? Not happy with just the run, cycle and all the rest of it I have decided I need an extra challenge so, the 4th December will see me wading chest-deep through freezing water and mud and scrabbling over boulder-strewn mounds of sludge to run the Grim8 in Aldershot...

Update... A pretty grim Windsor 1/2 marathon, just to warm up those legs for the cycle! Wind, rain, freezing cold. Really rather nasty. I managed a creditable 1 hour 41.22 spurred on by your amazing donations. At 11 miles, just as you hit the crowds I experienced a surge of emotion and thought about all of you that have coughed up your hard-earned cash for my little charity extravaganza.

 

I pushed on with a renewed burst of energy but that long last mile was a killer... at one point I was convinced that I was getting further away from the finish line!

 

Thank you everyone!!!

 

Getting on for 500km of biking... those of you who know me best will be genuinely amazed. MAG (Mines Advisory Group) do fantastic work all over the world clearing mines and lobbying governments.

The fact is that the left over detritis of war takes its heaviest toll on children in the developing world - either directly or by killing or wounding their parents.

I hope to create a connection to a world that most of us are fortunate enough to never have to visit.

Here is a little bit about MAG

Saving lives and limbs...

We work in current and former conflict zones, to reduce the threat of death and injury from remnants of conflict. These include anti-personnel and anti-vehicle landmines, as well as rockets, missiles, mortars, grenades, ammunition, small arms and light weapons, and many more types of deadly items. So we don’t just carry out plain landmine or bomb clearance – some of our projects aren’t even about landmines.

We educate people living, working and travelling through contaminated areas, to minimise the risks of them, their friends and families being killed or maimed.

...and building futures...

We focus on the many millions of people who benefit from our work. We release reclaimed safe land back to the local population, enabling recovery and assisting the development of affected populations.

More than this, we tackle poverty by training and employing staff from the local populations, in order to build a robust and sustainable national workforce. More than 90 per cent of our 2,300-plus staff around the world are natives of the countries in which they work.

...worldwide

MAG has worked in 35 countries since 1989 and currently has operations in Afghanistan, Angola, Burundi, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gaza, Iraq, Lao P.D.R., Lebanon, Pakistan, Puntland State of Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Vietnam.

See this page for a timeline: MAG's history: year-by-year

MAG is co-laureate of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for its work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines [www.icbl.org], which culminated in the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty – the international agreement that bans anti-personnel landmines, sometimes referred to as the Ottawa Convention.

We don’t have large marketing campaigns or spend vast amounts on fundraising or self-promotion, but we do try and build awareness of our work simply because we see daily how vital it really is on the ground.

HELP... I need to raise at least £3k by NOVEMBER...........!

 

More to follow soon!

 

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