Latest update, 2nd July: 'Incredible India' is just that

A belated updated to this page as I managed to reach my target thanks to all you lovely people and I am almost a couple of weeks into the Raleigh expedition in India now. Its been all go since I landed in Bangalore on the 21st June, with trek training, completing a camping recce of my first project site, and lots of other training - all in anticipation of the venturers arriving in 3 days time.

I can confirm my first project is an Environmental site and will involve digging an Elephant Proof Trench (EPT) combined with putting up a Solar Powered Fence, to protect village farmers crops from elephant raids in the middle of the night. The village is Huskurhadi, population 303, about 90km from Mysore (pop. 3million) in the state of Karnataka. They are a community of subsistence farmers with crops of millet, cotton, and tobacco. 

For those who had wondered, an EPT is a 2 metre deep trench, with a 2m width across the top of the trench and a 1m width at the bottom. Contrary to popular suggestions, it will not need to be filled with mice to be effective, they have proven to work well with an accompanying electric fence. We will be digging 513 metres of EPT and putting up 1.2km of fencing, over 3 phases. Without the electric fence, the elephants simply push soil into the trench and build themselves a convenient footbridge. Without the EPT in front of the electric fence, elephants have been known to attack the fence with tree trunks or knock over a corner post, rendering the fence useless.

The project recce was seat of the pants stuff, with myself and my fellow PMs Julie and Marie having to choose a new site on our arrival, as the original site down by the edge of a backwater was deemed too dangerous by the village leaders. A couple of days earlier a lone elephant had trekked out of the forest in the night, along the lake edge and up through the villagers fields, to eat a section of crops right next to the village temple, before being scared away by locals banging pots and pans. Seperately a tribal man a couple of km's away had been killed earlier in the week by a stampeding elephant too. Its safe to say we didnt sleep much on the first night, camped only 10m from where the lone elephant had been munching, and with loud cries and banging from the village lookouts through the night to confirm elephants were indeed mooching about nearby.

So our new site has been chosen, a little closer than we'd like to be to the village, but a nice big plot of land that we can set up a home for the next 3 weeks in. Our arrival on day 1 will see the site built from scratch, including 15 bashas to sleep in, a large shelter for all our kit and bags, a long drop loo, some sort of 'shower' (probably a bucket and jug, same as at base camp) and most importantly, a perimeter fence to keep the local dogs, cows, chickens, children and other inquisitive visitors at a respectable distance.

Thanks again for all your help in getting me here, your donations go towards all the equipment and supplies we will use at the site and a host of other stuff. Some pictures up soon!

Shane

 

Hi and thanks for visiting my page!

I am raising money for Raleigh International (click for link) who are a charity that work overseas on community and environmental projects in places like India, Costa Rica and Borneo.

I have signed up as a Project Manager to go to India for 12 weeks this summer ( I leave 20th June!) and to help look after the projects and the venturers who take part. Myself, other PMs and the venturers (17 to 24 year olds) on the expedition raise as much money as we can and this pays for the work Raleigh do in-country. We all pay for our own equipment, flights and vaccinations etc, so all the money you donate can be spent on the projects.

How am I fundraising?

Well I've had a couple of ideas. I will be attempting to cycle the Danube cycleway in May, which is a 1367km cycle trail that starts in East Germany, crosses northern Austria, briefly cuts through Slovakia, and finishes in Budapest, Hungary. It will take me approximately 20 days, cycling between 50km and 108km a day. I will be staying at cheap hostels and guesthouses along the way, with plenty of Bavarian food and ale to keep me going. (click 'previous page' on the link to see details of the route from the books back cover).

Secondly, I'm holding a prize draw for a brand new mens mountain bike (a 20" frame Shogun Katayama). It's brand new and hasn't been out of the box! (I'll be using my 2nd hand bike off eBay, aka 'frankenstein' for obvious reasons, to cycle the Danube.) There will be other prizes too including a hamper of car accessories, a cheese and wine basket and other bits. Tickets are £5 each so get in touch if you want some! I will find some other goodies to include in the prize fund before the draw which will be on 2nd May 2010....

...which leads nicely into my other fundraiser, a barbeque on Sunday the 2nd May in Manchester. This has a 'voluntary' donation at the door but then you eat for free! I'll be spreading the word on that one via facebook etc.

I am also trying to raise funds any other way I can, and will be selling bits and pieces at car boot sales and via eBay/Gumtree. If you have anything you would like to donate that I could sell or add to the prize fund it will be greatly appreciated!

So what will we be doing in India?

There will be lots of challenges throughout the expedition, from hard labour to adverse weather (I've only gone and chosen monsoon season! :/ ) and problems with navigation, transport and supplies will no doubt crop up. A large part of my job as a PM will be helping the venturers learn and develop throughout the experience, making it a good one for them to return home with.

Community Projects: Half of the projects focus on giving very poor rural communities basic facilities like a fresh water supply, composting toilets or even building a school. Teams of venturers and PMs work on the given project with local tradesmen and need it completed before we leave!

Environmental Projects: These projects could involve protecting and monitoring local wildlife, or rebuilding elephant trenches to protect local farmers crops, and are usually based much more remotely. A daily river crossing to get to the project and back from camp is not unheard of.

Adventure Project: The venturers and some PMs (depending on allocation) get a final project that includes lots of trekking, cycling, or rafting, with the aim of getting ourselves from one part of the country to another in time for an end of expedition celebration. Map reading and survival skills that have been learnt will be tested, and we will have to work together to complete the phase, building our own rafts and suchlike.

Everyone involved in a Raleigh expedition puts a lot of effort into these projects, through enormous fundraising and the work they will do in-country. Please be generous when you donate as it all adds up and makes a huge difference to the individuals we help.

If you are a UK tax payer and are not related to me, please tick the Gift Aid box, as this increases your donation significantly. If you are related to me, maybe you could convince a tax paying friend to donate instead of you? wink, wink!

To find out more about the locations Raleigh work in, and also the host country partners that they work with, go to their homepage.

Thanks in advance, Shane

6th April 2010

20th April update - Made some good progress selling some of my stuff this week; old TV, exercise bike, and two easy chairs all going to good homes. As well as the mountain bike, other prizes now include; a cheese and wine basket, a hamper of car accessories, and a crate of beer. More coming soon!

27th April update - Thankyou for the donations so far!!! Great progress being made. On Thursday I went all out and cycled from Manchester to Yarm, 100 mile trip! It took me 12.5 hours and Friday was a bit of a write off but as its further than I will need to cycle on each day of the Danube I'm glad I managed it. More prizes have been confirmed now; Meal for two and a bottle of wine at Croma, a Mens Cut Throat Shave at Gentry Grooming Co, a lavender bath set, a Jacobs biscuits basket, and working on a Spa day at GL14 healthclub in Manchester and entry to the comedy night with a bottle of wine at Iguana Bar, Chorlton.

 

1st May Update - The full prize list is now;
-Brand New Mens Mountain Bike
-A Cut Throat Shave at the Gentry Grooming Co
-Meal for two with a bottle of house wine at Croma
-Belgian waffles and drinks at Coffee N Chocolate,Chorlton
-Meal for two at Lounge Bar in Chorlton
-Mains and puddings for two at Fuel in Withington
-£25 takeaway voucher from Gusto's new delivery service in Didsbury
-£25 gift voucher from Heaven Spa (Didsbury or Deansgate)
-Free entry to Mirth on Mondays and wine at Iguana bar, Chorlton
-A couple of collections of DVDs
-A lavender bubble bath set
-Several Jacobs prizes of Jaffa cakes/Twiglets/choc bars/caramel biscuits
-A car care hamper (polish, Tcut, 1st aid kit, jump leads,car cover etc)
-Two crates of Budweiser!

You dont have to attend the barbie to get a raffle ticket so fire away if you are interested! Tickets are £5 each so donate online before 5pm tomorrow and your tickets will go in the hat as well.
www.JustGiving.com/ShaneShehade

All the burgers and sausages for the barbie are sitting in my fridge now so please come and help us eat them if you are in the area! I've also got tonnes of bread rolls so if you want to bring anything then crisps/dips, sauces and salads will be most welcome. Burger cheese slices are sorted too!

Cheers! Hope to see many of you tomorrow, I will update my offline donations before I get away on Weds,
Shane

14th May Update: from Linz, Austria

Hello and thanks for the donations while I've been away! The prizes were all given away at the barbie and the weather managed to behave (just, there wasn't any sun) so we had fun. If you havent heard from me then you didnt win I'm afraid!

I'm currently on cycling day 8 of the 21 I gave myself to complete the Danube cycleway (link below somewhere). This is only the 2nd net cafe I have come across so my plans for a couple of hours sending fundraising emails every few days have been scuppered! I'm making good progress tho and have crossed the halfway mark 2 days ahead of schedule. My odometer currently reads 827km which is ~100km more than I expected it to at this point, testament to how much of a setback starting without a proper map is!!

The cycleways are well signed most of the time, but occasionally a 5 - 10km stretch is completely unsigned which causes me no end of grief. Or they put the signs half a kilometre after the junctions which is not ideal. My German has had to improved a lot too, I havent practiced since 2nd year of secondary school and outside of cities English might as well be Klingon! The first two days the weather was horrendous so I had to get some extra rain gear I wasn't planning on needing, and since yesterday it has been raining cats and dogs again. I'm getting used to soggy feet!

Anyway, I'm doing it all to raise funds for Raleigh's work with children and rural communities in India, Costa Rica and Borneo. So please help me hit my target and it will mean that when I go to India with Raleigh this summer there will be materials and tools for us to work with. Its not 'a jolly' and I'm paying for all my costs myself (flights/kit/medical).

Many thanks for your support,

Shane

23rd May Update: When in Budapest...

visit the thermal springs! First on my To-Do list tomorrow. I finally arrived in Budapest this evening, a few days ahead of schedule. The last 3 days cycling through Hungary have been hard tho so it couldn't come soon enough! I can confirm that some of the ideas yet to take hold here are; signposts, road markings, roads that are not just a series of potholes, driving less than your engines top speed, and kerbs less than 1 foot high. And speaking any other language except Hungarian is also not popular outside of Budapest which helps keep things interesting... Enough griping anyway, I've completed the challenge I set out to and my odometer reads 1499km!! A fair bit more than I expected to be doing thanks to getting lost at least once a day and my guide book needing a good update. Thanks again for donating while I've been away, I will be back on the campaign trail again when I get back later this week trying to hit my target. I will also be relieved to come back to 'normal' UK weather, not including the current heatwave, as yesterday I rode most of the day in blazing sunshine accompanied by heavy thunder and the now traditional ice cold rain when I get within 5km of my destination...  :)     Cheers for your support, Shane 

1st June: Not long til India... 

Well I made it back from Hungary with no problems, but it took a lot of effort! I spent my last day boxing up my bike and wrapping my pannier bags, and then lugging everything via train to the airport, home to the most unhelpful hungarians imaginable, unlike the rest of the country. I'm not sure the bike will make it out of the box again before I leave for India, sad but true! Now I have a couple of weeks to put my things in order and hope all is well until I am finished on the expedition in mid September.

I am still a fair way short of the £2000 I need to go to India, and even further away from the £3000 I was hoping to raise. I couldn't pester much from Europe as most of the small places I cycled thru were internet-less, in this day and age!! So far I've held a charity bbq, a huge prize draw and also cycled 1500km along the Danube cycleway from its source in East Germany to Budapest, Hungary. If you haven't donated yet and you can, now would be ideal as I really am cutting it fine. Do it for me and do it for the rural Indian communities I will be helping and do it for the elephants! It will be a lot of hard labour over there, it is monsoon season, and I cover all my own costs, so your donation is genuinely going to a good cause.

Thanks, Shane 

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