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First fundraising milestone is £10,000 to buy the scooter and sidecar
Check the updates tab for more information as the campaign develops
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The first ever circumnavigation of the globe on a scooter with a sidecar in aid of compassion, understanding and the fight against modern day slavery.
- Fighting slavery and other human rights abuses by inspiring compassionate decision making through the medium of story telling.
- Raising awareness and funds for WalkFree.org and the fight against modern day slavery.
- Working with and supporting small NGOs and charities across the globe.
In 2017 Matt Bishop and Reece Gilkes will set out to be the first people to ever circumnavigate the globe on a scooter with a sidecar. Here's why:
Our news over the past year or two has been pretty scary. Society is becoming more and more divided. It doesn’t matter where on the political spectrum you sit: you could be revelling in Don's victory or still mourning Bernie's loss, have voted for Brexit or to remain, the fact of the matter is, hate crime is on the rise, scaremongering is rife in our politics and press, and there is a genuine lack of understanding and compassion between one and other, both within countries and across our borders. We think that this lack of compassion extends to pretty much everything we do. It doesn’t only affect the way we vote but just as importantly it influences our everyday actions such as the things we buy, causes we support or people we socialise with. So, what we want to do with this expedition is connect people on a basic human level, through the medium of storytelling, in the hope of creating a more conscientious and compassionate society.
An obvious example of this lack of compassion is the migrant crisis in Europe but it extends to pretty much everything we do. For example, there are currently 45.8 million people living in modern day slavery and they’re in every country on earth. That’s more than double what there was during the time of the transatlantic slave trade and much of them are trapped because of the decisions we make. The lack of compassion in our decision making keeps people enslaved.
If we knew the people who were trapped in the cotton fields in Uzbekistan or the textiles factories in Bangladesh, then we wouldn't support the industries that keep them there.
We’re working with a network of NGOs, charities and local experts on our route who will be telling us stories of what everyday life is like for people in the places they work. Through these stories we will be able to connect with the people who we affect with our decisions at home and with this greater understanding we will be more inspired to make small changes that will ultimately help end modern day slavery and other human rights abuses.
So why the scooter and sidecar?
The world is just completely potty at the moment. Frankie Boyle put it excellently when he said:
"There has to be something wrong with a world where the best employment option for a farmer in sub-Saharan Africa isn’t being a farmer in sub-Saharan Africa, but crossing the Mediterranean on a punctured lilo, only to spend days dangling under a lorry so that he can end up selling lollipops in a nightclub toilet".
Maybe Frankie is being a tad hyperbolic but he's right, because of the ways in which we have interacted with other countries, people from all over the world are fleeing to safer and more economically prosperous countries in search of a better life. And clearly with the rise of anti-immigration policies across much of the western world, people don't want to let them in. Well we believe that this is down to political scaremongering that's compounded in the press.
As human beings, we naturally want to help each other out, not turn our backs on people in need, and we have the capacity to help but because we are scared we don’t. People on the other side of national borders are easily grouped and stigmatised by the press when in fact they are just trying to make a better life for themselves.
That's why, to highlight how absurd we think it is that we treat human beings differently dependent on which side of a national border they are on, we are going to cross a load of national borders on the most absurd piece of equipment imaginable - a scooter with a sidecar.
For the record we accept that national borders are needed. But what we don’t get is why our feelings towards people should change because of the border. The people on the other side are no different to you or me and should be treated with the same level of compassion and respect as any other person. This is the case no matter what issue you look at all around the world – it seems that if it’s abroad it’s just not as important to us. Well we think, that now that we live in such an interconnected world, that the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ philosophy is just plain outdated.
So, if we can circumnavigate the entire planet on this completely inappropriate mode of transport then maybe we can show just how close to home the world’s problems are and how it really doesn’t matter if you’re a farmer in Africa or an ice cream man in the UK, ultimately, what we hold in common significantly outweighs our differences.
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Fundraising
At the same time as telling stories we will be raising funds to fight modern day slavery and other human rights abuses. The expedition is going to be ridiculously challenging. It will take nearly 18 months and will involve us trawling through mud, sand and snow in a scooter with a sidecar. Despite our original thoughts, sidecars are simply not made for those kind of conditions: it's going to act like an oven in the heat and a freezer in the cold so this really does qualify as stupid enough to be a fundraiser. We're aiming to raise £50,000 to get this show on the road. A minimum of half of which will go to organisations fighting modern day slavery and other human rights abuses: with the majority of that going to WalkFree.org and some donations going to local organisations in the countries we visit.
Please donate to this expedition and help us fight for compassion and against slavery and other human rights abuses.
For more information, you can check out our website at www.AsSeenFromTheSidecar.org or get in touch at info@AsSeenFromTheSidecar.org