Back from my trip to Japan, had a great time, like always. Even got some work done, amazingly.
So, now it’s time to get started in earnest in raising money and preparing for the trip. We have about a eight months before leaving to the U.K. for the final preparations, and have an amazing amount of stuff to get accomplished before that time.
Stay tuned for more updates in the coming weeks, as well as some web site tweaks and changes.
I’ll leave you with a letter that I received from one of our charities, Mercy Corps, last week:
Dear Mongol Ralliers,
Massive congratulations on getting a place for the 2009 Mongol Rally. With 500 teams taking part, it will be the biggest and best Rally yet. This is the fourth year Mercy Corps has been involved with this unique event and it’s great to see how the event has continued to grow since 2006.
For those of you who have never heard of Mercy Corps before, we are an international development charity with European Headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland and American headquarters in Portland, Oregon. We work in over 35 countries around the world, responding to global emergencies and carrying out longer term development work. Throughout all our work we help individuals, in some of the poorest countries in the world, to live a sustainable and independent life.
The funds you raise are donated to the TAN Programme in Mongolia. What is TAN? It stands for Training, Advocacy and Networking Programme and this is the project that does great things with the money raised by the Mongol Rally teams.
Until recently, rural Mongolian residents did not have the skills and collective ability needed to work effectively with local governments to identify community development needs and issues. Only a few local civil society organisations were to be found in rural areas, and those that were there lacked the ability to mobilize communities and to provide services on an on-going basis.
TAN’s overall goal is to strengthen the presence of rural Mongolian civil society organisations by increasing their ability to work with communities and local institutions. This will contribute to a more robust social and political environment. Previous TAN projects have included: reducing unemployment, combating alcoholism, improving drinking water, raising the quality of education, and providing family counselling services—just to name a few.
If you have any questions or would like more information about us do visit our website, www.mercycorps.org.
Very best wishes,
Anna Jackson
Senior Communications Officer
