Timetable for the
YOUR GUIDE TO THE MONGOLIA CHARITY RALLY 2017
A Guide to the Mongolia Charity Rally – The adventure of a lifetime in a nutshell. Or in a car… The Mongolia Charity Rally is an epic 10,000 mile pan-continental road trip for charity across mountain ranges, deserts, and more barren and inhospitable lands than you’d care to shake a gear stick at. It starts in Brussels, though the starting point is entirely flexible, and ends in the ancient Mongol capital of Ulaanbaatar. Teams, formed of maximum 5 people, find themselves a vehicle, fundraise a ton of charity and sponsorship money, and with a little help from us (to make sure ‘T’s are crossed and ‘I’s are dotted, and to ensure everyone is fully prepared), they set off not to be seen again until they reach Mongolia! This rally, which is 100% for charity, is just one of several different rallies run by Charity Rallies, the fundraising arm of the UK charity Go Help. The Mongolia Charity Rally began as an ambulance run, supporting Go Help’s flagship ambulance service in Mongolia. It has now been expanded to include teams driving all kinds of different vehicles that are either used in Mongolia for charity services or sold commercially. The best ambulances go to our Ambulance Project, the rest either used where possible in our projects or sold. All profits from vehicle sales go stright to our projects.
The basics in a nutshell: • The Mongolia Charity Rally is 100% for charity, run by a charity, for charity. • Find yourself a team. Teams are made up of you and up to 4 of your friends in one vehicle or two riders on two motorcycles. • Build up the courage to sign up to the Mongolia Charity Rally. Only charitable adventurers need apply. • Fundraising is a must – The first £1,000 you raise goes to Go Help, the adventure charity that organizes this epic event – any fundraising above that can go to the charity of your choice. • The launch is on July 8, 2017, in Brussels. • Your Team can start from anywhere you like, we’ll help them out. • The basic route is from launch in Brussels to Ulanbaatar but the specific route choice is up to you and your team: the world is your oyster! • Finding a vehicle and ensuring it complies with the vehicle rules is your responsibility, but we’ll help you figure it out. • A vehicle must be not more than 9 years old to get in to Mongolia.
THE CHARITY - GO HELP Go Help is a UK adventure charity that is committed to working with local communities in Central Asia and Central America to improve their access to education and healthcare services. It is run by volunteers, and began as an effort to launch and operate ambulance services in third world countries. The cause is now much broader and we endeavor to help local organisations in any way we can. Our charitable activities are largely in the fields of healthcare and education. Go Help is staffed by past ralliers. As part of Go Help, enterprising ralliers have pioneered and trialed a number of other projects in recent years, including an ambulance to Nepal and tuk-tuks through the Cambodian jungles. There are always new and great ideas in the pipeline.
Go Help’s core objectives include: • Promoting charitable adventuring • Enabling access to primary healthcare through the provision, distribution and maintenance of emergency vehicles • Fostering local talent, through providing scholarships and employment opportunities for young people • Supporting education projects which provide opportunities for literacy and self-improvement • Facilitating the placement of skilled health and education volunteers with the aim of enhancing the capacity of local communities
Go Help’s Board of trustees David Griffiths is a co-founder of Go Help and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He is a lawyer based in New York with significant pro bono and human rights experience.
MONGOLIA CHARITY RALLY OFFICERS Charity Rally Officers Joanna Meade manages the events and communications for Go Help and is Charity Rallies’ Rally Commander. She tested the MesoAmerica Charity Rally in 2011 and rallied to
Willian Dodsworth is a co-founder of Go Help. He is a lawyer based in London. He has worked as a teacher at the Mongolian National Legal Centre. Jeroen Thijs works for the Charity Rallies Brussels office helping to manage the events, teams and sponsorship for the rallies. He has done the rally to Mongolia twice and is working on his next challenge. Charlie Hogg took part in the Mongolia Charity Rally in 2008 driving the first fully equipped ambulance to Mongolia. He joined the board of trustees in 2009 and won the Rotary Young Citizen of the Year award the same year.
Dulguun Batkhishig was previously head of the Go Help Mongolian Office in Ulaanbaatar. She is now a trustee.
Ryan Walker is a founder of the annual Go Help fundraising event the Roof of the World Charity Rally. He works for Mercedes F1 and became a trustee in 2010.
Mongolia Regional Officers Tseveendavaa Ozoi is our legal advisor in Mongolia. He deals with the Ministry of Finance and Mongolian Customs on vehicle tax exemption.
Ulziidulam (Ulzzi) Davaasuren is our project coordinator in UB. She manages Go Help’s social media, runs the projects on the ground and handles Charity Rally teams in UB. You can call her Ulzii.
Enkhsolongo (Soko) Munkhbold is the accountant of Go Help’s office in UB. When she’s not working for the charity she does yoga and hikes. You can call her Soko.
Charity Rally VOLUNTEERS Steve Barnes has been invaluable in getting Charity Rallies’ new website up and running, and assists the Charity Rally Officers in all IT matters. Zurine is our newest volunteer, helping out with social media and Charity rally newsletters.
The Charity Events - Charity Rallies
Europe - Ulaanbaatar
Charity Rallies is the fundraising arm of Go Help. Under this umbrella, Go Help currently runs three rallies: the Mongolia Charity Rally, from Northern Europe to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia; the Roof of the World Charity Rally, from Northern Europe to Dushanbe, Tajikistan; and the MesoAmerica Charity Rally from San Diego to Siguatepeque, Honduras. Each of these works with different projects in the destination country, all within the fields of healthcare and education.
The Mongolia Charity Rally traditionally ran from London to Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia. However, since 2015, due to our massive increase in mainland European sign-ups, the official rally starting point is now in Brussels. If a team is determined to start elsewhere however, we, as a charity, will of course do our best to help them out.
The MesoAmerica Charity Rally, the newest of the Charity Rallies, recently ran a successful test run that saw two US ambulances donated to Siguatepeque and Comayagua in Honduras. These ambulances have since been put into active practice and have seen the fruits of the labour of the ralliers. The progress and use of the ambulances is regularly monitored by Go Help volunteers. The relationships built during this test run were positive and long lasting, and this Rally opened to the public in July 2014.
The Roof of the World Charity Rally was started by former ralliers who took part in the Mongolia Charity Rally several years before. Following their visit to Tajikistan and the realisation that the country is in need of help, Go Help assisted these volunteers in setting up the rally that treks some of the most dangerous high altitude roads in Asia. On the ground in Tajikistan Go Help employs a small office that helps the ralliers with vehicle donation, paperwork and general admin, as well as keeping up the relationships with our projects in the country. Go Help’s flagship Rally, the Mongolia Charity Rally has been running since 2007. With an established office in Ulaanbaatar, a dedicated team with contacts to the Mongolian Government, as well as a host of successful partnerships with local projects, the Mongolia Charity Rally pulls in over 50 teams a year. Starting with the ambulance project, the rally now runs all manner of vehicles across the 10,000 miles of inhospitable terrain to be donated to charities or sold for charitable profit.
The route the team takes is entirely up to them. Here’s where the imagination can really go into overdrive! Once we’ve helped a team register and finalise the paperwork for their chosen vehicle, its time to chart the route and grab that place on the starting grid in Brussels! So what is the experience going to be? The northern route through Eastern Europe; visiting the Reichstag, the Charles Bridge, and crossing the Tatras on the way to the Ukraine? Will it be to brave the potholes and dirt roads of southern Russia, and cross onto the Asian continent in Kazakhstan and along the shores of the Caspian Sea before driving across the barren, deserted lands of western Mongolia?
Or perhaps the Southern route is on the menu? Cutting down through Western Europe to Turkey, crossing over the Bosphorus River on the Bridge to Asia; driving lazily through the beautiful countryside of Iran, before collecting as many ‘Stans as possible on the way north east to Mongolia? The average northern route takes about 3 weeks, whereas the southern takes at least 4. But this is where the imagination can be the guide; there are no rules on this one!
Taking part in the Mongolia Charity Rally 2017
How to Sign Up
Only the courageous need apply. The journey of a lifetime begins with a single step: summoning up the courage to sign-up for the Mongolia Charity Rally. Pick your team. After crossing the Rubicon, there is no going back. Unless you break down, in which case there might be. The next step is to pick your posse. You’re going to spend a month rallying halfway across the world with this team, so think long and hard about who the most annoying people you know are, and make sure not to ask them. Teams are usually made up of between two to four people. Pick a Route: Pick a country, any country… then drive through it. As long as you end up in Mongolia, this part is the easy part. You don’t even need a map. If you want to try to get to Mongolia by asking people the way, that works. We know. We’ve done it. Pick a car. Ambulance? Firetruck? 4×4? Ice-cream van? You name it, we’ve had it on the Mongolia Charity Rally. Your chosen vehicle will be like a third nipple to you by the time you get to Mongolia. You’ll cherish it fondly, but be glad to part with it. That’s where we come in: we’ll take your beloved charitable chariot to its next home. If it’s an ambulance, it will get used in our charity project. 4x4s are typically donated to other NGOs, and commercial vehicles and cars get sold at auction for way more than they are worth in Europe, with the proceeds invested in Go Help’s charity projects in Mongolia that you’ll see on arrival. The Mongolian government is, to put it mildly, very strict about what cars it allows in to Mongolia, so we’ll help you with vehicle selection, not to worry. Hit your fundraising target. This charity rally has three objectives, first: charity. Second, did we mention charity? Third: charitable adventuring. Teams rundraise a minimum of £1,000 for Go Help, the charity that founded the Mongolia Charity Rally, and above that can fundraise for any awesome cause that captures their heart. Hopefully Go Help, but if not, any one that does. Find some sponsors. No trust fund? No problem. Many teams make it to Mongolia on a shoestring budget. That being said, life is a lot easier with generous benefactors. Teams are supported by a vast array of corporate sponsors (Subaru provided a whole car to one of our teams!), employers (corporate matching rocks), friends and family (hello, long lost relations). Key here is to pound the pavement, this charity rally really sells itself. Beat the bureaucracy. You probably need a visa or two to get to Mongolia. Maybe even an entry permit to get in to Mongolia. Secret code to get in to Turkmenistan? Check. With a little help from us (to make sure your ‘T’s are crossed and ‘i’s are dotted, and to ensure everyone is fully prepared), you’ll set off from Brussels, not to be seen again until you reach Mongolia!
Registration for the Mongolia Charity Rally 2017 opens on July 22nd 2016. Entry fees start at £299 and increase by £100 for every 10 teams that sign up, so sign up early to get the best price! You can sign your team up on our website at mongolia. charityrallies.org. You’ll be asked to create a small team profile and once this is ready your teammates can join your team! Now to think about the three key things to make your trip a success: Your vehicle The choice of vehicle is an important one and Mongolia has many rules that must be respected so make sure you read our guide carefully and get approval for your vehicle before buying.
WHAT WILL IT COST? • The entry fee starting at £299 • The min. £1,000 fundraising • The £800 vehicle deposit • The cost of your vehicle • Any import taxes due • The cost of your visas • Your travel expenses
Your fundraising While your entry fee goes towards keeping our little organisation going, the funds you raise go straight to our projects in Mongolia to ensure they can continue to run smoothly. Your Visas Visas take time so make sure you start early. We work with Real Russia, our partner agency who are happy to help you.
SELECTING YOUR VEHICLE
RAISING THE CHARITY FUNDS
The vehicle import rules for Mongolia are strict and sometimes complicated. We are here to help you pick the right vehicle that not only meets the import requirements, but is also most appropriate for our projects on the ground.
Fundraising is an integral part of the deal. While the entry fee goes a long way to helping the charity, Go Help relies largely on fundraising from the teams to support the partner projects in Mongolia. Whether it is friends donating per mile, or fa- mily chipping in per day, or better still, high flying contacts emptying their pockets in bulk, all we ask is that the first £1,000 raised goes to Go Help and, in turn, to the local efforts we’re involved in.
The fundamental points are these: • All vehicles taking part in The Mongolia Charity Rally must be approved by the charity rallies team before purchasing. This ensures there are no nasty additonal cost surprises when you import the vehicle into Mongolia! • Utility vehicles are tax-exempt, but passenger cars are subject to import taxes upon entering Mongolia. These import taxes are your responsibility, so opt for a tax-exempt vehicle if possible. • Vehicles must be no more than 9 years old due to incremental Mongolian import taxes. This rule applies to all vehicles, including ambulances. The only exception is for motorbikes. • Consider getting a left-hand drive (LHD) vehicle (Europe), as there is a possibility the Mongolian authorities may soon limit the import of right-hand drive (RHD) (UK) vehicles in Mongolia. • We are here to help! Not only do we have a really experienced team on the ground in Ulaanbaatar who can help you choose the best rally-ride, we also have a team in London that has spent years painstakingly navigating the maze that is Mongolian import tax and is here to help you!
You can find more details on how to choose the right vehicle in our Rally-Ride Guide.
Any sum raised above that £1,000 threshold is free to be donated as wished. While many people choose to leave it with us to beef up the pot for our chosen local projects, others prefer to take this surplus and donate it to a charity of their choice, or indeed to several worthy causes. This is entirely up to the teams and we’re happy to help either way. In addition to fundraising for the charity, many of our teams like to get themselves some sponsorship which, rather than going to charity, goes towards helping to cover the costs of the vehicle, the expenses, etc. It’s very important when setting out to raise money, be it fundraising or sponsorship, that it be made very clear what the money will be used for. Not only do we give the load of money that you raise to charitable projects, we also make sure that the vehicles that you drive are donated to the best possible places once they arrive in Mongolia. That’s why it’s important for you to choose, with our help, the right vehicle before you set off! We also encourage teams to gather supplies and equipment to donate in Ulaanbaatar and along the way. Examples are new or used medical equipment such as x-ray machines or dental equipment, or school supplies such as paper, pens, books, and the like. Teams on other rallies have even been creative in bringing bouncy castles, mascot costumes, and recreational sports equipment.
OUR PROJECTS The Ambulance Project Mongolia
Go Help Scholarship Programme
Go Help’s Ambulance Project aims to improve the quality and efficiency of Mongolian healthcare. Official figures provided to Go Help by the Mongolian government have highlighted a shortfall of roughly 100 ambulances across the country. Furthermore, what this figure doesn’t take into account is the many vehicles already allocated to hospitals that are broken, old or lacking the appropriate medical equipment. The actual need therefore is far greater than the figures indicate. Through the Mongolia Charity Rally, Go Help has been able to donate ambulances to many hospitals and clinics throughout Mongolia, especially in rural countryside regions where ambulances and healthcare are scarce. We make sure that they have a real need for the vehicle, and that they will look after it and use it responsibly. Hospitals and clinics receiving these ambulances then provide periodic reports to Go Help detailing its usage. Since the charity was founded, 29 ambulances have been donated to Go Help, which were then in turn either donated to hospitals, clinics and NGOs, or retained for use in charity projects.
Go Help’s Scholarship Programme is aimed at students in Ulaanbaatar from lower economic backgrounds struggling with the increasing tuition fees at universities. In exchange for volunteering, Go Help supports students achieve a university degree. Khalii, the first student to go through our programme, got her degree in accounting a few years ago. Since then, 12 other young Mongolian students have been able to get the degree they have worked hard for thanks to the programme. The students are from varying disciplines of study and all have basic conversational and written English. Their participation with Go Help and with our projects has been immeasurable in enhancing the achievement of Go Help’s aims and objects. Their regular participation in volunteer activities at charity projects has allowed Go Help to operate more efficiently and has afforded us the chance to expand our work and reach out and get involved in more projects. In return, the students are able to study, rather than work part-time in an unregulated environment, and gain valuable experience, improving their English and their levels of professionalism. Each of our students has a role within Go Help and works towards improving their skills and giving back to the organisation and the local community.
The Book House Project
The Mobile Library
The Book House was opened in a deprived area of the Nalaikh district on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. This project aims to increase the reading, writing, listening and speaking skills of the local children, but also provides space for mothers and retired people to use for reading and socialising. Go Help, through our librarian, Binya, organises regular activities and projects such as arts and crafts lessons, English lessons and computer courses. There are frequent competitions for the children too, such as drawing, poetry and singing competitions. The Book House is located at the heart of the community where over 20 children between the ages of 9-16 use the services daily. We also have children of the Nalaikh district taking part in English lessons taught by our volunteers. The Book House is at the top of our list of projects to receive additional funding this year to meet the need for essential equipment and facilities, including the installation of electricity, heating and further learning materials.
The Mobile Library Project began with the help of a well-known Mongolian children’s writer - M. Dashdondog Jamba - who dedicated his time to touring the countryside and the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar with our Mobile Library visiting children. In 2012 Go Help received a new bus from a Belgian team that has been transformed into the newest edition to the Mobile Library project. The new bus welcomes children and adults of all ages in UB where it stands when not touring the city. The Mobile Library and Internet service, now named ‘Tales on Horseback’, is a project designed to meet the information needs of under or inadequately served people, especially children and young people living in rural areas.
MEDIA COVERAGE
WHAT DO YOU GET FOR YOUR MONEY? • A spot on the starting grid for the ride of your life • A dedicated team in Europe to answer all questions • And a dedicated team in Mongolia to help with all import and handover docs • All vehicle import papers and procedures • Monthly conference calls with the Charity Rallies team and past ralliers • Help and advice on paperwork, vehicle selection, visas and taxes • Advice on routes and supplies from the team and past ralliers • Mongolia Charity Rally t-shirts • Go Help and Mongolia Charity Rally logo stickers to pimp your ride • A kick-ass starting line fanfare • Reunions and Adventure Support Days • And better memories than you thought you thought possible.
What you don’t get: • Your vehicle! We can advise, but getting and pimping your ride is up to you • Handholding while en-route - this is an unsupported rally once you hit the road • A phone number to call in case of emergencies • Insurance • Spare tires
OUR PARTNERS Real Russia - http://realrussia.co.uk/charities Real Russia supports Go Help by offering a bespoke visa service for all the rally teams taking part in The Mongolia Charity Rally. Visas for the teams are heavily discounted and they have dedicated staff and website pages for assisting the Rally teams. Real Russia is an independent company that specialises in Russian and Central Asian visas and travel services for business people, tourists and independent travelers. They have a 100% success rate, even with problematic or urgent visa applications. SignKings - http://signkings.nl/ Sign Kings is a graphics company with extensive experience in indoor and outdoor advertising. They design and manufacture all kinds of visual advertising such as : full color , cut texts, vehicle graphics, wall advertising, carwraps , signage and more .... They provide all of Go Help’s signage. Ingosur - http://www.ingosur.nl/ Ingosur is an insurance company who have extensive experience dealing with utility vehicles and trucks from all over Europe, traveling to all over the world. They can provide insurance for many nationalities purchasing vehicles in many countries. And if they can’t provide it themselves, they can at least give you advice.
OUR ADDED VALUE Since its inception in 2007, Go Help’s fundraising arm, Charity Rallies, has strived to make all its adventure fundraising events as good as they can be. We have spent years building strong relationships both at home in the UK, and on the ground in Mongolia. Our dedicated office in Mongolia’s ancient capital of Ulaanbaatar is manned by a small but impressive team of locals who have the contacts, the know-how and the enthusiasm to help us and lead our partner projects. Our efforts to give the Mongolian people what they want and need has earned us a positive reputation with the Mongolian authorities and customs with whom we have regular contact, and work close in hand with, to ensure that our endeavours always remain an asset and never become a hindrance. This reputation extends to our partnerships with established associations such as the London Ambulance Service and Save the Children. These relationships are important to us and we work hard to maintain them. Our personal attention to our teams, to our cause and to our fundraising projects is what sets us apart from others. Keeping our rallies small, we ensure a personal approach, an ability to respond in person in a timely fashion and interact personally with the teams. We are also able to keep the Charity run by volunteers, allowing for our 100% donation to charitable causes. Our volunteers have experience, drive, charisma, and have all completed at least one of our rally events themselves. We can thus all give advice from experience, understand what teams are going through, the complexities of taking part in an event such as this, and can help in the best way possible. Go Help is always there to help both the participating teams and the volunteers who work so hard to keep Charity Rallies a growing success.
OUR SUCCESS
DANGER!
This table shows the number of teams per rally, per year, who finished the rally and raised funds for Go Help:
Year
Teams for MCR
Money raised
Teams for ROTW
Money Raised
Total teams
Total Money raised
2008
67
£214,764.36
/
/
/
£214,764.36
2009
27
£48,933.26
7
£5,002.93
34
£53,936.19
2010
34
£55,472.55
10
£8,311.56
44
£63,784.11
2011
34
£32,372.27
5
£9,072.93
39
£41,445.20
2012
33
£38,637.51
4
£6,240.43
37
£44,877.94
2013
31
£53,331.00
7
£7,816.00
38
£61,147.00
2014
27
£35,789.19
11
£7,944.00
38
£43,733.19
2015
23
£36,820.00
2
£2,000.00
25
£38,820.00
TOTALS
289
£530,488.38
47
£44,387.85
336
£574,876.23
Since 2008, Go Help’s Charity Rallies have helped 290 teams raise money for third world countries. That means 290+ vehicles, carrying 1000+ people, have driven a total of over three million miles, over the course of six years, raising an incredible £520,000, and counting, through Go Help. We’ve worked on over 10 different projects with 20+ partners, watched teams get sponsorships from hundreds of companies, conquered new continents and grown from one to three rally events since 2008 .
We would love to hear from you. You can find us at the Charity Rallies event website at http://mongolia. charityrallies.org Or through the Go Help charity website at http://gohelp.org.uk Or better yet, for general information you can email us on info@gohelp.org.uk
We’ve said this before, it’s mentioned time and time again, but we can’t stress this enough. Driving 10,000 miles half way across the world can be dangerous. Once we’ve helped you pick the right vehicle, get your paperwork sorted, and waved you off the starting line, you are on your own. This is not a walk in the park. This is not a country jaunt. This is not a jolly excursion to look at the pretty views. This is adventure. This is a challenge. And it’s dangerous. We do not handhold, we do not assist. We do not give you emergency numbers to call. No back up van will be escorting you, or hidden in the shadows should you fall flat on your face. No mechanics will be positioned in strategic places across the Kazakh desert. No satellite will be following your every move. No translators await you at border crossings, and helicopters will be dropping food to you in the middle of nowhere. You will be fending for yourselves. You will be dealing with irate foreign border guards, demuddying the wheels of your vehicle when you get stuck in a ditch. Be prepared to pull, push, shove, kick and abuse your car when it just can’t take any more dust and sand from dirt roads. Forget comfort, soft warm beds and temperate running water. No one will be there to give you advice. There is no one you can call.
We repeat, you are on your own. We take no responsibility for you or your vehicle, so be prepared. Read up, ask questions before you leave, our team is here to help you in any way we can before you set off, so put us to good use. Take thousands of photos, bring back a million memories, do some good, but be careful, it’s a jungle out there!