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Donations received so far |
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| Oxfam | £768 |
| Wateraid | £2004.45 |
| Suzuki Jeep sold by auction raised £1500 | |
| Donate by post click here for a form |
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Dave with the Dogon
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| Click Here to see what Wikipedia says about the Challenge  |
You will need Flash Player to view the images so if you don't have it download here Click Here to download
Read what the Ice Cream Men have to say about the trip Click Here |
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News Sunny Akuopha says Auction of remaining vehicles 9. Metrocab 250.000 FCFA |
A) The Koulouninko Village already has a brand new full operational SS pump. B) The School roof in the Dinafar village is currently being replaced and the children will soon be taught inside again rather than outside under a tree. C) Funds have been allocated to purchase desks and chairs for the Pongoon Village school. D) A survey is currently being undertaken into the provision of a well / pump for the Dinafar Village. |
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A cracking trip We bought the jeep for £500 and it made £1,500 in the auction in Bamako last week. This money will, we hope; go a long way to help with infrastructure projects.
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News from Bamako
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The Ice Cream Men Jullian and all fellow Bamako runners. John and myself (Roger) the Ice Cream lads left Bamako yesterday and are now back in a much cooler Cumbria desperately trying to catch up with the last 5 weeks mail etc.  I have noted many emails and comments re the status of the vehicles and the auction and must make the following comments,A) The auction will take place this Sat at 11:00 am just 2 days after the last vehicle was donated and only 5 days since 20% were donated which I think is quite an achievement. It has been well publicised and the vehicles have been cleaned in the meantime. The results of the auction will be issued to Jullian for publication early next week. What the outcome will be is anybody's guess but the vehicle values will be about half of what they would have been if left hand drive. This needs to considered for any future run. B) We have spent the last week visiting the following locations that will benefit from the sum raised, Koulouninko Village. Just 15 Km from Bamako (with far greater poverty than the rural villages) a township with major water shortfall problem - a water pump that takes 100 strokes to prime and produce rusty water and various unlined wells of brackish water used for washing and drinking. In the dry season villagers have to travel into Bamako to collect water - something that takes the whole day. The village has no electric and very few animals. Plans are in place to refurbish the pump and deepen and line one of the wells so the water is safe for drinking. Ecole Shada de Pongonon. A remote village school in the Dogon. The school building exists but the pupils study on concrete block desks and chairs without blackboards or other fittings. It is hoped that enough funds will be raised to equip the school. Dinfara Village. Located 100Km S of Bamako at the end of a 10Km narrow track. This is an extremely poor and remote  village with one pump and a very poor well that is totally insufficient to supply the 1500 or so inhabitants hence much time is spent fetching water. The school in the village (built by themselves) has also lost part of it's roof and the children are currently taught under a tree outside. It is hoped that there are enough funds to construct an additional water pump and refurbish the school roof. These are significant infrastructure projects that will enhance the lives of these very poor villagers for many years to come. A point of note. All vehicles imported into Mali are subject to between 20 and 50 % import duty (dependant upon vehicle age and type) payable by the seller or the recipient if donated. Rotary due to its humanitarian work and standing has been able to arrange with the Government a duty free status (as long as the funds are spent on infrastructure projects) and everybody that donated their vehicles to Rotary did so tax free. People that sold or donated vehicles outside this regime have or will have to pay duty. Please note the following charitable deliveries were also performed 1) All the medical equipment left with Sunny or ourselves were delivered to a poor medical clinic located in the shanty town district of Bamako. The clinic supports a pop of 40,000 extremely poor people with virtually no equipment. The maternity ward had 2 normal tables covered in torn black plastic sheets, no hot water as the boiler was broken and only one pair of surgical scissors in the whole clinic. Thanks to all that donated. 2) Two large bags of cuddly toys plus pencils, pens, paper, etc. were delivered to the Bamako orphanage. 3) By far the most humbling visit / people I meet on the entire trip was the Handicapped Soc. Upon arrival I was meet by the General Sec and the Company Sec (a lawyer) both of whom were severely handicapped in a darkened office (it later transpired they could not afford the electric for the light). These people were striving their very best to help less fortunate people in Mali !!! The Gen Sec (a lady) taught handicapped girls to sew but they only had one sewing mc. We gave them another 2 plus many bags of cotton etc. John and myself were significantly touched by these peoples plight and felt it only fitting that all the tools, food, Grahams much loved cooker, clothes and general stuff left by fellow runners with ourselves and Sunny were donated to them. I only wish you could have all been there to see the delight on these very underprivileged peoples faces when we delivered the goods. All in all we had a tremendous challenge and achieved our own goals of getting Cumbrian Ice Cream to Timbuktu and getting the van to Bamako. Along the way we had many adventures and great fellowship with many of you fellow runners, for which we thank you. ( Jullian, it was good to catch up with you in Bamako ). In addition to this we have hopefully gone a small way to improving the lives of some very poor people. Best wishes to all, Roger. |
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Did 7000 miles in total including 6 days of it off road.
We teamed up with 5 other teams and had a real laugh in between the hard times when we were pushing shoving ,drinking ,mine fields to cross and driving on beaches in some rather hot weather. One car in our group hit a tree stump (blinded by the dust from another vehicle) and had to be abandoned but a worthwhile trip. We (Zoltan and I) spent about 20 nights under canvas and only really had problems with mosquito's on the last night but some of the other teams succumbed to malaria. 
auction point. It was in a sad state especially after Zoltan crashed it in the desert. The collision lost us a headlight and one side was pushed in. Both rear and mid cross members snapped, suspension fell off, windscreen cracked. 
Once again , I want to say it was nice meeting you and all others and
to use this medium to give our thanks and appreciation to all of
those who gave their vehicles to the Rotary Club Bamako Amitié.
The Uk lacks business opportunities here, hence there is no full
embassy in both countries. But with Bamako Run, I do enthuse that
strong business activities as well as friendly actively shall develop 