When a group of people who are passionate about responsible travel and helping local communities get together, you never know which direction their fun activities may lead!
The 6th of November marked our first ever Intrepid Foundation Day and it was a huge success around the globe. The purpose of the day was to increase our staff awareness of all the fantastic projects the Intrepid Foundation is supporting and also stimulate ideas on how they could be more involved…
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Intrepid travellers to Luang Prabang in Laos have been enthusiastically visiting and supporting the nearby Tat Kuang Si Bear Rescue Centre. Thanks to their help, in the last year we have raised a whopping AU$23,800 for the Centre through the Intrepid Foundation!
If you are heading to Laos, don’t miss a visit to meet their first sun bear. Free The Bears, Laos Program Manager, Jane Clegg reports:
“A young male bear was confiscated from a bile farm and brought to us in late April. He was badly injured, weak and in very poor health when he first arrived and in need of care 24 hours a day. (more…)
The Intrepid Foundation is very pleased to buck the trend of the financial crisis and give away more money this year to support incredibly worthwhile and effective projects around the globe. All up AU$435,766 is being disbursed to 50 beneficiary organisations!
A big thank YOU to all the donors to The Intrepid Foundation’s Community Project Fund. Along with donations that were matched by Intrepid Travel, 35 community-based grassroots organisations and projects receive donations adding up to AU$211,631. This includes a wide range of activities. From the education of disadvantaged children in Tanzania through Amani Children’s Home and the Village Education Project, to working with the Cyclo Centre to aid welfare, education and support services for cyclo drivers in Cambodia, and helping build a shelter for pregnant elephants-in-waiting via Friends of the Asia Elephant in Thailand.
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“It was about midnight on a very cold winter’s night in Delhi, when we found this young man without legs sitting around a makeshift fire made of rubbish collected from the road-side”, writes Anshu Gupta, Director of GOONJ.
“Although GOONJ provides clothes largely under our Cloth for Work Initiative, on chilly nights we also carry out anonymous distributions on Delhi roads. We gave him a warm overcoat and started moving ahead. Then suddenly, I saw from my rear view mirror that this guy was trying to run after the car on his crutches. We stopped the vehicle, but before we could find out why, he stops, rests on the crutches, lifts both his hands and yells, “AB HUI HAI MERI EID” - now its Eid for me!
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The Intrepid Foundation has long supported the Animal Care in Egypt hospital on the outskirts of Luxor. Here they work hard to improve the lives of the working animals in Egypt and as Sue from ACE reports, recently spirits were high with the happy tale of Harry…
“Harry Habibi was left outside the ACE hospital, whilst two separate owners argued about who this baby donkey belonged to! With an uncertain future ahead for this little fellow, we admitted him to the hospital until the dispute was resolved. Neither party returned to collect Harry.
We managed to get Harry drinking milk from a bowl and he soon became quite a mischievous character - he would follow everyone around and generally had his nose in everywhere! It didn’t take long for ‘Harry-mania’ to begin and people were closely watching our blog and also emailing for updates on the infamous Harry Habibi!
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Our world is faced with one of its most extreme challenges yet, so Al Gore is preparing his ‘Truth Force Team’ for the road to Copenhagen. After three exhilarating days of training at The Climate Project, Asia-Pacific Summit, held in Melbourne, Intrepid’s Responsible Travel Manager, Jane Crouch reports…
“Intrepid Travel’s five sponsored trainees and I have emerged from an amazingly inspiring ‘incubator of learning’ from a fabulous range of teachers including the Honourable Al Gore, geneticist and environmentalist David Suzuki, eminent scientist Dr Graeme Pearman, Andrew Hewitt, Executive Director of OXFAM in Australia, Sharan Burrow, the President of the International Trade Union Confederation, Gaurav Gupta, Director of The Climate Project India, Agus Purnomo from Indonesia’s National Council on Climate Change and many more.
Al Gore referred to the concept of satyagraha as espoused by Gandhi - roughly translated to meaning ‘holding on to the truth’. So there we were, 300 delegates from 19 countries across the Asia Pacific region, there to be updated on the truth of climate science and solutions to this diabolical problem, and be empowered to go forth and share this knowledge in the coming months leading up to the December summit in Copenhagen. Here’s some of the impressions gained by the enthusiastic bunch of Intrepid’s sponsored trainees:
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The Intrepid Foundation’s ‘Intrepid Perpetual Fund’ has chosen to defy the global financial crisis and spend big on three causes we consider very important, timely and worthy.
The Australian Conservation Foundation and The Climate Project AU$40,000:
Congratulations to the five successful Intrepid Foundation-sponsored applicants (out of more than 120 through the Intrepid Travel promotion and over 2000 entrants in total), who will be trained by former US Vice President Al Gore at The Climate Project - Australia Asia Pacific Summit (A-P Summit). They are:
Aarti Bhalla, India – Intrepid group leader and responsible travel coordinator;
Harley Spence, New Zealand – the director of two environmental organizations;
Marita Manley, Fiji – agriculture and forestry policy adviser at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community
Penny Crossley, Australia – account manager with Flight Centre; and
Indira Naidoo, Australia - television journalist, broadcaster and producer.
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When travelling in Vietnam, Express reader Pam Shackleton enjoyed a special Intrepid real life experience that embraced the spirit of Christmas…
“We were travelling on the Reunification Express from Saigon to Hanoi. It was late evening and next day we were to have a celebratory Christmas breakfast when we arrived in Hanoi. We were delayed by several hours, stopped in the middle of nowhere during the night. We realised that our breakfast would not materialise and it was changed to lunch. Our guide Dave didn’t tell us too much about where we were going for our Christmas Day dinner, but we knew enough to be expecting a lot!
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In the heart of central Turkey lies the beautiful troglodyte village of Goreme. Many people still live in carved rock houses that date back hundreds of years, but with natural erosion and the region’s rapid development Goreme is at risk.
The Old Goreme Restoration Fund was created in 2007 to protect the wonders of Cappadocia and this year The Intrepid Foundation proudly contributed AUD20,000 towards projects that will help preserve the architectural and cultural heritage of the village and surrounds.
As you can imagine The Intrepid Foundation’s donation was very welcome and on behalf of Old Goreme Restoration Fund (OGRF) we heard from Pat Yale about the exciting work that has been undertaken by this passionate organisation.
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