Liz and Tim's First Hand Experience in India
Part of First Hand Experiences India 2009
Trek for five days through one of the world’s most breathtaking mountain ranges - the spectacular Himalayan scenery, experiencing lush green valleys with snow-covered peaks. Enjoy some time in Dharamsala, the home of the Dalai Lama, before getting stuck into your second challenge: two days renovating an ActionAid street children project in Delhi. Our challenge ends with a visit to the Taj Mahal, one of the seven wonders of the world.
"The trip was great - exhilirating, exciting and packed with new experiences and challenges." Jacqui Bowden, India 2008
Find out more about First Hand Experiences India 2009
We will be trekking in the Himalayas and then rejoining the ActionAid team in Delhi to renovate a homeless shelter.
My Message
Background
For a long time now, Tim and I have been asking ourselves what we can do to help the millions of people struggling to survive in the poorest countries in the world. Privileged as we are, it is difficult to imagine what life must be like without ready access to food, clean water and medical care. I experienced this first hand during a trip to beautiful Cambodia last year, and have ever since been asking myself what I should and could be doing to help. We wanted to do something, make a difference and contribute somehow to a worthwhile cause!
We have been involved with ActionAid for some time now, originally discovering their work through their well-known child sponsorship scheme. ActionAid works closely with local communities in the very poorest 
countries to ensure that everything they do helps promote long-term stability and prosperity. In 2003, its work helped over 7 million people in Africa alone! ActionAid also has an impressive record for efficiency; in 2007 their UK support costs were a mere 4% of their revenue - meaning that an extraordinarily high proportion of the money is getting to the places where it's needed most. When we discovered that they were organising an expedition to India in October, we jumped at the chance to put our good intentions into practice!
What we are doing
We are taking part in the ActionAid "First Hand Experience in India, 2009".
We depart for the Himalayas in early October, and begin our trip at the famed town of Dharamsala, nestled in the foothills of the mountains. From there we start our journey through the high countryside, stopping off at several villages along the way to meet the locals and learn about their culture and community life.
After this challenging trek, we then transfer to Delhi where we meet the ActionAid local team who are working on a community centre / homeless shelter. We will help to renovate and improve the shelter, finding out about the important ActionAid work going on and meeting the locals too!
How you can help
Please sponsor us! We'd love you to support us in this way and appreciate any donation at all you can give, large or small.
We have already paid 100% of our own trip costs and are also making a substantial donation ourselves. So you're not paying for any overheads - every single penny you donate will go straight to ActionAid projects in the poorest countries. Donating on this page as a UK taxpayer also means that ActionAid will receive 28% extra in Gift Aid - what a bonus!
Please be generous and support us in our aim to make a difference! We promise to share our stories and show you our pictures when we come back!
Every penny counts - here's how your donation can make a world of difference:
- £10 could mean 5 farm families receive enough seeds & tools to rebuild their livelihoods.
- £16 could provide 1 sewing machine for a centre for working children.
- £30 could provide 5 children with access to safe, clean water.
- £40 could provide 400 children with nutritious porridge for 1 week.
- £60 could provide a nutritious meal for a street child every night for a year.
- £100 could run a medical unit for 5 days, treating over 1,000 people.
- £150 could buy 50 pairs of shoes to help a community start farming again.
- £200 could provide enough medicine to keep 20 HIV/Aids orphans healthy for a year.
- £250 could pay the annual salary of a teacher at an Access centre.
- £336 could provide a street child with food, shelter, medical care & education for a year.
- £790 could build a well providing 120 families with safe, clean water.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this page. We know you're all very busy people. Please do pass this link on to anyone who may be interested; we will also keep you informed of other fundraising events we organise!
Update - 6 Oct 2009
Less than a week to go! We have now completed our training and have put together this little clip for your enjoyment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oun80r9HfR0
Update - 28 Oct 2009
We did it! Watch our video summary here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqHBljyurAk
Donations to date
| Name | Date | Amount | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dipesh Patel | 15/12/2009 | £20.00 | Fantastic work guys!!!! (sorry it's a little late) | ||
| anonymous | 10/12/2009 | £75.00 | anonymous | ||
| tanya Owens | 08/12/2009 | £20.00 | Well done you two, it looked like it was a very rewarding adventure. | ||
| Tim Houghton | 22/11/2009 | £235.00 | Charity Poker fundraising proceeds on Sun 22nd Nov 2009. Thanks all for a successful day! | ||
| Glyn & Deb Taylor | 17/11/2009 | £40.00 | Sorry it's taken us so long. Great effort lads. | ||
| Andy Cunningham | 10/11/2009 | £20.00 | Well done on all the effort you put in. Enjoy the experience... | ||
| Helen Marchant | 08/11/2009 | £10.00 | Well done Liz and Tim on all your hard work, and the video is amazing! | ||
| Aileen Gallahue | 04/11/2009 | £25.00 | |||
| Ian Cooper | 30/10/2009 | £50.00 | Dear Tim and Liz. Please accept this donation for all that you are doing for actionaid. The videos are tremendous. Thank you also for such a fantastic wedding video and stunning pictures. We are forever indebted to the work you did for us on our special day. Thank You Ian and Jess Cooper | ||
| Susan Vella | 30/10/2009 | £10.00 | Well done on your fabulous achievement!! | ||
| Helene Vigue | 29/10/2009 | £50.00 | What you've done is amazing ! I've only just seen the videos, can't wait to see the pictures ! Well done you two... xxHelene xx | ||
| Lisa Carelli | 29/10/2009 | £5.00 | Well done!!! xx | ||
| Sophie BOULET | 28/10/2009 | £40.00 | Congratulations, you did it :-) It must be amazing. I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. Kisses | ||
| anonymous | 24/10/2009 | £20.00 | anonymous | ||
| Doug Armstrong | 24/10/2009 | £20.00 | Well done from Doug and Han, can't wait to see all the pics. | ||
| Rebecca Lloyd | 23/10/2009 | £20.00 | Tim & Liz, great cause.......looking forward to hearing all about it! Becks & Diddy | ||
| Richard Mc Cord | 18/10/2009 | £100.00 | Enjoy the trip as well | ||
| claire guillermain | 15/10/2009 | £60.00 | Good luck Liz! Go, go, go, gooooooooo! So proud of you. Claire | ||
| anonymous | 13/10/2009 | £100.00 | anonymous | ||
| Andy Stoker | 12/10/2009 | £20.00 | Hope you both have a fantastic experience - what a great way to do something positive in the world. (Say hi to Helen for us when you are in Dheli) | ||
| Tom Burridge | 12/10/2009 | £50.00 | |||
| Sal Pearce | 12/10/2009 | £60.00 | How humbling... All the best of luck to you guys. Looking forward to seeing some more of your video editing flair when you get back Tim! Salty xx | ||
| Jonathan Balchin | 11/10/2009 | £25.00 | Good luck guys - the hills are alive! | ||
| Olivier Vernin | 11/10/2009 | £20.00 | Sound nice experience, Enjoy your trip! | ||
| Mike Osako | 09/10/2009 | £40.00 | |||
| Karen Stonebridge | 08/10/2009 | £40.00 | Good luck Liz and Tim. Karen, Tim and Fin Stonebridge (nee Sidgwick) | ||
| Judith Ray | 07/10/2009 | £20.00 | Have a great time. Im sure Tim's bricklaying skills will be put to the test ! | ||
| Karsten Kollov | 07/10/2009 | £20.00 | Good luck guys, Liz you will never make a girl for the flake advert the way you scoffed that mars bar | ||
| maurice houghton | 07/10/2009 | £100.00 | Hope you and Liz have a great time can't wait to see the photos, be thinking of you both, good luck and take care. luv dad. | ||
| Craig Bell | 07/10/2009 | £20.00 | Good luck Guys. Have a great trip. Bellza | ||
| Natalia Lukicheva | 07/10/2009 | £40.00 | the video is awesome, guys :) it really made me want to donate - well done! | ||
| Josephine Murray | 07/10/2009 | £20.00 | Have a brilliant adventure and do lots of good at the same time! love Jo and Ken x | ||
| Karen Lyle | 07/10/2009 | £20.00 | |||
| Andrew Auty | 07/10/2009 | £100.00 | Tim, glad you've moved on from 'entry to Cairo's' and the 'small Filipino boy'. Hope the two of you have a ball and good luck! | ||
| Zoe Milne | 07/10/2009 | £10.00 | What an inspiring thing to do - have a great time and see you soon. Zoe x | ||
| Fran Mayne | 07/10/2009 | £30.00 | It'll be an amazing experience, hope you enjoy every moment of it! | ||
| Scotty Coombs | 07/10/2009 | £50.00 | Give a yeti a hug for me :o) xxx | ||
| Kate Ross | 07/10/2009 | £50.00 | Have a wonderful time and make sure you take lots of iconic postcards to give to local kids. | ||
| Gill Adams | 07/10/2009 | £50.00 | Really well done Liz! With love, Gill and family xxx | ||
| Polly Adams | 07/10/2009 | £50.00 | What a wonderful thing to do! Can't wait to hear how you get on - what an experience! Take care and lots of love, Polly and the boys! xxx | ||
| Chantale Venchard | 07/10/2009 | £20.00 | What a wonderful way to make a difference, well Liz you certainly will. Best wishes, take good care as usual so thoughtful of you. Good luck on your enterprise. Chantale & Richard | ||
| Romuald LAVAUD | 07/10/2009 | £100.00 | Sacrée Liz, tu es vraiment une fille exemplaire !! Tous mes encouragements pour la suite. Etre donateur est finalement si simple à côté des actions que tu mènes. | ||
| Ian Mackay | 07/10/2009 | £100.00 | Woo Woot! Go You crazy guys! I'm jealous! | ||
| Gaz (and family) Anderson | 06/10/2009 | £36.00 | £1 for every year of my life. For your cause. Make it count! | ||
| Annabel & Richard Marks | 06/10/2009 | £25.00 | Good Luck! We know you are going to have an AMAZING time on the trek and seeing ActionAid's work - I'm only sorry I didn't get the chance to join you on this one:) Enjoy and make sure you pack those blister plasters!! Annabel and Rich xxx | ||
| Mike Hetherington | 06/10/2009 | £20.00 | Are you sure this isn't going towards another 5DmkII!? Seriously, this is a wonderful thing to do. Every best wish. | ||
| Tim Corrian | 06/10/2009 | £10.00 | the video did it.. | ||
| Laurent Demanet | 06/10/2009 | £40.00 | What a fantastic initiative!!! Enjoy your trip and take care! | ||
| Brendan McGarvey | 06/10/2009 | £10.00 | Good luck Liz. | ||
| Iona Gunning | 06/10/2009 | £20.00 | Lots of luck Liz and Tim! | ||
| Juno Davidson | 05/10/2009 | £20.00 | Watch out for the Yeti! but make sure you get a photo of him for me! xx | ||
| Caroline Cook | 04/10/2009 | £20.00 | Best of luck to you both. This is a great cause and I am so proud of you for going out there so that you can make a difference. I hope you have a fantastic time and don't forget the blister kit! Look forward to hearing all about it. Caroline x | ||
| Cecilia Constantine | 03/10/2009 | £20.00 | Hi tim and liz, I'm quite jealous of your trip. Can I come too? I'm small enough to fit in one of your cases. Trekking sounds a lot of fun to me. I like walking up steps with my dad, so I'm sure the Himalayas wouldn't pose a challenge for me. Say hi to all the kids my age there. Lots of love, Celia xx | ||
| Trevyn and Sara Underhill | 03/10/2009 | £20.00 | A worthy cause and fantastic that you're both getting involved in the good work that Action Aid does. Looking forward to hearing about the trip when you get back! | ||
| anonymous | 03/10/2009 | £25.00 | anonymous | ||
| Mathieu Davy | 02/10/2009 | £20.00 | Excellent stuff Liz and Tim! All the best in your contribution to the World. Take care. | ||
| Sophie Meredith | 30/09/2009 | £10.00 | Liz! I just read your email and am so thrilled for you. You always said you would find your cause and it's fantastic they help in Cambodia. You are great. Good luck buddy. I know what a big deal this is for a girl who loves her central heating! Huge hugs to you and Tim. Soph xxxxxxx | ||
| Amount raised offline: | £110.00 | ||||
| Extra money donated through Gift Aid: £ 466.48
Find out more about Gift Aid |
|||||
| Total donations: £ 2381.00 | |||||
