Relief Riders International (RRI) has announced its inaugural adventure ride through the Thar Desert of Rajasthan, India. Beginning on October 22, 2004, a maximum of 15 riders will travel on horseback through rural India's unforgettable landscape delivering food, medical supplies and medical care, and goats to five remote villages.
Relief Riders International offers participants not only an opportunity to see and visit places of extraordinary beauty, but the chance to make life better for the communities they visit along the way. The 15-day Rajasthan relief adventure ride has been designed to create meaningful interactions between our travelers and local residents.
At the beginning of the journey all participants, based on their life experience and skills, will be assigned certain responsibilities: helping to organize the caravan, volunteering with the medical team, and helping to facilitate the distribution of the supplies. According to Founder and Executive Director Alexander Souri: "Relief Riders International is designed to offer individuals not only an exhilarating journey but the chance to use their skills, enthusiasm and experience to promote positive change. I know from my own travels to Rajasthan that for every gift I have given I have received gifts that have changed my life."
Great care has been taken to conduct a relief assessment of the region, and the program has been designed after discussions with development organizations in Rajasthan in 2003 and early 2004. The mission addresses some critical local needs: the absence of reliable medical care and information; food supplies to counter the effects of drought; delivery of the goats to families to create on-going sustainability; and educational materials for the local schools.
Guided by Relief Riders experienced support team, the riders will bring 10 to 12 camels packed with relief supplies, books, and medicine. Relief Riders International is working with the Indian Red Cross to develop an HIV/AIDS information campaign as well. Red Cross personnel will travel with the team, distribute educational information and hold discussions in all the villages. This is the first HIV education program in the region.
In addition, there is an extensive medical program. RRI has facilitated the funding and organization of medical camps along the journey. Working with a team of Eye, Ear, Nose & Throat specialists, they will be able to treat hundreds of villagers along the way.
They will travel through areas of great natural beauty, with ancient villages and old forts, rich in culture and wildlife. On stops along the way, the riders will experience and enjoy some of the region's unique cultural life, with performances of traditional dance in Kochor and drumming in Pachar, and sample the region's culinary specialties. With the exception of a night's stay at the Imperial Hotel in Delhi, three nights in forts, and a night in a haveli (traditional Rajput villa), the accommodations will consist of tented encampments set up by the support team along the journey route.
Riders will average about three to five hours a day of riding at a comfortable pace, stopping for three meals. There will, of course, be ample water for all. In addition to the Relief Rider crew, their will be a support vehicle carrying two medics and a doctor who will accompany the ride on a parallel itinerary.
Born in New York City to a French mother and Indian father, and growing up and schooled in the US, India and France, Alexander Souri has always had a global perspective on life. He has worked in a variety of ways for the entertainment industry: producing plays in the Berkshires, on the Special Effects team for The Matrix and X-Men, directing commercials and industrial films in China; and as a Special Events producer at the Cannes Film Festival, Sundance, and Paul Allen's Millennium party in Venice, Italy.
For more information, you contact Alexander Souri at:
Relief Riders International
304 Main St, Suite 3-B
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Tel: 413.329.5876
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