Re: Planning to live on road and ride for a cause

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I will go through your list bit by bit.

Why would an orphanage give money for you to ride, when that money can be used in the orphanage itself?

The actual riding part is the least of your problems right now.

If you like you can start a donation campaign on https://www.ketto.org/ or some similar website. Where you showcase your plan of your ride, how do you intend to use the funds collected and where it will go. Also, the establishment where the money will be going, you need to show the credibility of such institution as well.

If you know someone who is doing a 9-5 job in a corporate maybe they can help you out with the company's CSR budget.

Another point I want to bring to your attention from the many others who have done 'cause' rides. There are two type of people:

1. Those who save money, do the ride for whatever cause they chose and make a difference in society, in however small a manner it might be.

2. Those who look for sponsorship. It rarely ever gets off the ground, because no contributor is willing to give a person money for going on a joyride. Because to the other person, that is exactly what it appears.

My humble opinion, after having lived life a bit! Do your ride, to whatever capacity you can manage. If you get some funds from someone else, good. If not, finish your ride and make the maximum impact you can. On the basis of the ride you have completed, pitch to sponsors for future rides, while at the same time working in an NGO (for society). Don't base your future on something unsustainable at this age. Build a base for your future.

Cheers and all the best

Re: Planning to live on road and ride for a cause

It sounds to me like you need to develop your idea more carefully. What exactly is your intention? Is your ride intended to draw attention to the plight of kids in orphanages? How exactly will you riding your motorcycle benefit the kids? What makes it special? Or, is your ride somehow intended to attract donations, i.e. people would pledge money to you for achieving a certain amount of distance per day? If so, how much of those donations will go to the kids? If most of the money goes to them, and you end up not having enough to continue your tour, then what? If you fund yourself first, and only contribute what's left over, why would anyone bother to donate to you in the first place? What will happen to you when the novelty of some random guy riding around India wears off, and the public turns to other things?

And what happens if you somehow manage to actually cobble together a way to make your riding actually produce some benefit for a few orphanages, and after living on the road for a year or so, you get tired of sleeping on cold temple steps or under a bush somewhere (you didn't really think you were going to be staying in 5-star hotels the whole time, did you?), and being wet and cold, and dirty, and having to get on the bike every morning even when you're sick or exhausted (because this is your job now, so no slacking off), and decide to stop riding? Or your bike experiences some kind of fatal breakdown? Or you get squished by a heavy truck some evening? Now you not only have let those kids down, but you have nothing else to support yourself with. No employer is going to look at your empty resume and want to give you a job; after all, you couldn't even stick with your own commitment so how can he expect you to follow through on something you didn't come up with yourself?


Forgive my bluntness here, but it sounds to me like you just don't feel like being a responsible adult, and this "ride" is just a way for you to pretend you're doing something useful. Rather than trying to find a way to tell yourself you're still being productive while not actually accomplishing anything, you should be looking for a way to make your interest in bikes fit into something legitimate. Let me digress slightly for a moment: Years ago, I used to do a lot of alpine skiing. I regularly bought the magazines, and watched skiing movies and documentaries. One of the articles I read talked about a guy who loved to ski, and did it every chance he got, traveling all over the world so he could ski all the time. Now, that's a really expensive hobby, and eventually he had to actually work for a living, so when he went to University, he got a degree in glacial hydrology. Now he skis all the time as part of his job. Skiing isn't his job, but it's a big enough part of the job that he can enjoy what he does while still doing the one thing he loves. That's what you should be aiming for: a way to incorporate the thing you love (riding motorcycles) into a legitimate job.

For example, if you're really that concerned with making sure kids in orphanages are being taken care of, and you have some kind of connections to NGOs, use your NGO connections to network; get the names of important people in similar national-level NGOs that are concerned with the plight of orphans. Write letters to those important people and discuss the possibility of being some kind of on-site inspector who travels the country on behalf of the NGO visiting orphanages and making sure they're taking care of the kids. Most people don't want a lot of travel in their jobs, so it may be difficult for NGOs to find people willing to go out and actually monitor the orphanages. If you're willing to spend a lot of time on the road, make that work for you; offer to be the guy who can go anywhere to any orphanage and keep them honest. On a motorcycle, you can get to orphanages even in very remote locations where roads are poor, where someone in a car who doesn't like travel anyway might not even bother to visit. And orphanages that don't get visits from inspectors might be tempted to mistreat their children. When I stayed in India, there was a Children's Home not far from where I was staying, that was rumored to be prostituting out the girls who were kept there. I wouldn't be surprised if lots of orphanages that do that sort of thing simply because they don't have to worry about anyone checking up on them. If they had to worry about random visits by NGO agencies, they might be less likely to do that sort of thing.

Re: Planning to live on road and ride for a cause

I don't want money from the orphanage, I want money for the orphanage. It is just that I can't go upto people while riding and ask them for money for the orphanage. I looked into 'ketto' after you mentioned it, that platform can be used. Milaap is one another platform which charges only 5% of the raised amount.
Yes you're right about those two types.
Till now I've earned money and donated it from my own pocket. But there are many people who have unused clothes, books and many other items which they can donate, its just that they don't have the time or they don't know any orphanages.
So I'm planning to create something through which people can donate and the orphanages don't have to run dry.
Your this line, "Don't base your future on something unsustainable at this age. Build a base for your future. " is true but somewhere in my mind, i think that I should totally concentrate on this and build something great up and if i don't right now, I'll be stuck with a job as my age increases and the responsibility too.
That's why I'm struggling with creating a future with what I love to do.
It might seem like a kid talking but for me it seems really on the edge.

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Yes the idea is still in development, that's why i posted my queries over here in front of you people.
My intention: To help the orphanages, and create my future in the same field.
How exactly will you riding your motorcycle benefit the kids?: Awareness, I've worked in an NGO and came to know that many people want to donate but they never have the time or don't know about these orphanages.
What makes it special: The fact that if I create a platform where people can donate stuff for the poor children, the orphanages will never run out dry (some are struggling for food).
is your ride somehow intended to attract donations, i.e. people would pledge money to you for achieving a certain amount of distance per day? : I don't think that is possible in India, or I don't understand how it works.
I can give 100% of the donations to the kids.
The decision of riding for the kids was based on my own saved money.
If you fund yourself first, and only contribute what's left over, why would anyone bother to donate to you in the first place?: That's where the idea comes in to create a platform for the donor where they can easily donate stuff to the donee and spread awareness that they can use it and help the kids.
What will happen to you when the novelty of some random guy riding around India wears off, and the public turns to other things?: I'm pretty sure that I won't run out of places for the next 5-10 years in India and there will be still people left to know about this.
Never went to a 5 star hotel and never want to. I'm a guy who thinks that we can live without internet, earth is the best bed and the stars are the best TV.
I might get tired of riding, and take some time off. But meanwhile the faces of kids I saw for my entire childhood who used to sleep on roads, near gutters, in children home where the road is better than it, kids who waste their life in drugs will still get me up and I will continue doing it through some other way till I feel like riding again.
Fatal breakdown? Insurance. Need more funds? I might stop for some months, work, earn and start riding again for the same cause.
Squished by heavy truck? I can't avoid death. Might as well do something good before I close my eyes.
Resume ain't empty. Getting a degree soon enough. Certified Information Security Expert. Experienced as a Computer trainer for teaching poor kids in and NGO. (we didn't take any fees from them but I left the job because they didn't mind if the kids learned or not, the courses were crap).
Can work as a freelancer for developing websites.
Problem in India is that Labor is cheap, If I expect a good salary according to my education and experience, I'll never get it (unless I'm friends with someone great in that company) they always have 100 other people who are ready to work for lesser that what they'll offer me.
We've got so much developers over here that people decide to go for other options even if the cost difference is 1 USD, they won't think about the features and security.
My starting post might seem like "don't feel like being a responsible adult, and this "ride" is just a way for you to pretend you're doing something useful" but I've seen the smile of a kid who opened a laptop the wrong way (screen below and keyboard above) just because he never saw one.
My mom's been working in an NGO for the past 12 years who have a program to catch the employers who employ children below 14. Some are kidnapped some are taken away from villages saying that your child will earn a lot and make a good future. Some return, some never do.
When it comes to responsibilities, I want to be responsible to make those kids smile, not because they got internet to watch stuff but because they got a stomach full of lunch.
So yeah, being blunt is good. But I ain't some kid who is trying to find his way out of responsibilities. I'm already planning meetings with Program Directors of different NGOs to work out on how this entire process can become successful.
I just wanted to know from you experienced riders how can one stay on the road, what problems he/she might face, how he/she can spread awareness in a better way. I'm just starting with all this, Your inputs will help me and make this plan better.