Three Guys Travelled Through North India In A Rickshaw And Raised $18,000 For Shillong Orphans

In an effort to raise funds for 50 orphans, Ernie Bergen, Daniel Künzle and Bram Schuurmann undertook an epic journey from Jaisalmer to Shillong.

Bram Schuurman

The journey of the trio, who call themselves the “Kohinoor Khiladis”, was sponsored by an NGO called SOS Children’s Villages.

“Daniel came up with this idea. We wanted to do a crazy adventure. So he found the Rickshaw Run, a mentally and physically demanding 2,700 km journey through North India,” Bram Schuurman told BuzzFeed.

Bram Schuurman

The three men met at the Sziget Music Festival in Budapest, and then decided to travel through India to help underprivileged kids.

“I wanted to do something local and for kids so we found SOS Children’s Villages. We picked the village in Shillong for a couple of reasons. There are 34 SOS Children’s Villages in India and the one in Shillong is one of the poorest, plus it was our finish line and we wanted to visit our charity of choice,” Schuurman said.

The journey began in the last week of March from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, and from there on, they just rode out on to the open road.

Bram Schuurmann

“We had our rickshaw, 10 litres of petrol and a map. Our only plan was to arrive in Shillong 11 days later,” Schuurman said.

Many a time, they slept out on the road in sleeping bags, and other times they stayed with local people who opened up their homes to them.

Bram Schuurmann

The three men had been adding live updates to their blog, indicating where they’d reached, how many times their rickshaw broke down, and all the adventures along the way.

Bram Schuurmann

“Other than the pure adventure of this endeavour our main goal is helping the most vulnerable demographic of society – Orphaned children,” he added.

Bram Schuurmann

Kohinoor Khiladis finished their journey on April 16, and reached their goal of $18,000 for the kids at the SOS Children’s Village of Shillong.

Via Instagram: @kohinoorkhiladis

Bram Schuurmann

 

The trio revealed that they really want to come back for another Rickshaw Run, and will try and raise more money the next time around.

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