Update February 6, 2012

To all my Family, Friends, Sponsors and Supporters:

My departure date of Feb 11, 2012 to Cambodia is fast approaching and I want to share some of the information about activities and progress surrounding my bike ride and the school before I leave.

My new helpers have done a lot of work already to organize the media and communication efforts for the next leg of the bike ride.

We have developed a strategy, a timeline and have defined areas to concentrate our efforts over the next few months before the actual start date. Dividing tasks and responsibilities is an important step to accomplish our goal.

Pertaining to my visit to the school in Cambodia, here is an update:

Gerlinde brought letters from our Canadian sponsored children last November to their respective Canadian “Godparents”.

There are now 14 Children sponsored from Canada.

I’m very excited to personally deliver letters, cards, small gifts, photos and a small amount of pocket money from each godparent to our children at Angkor Thom Junior High School in the Village of Peak Sneng.

The yoga group and a X country ski group from Five Winds, who support one student each, have made a wonderful effort with extra letters, cards and pictures for their godchild.

A special Thank You goes to the Canadian Godparents for the extra effort writing letters, making and collecting photos & small gifts. These are the little seeds of kindness that will bear fruit, making our world a better place.

Ms. Safira Lachapelle, from North Battleford, SK is sending a beautiful greeting card and letter, as well as pictures from the Alan Sapp Gallery, for me to take to the children in Cambodia.

I managed to re-engage the teacher from India to conduct a follow-up workshop on Biodynamic Agriculture for our Agri Project at the school. Working with him will be of special interest and significance to me, the school and the village.

During my six week stay, our daughter Sandra, and 13 year old granddaughter Ariana, will visit the school and meet their godchild Deoth. She is also looking forward to visiting the awesome temples of Angkor Wat. This will no doubt be another highlight of my visit.

My good friends Siggi and Gerlinde from Germany will be meeting me at the school and we will work together on many issues, including the badly damaged Primary School, the local High School and the Village.

I know, time will be flying and before I know it I will be on my way back home where my bike will be waiting patiently for me to start training for the last leg of my bike ride.

My facebook page is up and running, and I’ll use it to inform you of what is happening during my Cambodia visit. You can write a comment, letting me know what you think.

On behalf of the children in Cambodia thank you all for your wonderful contributions.

Love & Light,

Armin

Second Leg: Vancouver to Kenora - 2011

Vancouver to Edmonton (pdf)
Edmonton to Kenora (pdf)

Update June 2011

(This update was sent to all below)

To my Sponsors, Supporters, Friends and Family:

High time to keep you up to-date. So many things have happened here, in the School in Cambodia and all over.

Returning from my travels from Cambodia and Laos I ended up driving to Florida to pick up Inge and escape winter in Aurora. Well, this was much wishful thinking, because the cold temperatures just did not want to go away back at home, causing a setback for me; I came down with a nasty flu, upsetting my bike training schedule for two full weeks.

But good news, last year’s problem with the bike saddle appears to be resolved with the purchase of a “moon saddle.” So far, using it for 1200km without experiencing the pain and agony of last year with the old saddle. Things are looking up.

Luckily the conditioning is progressing well and I have booked my flight to Vancouver for July 13 to start the second leg of my journey. Preparations are in full swing and daily progress inches closer to the goal. I have the same GPS tracker “Spot” linked to my website. You can view my daily progress just by clicking on the link on my website:

http://www.helpcambodianschool.org/home/

I cannot believe the wonderful support I have been getting for the fundraising part of my ride. We are up to $18,000 in pledges and donations; “Lakeview Homes” pledged one dollar per km presenting a cheque for $7,000. Thank you so much for your generosity.

Back at the school in Cambodia:

I organized a workshop in Biodynamic Agriculture conducted by Jayakaran Chelladurai, a training expert from India, who visited our school after his training assignment in China and South Korea. This workshop was well attended by the school and some farmers from the Village, laying to groundwork for future BD training and education also benefitting farming in the vicinity and perhaps all of Cambodia.

A group of 10 University Students from Leipzig, Germany will conduct a 4 Week workshop on a cultural exchange program at the school in August. Gerlinde is making a special trip to attend this event. This will no doubt be a big boost for the students in practicing English and interacting with young adults of similar age.

The upcoming trip:

I’ll be flying to Vancouver July 13. After consulting with some local cyclists I decided to take the more northern route, ridinge from Vancouver to Hope, Merritt, Kamloops, Barriere, Clearwater, Valemont, Mt. Robson, Jasper, Hinton, Edson, Edmonton following the Yellowhead Highway 16 all the way to Winnipeg; traveling through North Battleford and Saskatoon on the way.

I’d be very grateful if any of you know somebody living on this route that would be good enough to offer me a warm shower and a place to put my head down for the night. Unfortunately I cannot give the exact time when I’ll be reaching the various locations as I don’t know myself at this time. There are too many variables to be certain now. But you can always see where I am at any given day just clicking on the “spot” link on my website. With the use of Inge’s Ipod I’ll have easier access to e-mail and may write some progress updates on my website. You may also find out my whereabouts through home base from my wife Inge. I’ll always try to keep in close contact with.

Please get back to me quickly if you know of some overnight opportunities for me and wish me good luck. Our Cambodian Schoolchildren really can hope for a better future through education!

Love & Light

Armin