Often we get cheers from people about our courage to take on such a big project with such little resources. Many tell us that we are crazy, jaws often drop when Steve Bouey tells them that he cashed out his whole retirement fund to put into this dream. I have put a great deal of my savings on the line and dug a nice little black hole of credit as well.
When the project first started we went back and forth on the idea of starting TWBR as a non-profit so that we could have an easier time raising money. This was based on the idea that our objective was to work with schools when we return educating youth about what is really happening in the world and inspire them to follow after their dreams like we have. Again, the majority of people are very supportive of us and these goals. We don’t expect to change the world, but we certainly hope to change as many minds as we can about what is happening out there. This is why we ultimately decided to not make this whole thing about a cause like everyone is doing these days. Many races, expeditions, and adventures are about raising money for something, we did not want to make this about that.
Since both of us decided to pour our entire lives and financial security on the line for this project, it seemed reasonable to at least have the option at the end of this of turning a profit and maybe actually getting paid for the risks we have taken. Still there are those few out there that take offense to this, as though we are selfish people. Perhaps someday some of these angry people out there can realize that just because someone is trying to make money, doesn’t mean they cannot also be helping someone. The most recent and anonymous comment on the blog writes as such:
“Let’s see…..there are hundreds of thousands of children starving, abused, homeless, uneducated, orphaned and generally unhappy every day. 30,000 USD would change the lives of an entire village. I could help them, or help this group put more gas in their SUVs drive around the world. Hmmmmmmmm……….”
This fine anonymous reader of the blog is from Milton, Queensland in Australia based on the IP address. My question to him/her and anyone who feels the same way is, “What did we ever do to you?” We are a couple of guys that believe just throwing money at poor, less fortunate people does not solve problems. As we state in our mission statement and all the info on the site explaining what we are doing- Only 20% of Americans hold valid passports and an even smaller amount of them actually using them in a given year (some years less than 5% of Americans leave the country). The statistics are very similar in most developed countries. Although the statistics may be a little better in other countries, not many people who donate money to the Red Cross or the countless other organizations out there trying to help people have even been to the countries where the money is going. From what we have seen, a majority of this money is misused or never even makes it to the people it was meant to help.
Man on his Soapbox – Courtesy of Wikipedia
There are still many upstanding organizations out there helping people, but saying that giving money to a village is more important than educating youth is crazy in my opinion. If we can fill the world with more young people that are truly aware of world issues, then we will more quickly solve problems like starvation, illiteracy, corruption, disease, pollution and more. The majority of people I have met on this journey, American or not, do not know where half of the countries in our route lie on a map.  Before we all fill ourselves with guilt because we are privileged or stand on our soapboxes about sending money abroad, remember that education and understanding are our most important tools to creating real change in the world. Between Europe, the USA, and the other developed countries pouring billions of dollars each year into foreign aid and influencing countless decisions of other countries governments, it should be our duty as citizens of these countries to make sure that those dollars are spent responsibly and the decisions are made well. Without ever even getting near these places, who are any of us to say where the money is best spent or whether the decisions being made are responsible?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
PS. Anonymous, if you are looking for a village that has a really great program helping locals, The ETC in KhaoLak, Thailand is a place I would recommend. Our friend Reid Ridgeway runs the program and it is a place that makes an unbelievable difference in the lives of Thai people and helps to preserve their environment at the same time. Also, if you were interested we also filmed with AUSAid in Indonesia, and your Australian dollars are being well spent there building schools.
