HSK - American: raise funds for charity

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American: raise funds for charity

(Shanghai Daily )
Updated: 2006-10-11 10:59





















Christopher St Cavish aboard the iron horse that will hopefully take him
all the way to Xining. Photo: Shanghai Daily

To experience a lot more of China, Christopher St Cavish will roar by
restored PLA motorbike from Shanghai to Xining in Qinghai Province,
seeking to raise funds for a charity that educates poor kids.

The idea of jacking it all in, hoping onto a big motorbike and roaring
off into the sunset isn't short on appeal. Most red-blooded men, and not
a few women, I'd wager, have sat wistfully imagining the open road
stretching out, landscape zipping past, just as I did a second ago.

Christopher St Cavish, however, is done imagining, and later this month
he'll take off on an epic journey across China.

The young American's three-week motorcycle journey will take him from
Shanghai to Xining, capital city of Qinghai Province, where he'll board
the newly opened train to Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

He will undertake this 2,500-kilometer journey to Xining bestride a
magnificent Chinese-built Changjiang motorcycle with a sidecar.

The aim, aside from just getting there, is to raise 200,000 yuan
(US$25,300) for local charity Hands on Shanghai Rising Stars Program that
educates poor children and matches them with successful professionals as
mentors.

He is now seeking sponsors in Shanghai.

The trip - called the 2006 Santo Chino Ride - is expected to become a
regular annual charity event.

The 26-year-old St Cavish was, until recently, gainfully employed as a
chef in one of the very top restaurants in the city.

"I've been in Shanghai for just over one year now and I've hardly seen
any greenery or any of the rest of China for that matter," says the Miami
native, who departs on October 27.

The original plan was simplicity itself. "I wanted to go to Xining to get
the train to Lhasa," he reveals. "I love motorbikes so I was just going
to buy a cheap one here in Shanghai and ride it as far as I could before
it blew up. If it got me to Xining then great."

That was before he met Jeff Marquass of Marquass Motorcycles; Wang Baohua
of the Suzhou motorbike club and Rich Brubaker of Hands on Shanghai.
These consecutive meetings took place in August and from then on St
Cavish's plans changed rapidly and radically.

This resulted in not only a very superior motorbike but also the
all-important charity element.

Shanghai-based Marquass Motorcycles is donating a fully restored People's
Liberation Army motorcycle with a sidecar, fully kitted-out and prepared,
for the duration of the trip. It will be sent back to Shanghai from
Xining afterwards.

Wang, who probably knows more about these bikes than anyone, is currently
training St Cavish in the riding and repairing of this quite unique
machine.

"When I first heard about this foreigner planning on riding aacross China
on a motorbike I thought he was mad," says Wang. "Later I couldn't help
feeling some admiration and then when I heard it was for charity I knew I
had to get involve and help."

Hands on Shanghai works with some of the city's poorest families,
providing an education to those who can least afford one.

"I wanted to do something that would have an obvious benefit here in
Shanghai," says St Cavish. "I chose the Rising Stars Program with Hands
on Shanghai because it's making an important difference to young
Shanghainese people who would otherwise receive only a very basic
education.

"Shanghai may be a glittering modern city on the surface but you don't
need to scratch very deep before you come across some grinding poverty."

This program sets out to help the children of the very poor, those,
mostly migrant workers, existing on less than 300 yuan per month.

It matches these kids with young professionals in Shanghai who thereafter
act as mentors, giving their time in regular activities and outings with
their students.

The Rising Stars Program aims to expand the operation significantly to
cover 50 students in 2007. It hopes to provide the education fees of
2,500 yuan per student per year and six months of Rising Star events,
1,000 yuan per student, making a total of 190,000 yuan.

"I'm hoping sponsors will pledge 10 yuan per kilometer, 25,000 yuan in
total for this valuable and important charity that gives kids the chance
to escape a vicious cycle of poverty," says St Cavish.

Sponsors' logos will be prominently displayed on the motorcycle sidecar
and significant media interest and coverage is expected throughout the
trip.

"We are extremely pleased to be working with Christopher," says Brubaker
of Hands on Shanghai. "The Rising Star Program is the first of its kind
in Shanghai and has been a success in every way.

"Through his efforts, Chris is assisting us with the expansion of the
program so we can meet our goal of not only sponsoring the educational
fees for 50 students, but also matching them with mentors who are
successful professionals."

St Cavish's previous two-wheeled adventures have been of the pedal-power
variety and have included the swamps of his native Florida and more
recently Vietnam.

"Preparation will be key for the journey. There will be the inevitable
trials and tribulations, but they will be minor

compared with the experience of seeing China's hinterlands up close and
personal,'' says St Cavish who speaks a smattering of Mandarin.

"This mode of transport allows you to go slow enough to take in the
subtleties you might miss when passing through in a bus, car or train."

Departing his Nanjing Road W. apartment later this month, St Cavish will
have a farewell fundraising ceremony on October 27 at Senses Wine Lodge
(515 Jianguo Road W.), with all backers present.

The journey is expected to take three weeks and it will span Jiangsu,
Anhui, Henan, Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai provinces.

"I'll be climbing to an altitude of 2,250 meters and at this time of year
temperatures can drop as low as 25 degrees Celsius below zero, so it's
going to be pretty cold," says St Cavish. "I've spoken with some other
Westerners who traveled by motorbike through the heartland of China and
they told me that they generated a lot of interest from the locals they
met.

"In Lanzhou, Gansu Province, there were so many people wanting to meet
them that the police had to get involved as it was getting a little crazy.

"Beyond the trip I've no idea what I'll do, but I'm sure this experience
will open doors I didn't even know existed."

For more information, please see www.handsonshanghai.com or
www.santochino.com

Tel: 021-62176639



















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