How you can help us

Obviously we would love you to contribute to our chosen charities but there are many other ways that you can help us. Below is a short list of things that we could with assistance with. Don't give us anything you want back, all donated items will go into the auction in Gambia

Camping equipment - no, we won't be fool enough to camp in Europe in December but once in the Sahara we have little choice. We have a two person tent but are still in need of:

• Bed - airbed or thermarest for the resting of our weary bones at the end of a hard day's travelling.
• Camping stove - and gas.
• Cooking equipment - pots, pans etc
• Camping kettle - for a brew whilst we wait into the small hours at some remote border crossing. Thanks Claire.
• Seating - we know a blanket under the wide Saharan sky is how the locals do it but a couple of folding chairs wouldn't go amiss. Thanks Pauline.
• Sleeping bags - it can get surprisingly cold (bitter was how one previous driver described it) in the desert. Pauline has insisted on buying us new four season sleeping bags, thanks.
• Rucksacks - we'll be leaving most things behind for the auction but we could do with a couple of rucksacks or collapsible suitcases for bring home our memories, and a few treasures.
• Vacuum bags - no, not for a vacuum cleaner, those very useful bags that you can suck the air out of to make your bulky clothes half the size.

Car bits - Trabi parts aren't readily available from your everyday motor factors but we think we have sourced the main bits we're likely to need. There are other items that we could do with:

• Oil - 3 gallons of two stroke should do the trick. Thanks to Shalford Green Garage for the two stroke.
• Bottle jack - we have the East German Trabi original jack but a bottle jack could make wheel changing somewhat quicker.
• Jump leads - you never know.
• Tow rope - you never know the jump leads might not do the trick.
• Car stereo - 4,200 is a long way without tunes. A reliable tape player will be fine we have an adaptor for CD/MP3 player.
• Tools - metric sockets/spanners, pliers, screwdivers, a hammer or two, in fact anything that you think will keep us on the road or be useful to folks in Gambia.
• Electic air pump - once we've dropped our tyres to 10psi to negotiate the desert we'll want to reinflate them.
• Jiggle siphon - we will be carrying (and mixing 2 stroke) fuel in cans and the safest way to get it into the fuel tank is to siphon it. Google 'jiggle siphon' if you don't know what one is.

Various

• Torches - the Trabi has a convenient little light under the bonnet, it's a nice thought but next to useless when it comes to serious under bonnet engine work so we need a couple of serious torches and maybe a headtorch or two.
• 12v/240v inverter - we have all manner of batteries that will need charging (phone, cameras, camcorder etc) and an inverter will keep us fully charged.
• Compass - our plan is to just keep heading south and follow the car in front but some direction may well come in useful.
• Travel insurance - we just know it makes sense!
• Maps - we have a map of the world but think something on a more useful scale (that actually shows roads) could be helpful.
• Mobile phones - we have a small stash of old phones to donate in Gambia as well as use as the occasional 'gift' en route.
• Call time - apart from three days in the desert we should be able to get a signal on our mobiles for the whole trip. We will be sending regular text updates to the website and will need airtime to keep in touch with the other teams.
• VHS-C tapes - we have been rummaging in the cupboard and have found a very old, very dusty compact VHS camcorder. Despite being held together with Araldite and gaffa tape it's in fine working order. Send us your old tapes and we can bore you with our road movie when we get back! Or we might just put the best bits on You Tube.
• Memory cards - we are travelling with two digital cameras and are in need of extra SD and CF memory cards.
• A lift from the airport - we arrive back to Manchester airport about 23.00 on 12 Jan and would be very grateful of a lift to Sheffield rather than pay the £60 taxi fare. Thanks Maurice
• First Aid kit - one of our team is prone to the occasion cut and graze but we are likely to come across more expedition style injuries (we hope not) so a decent first aid kit is a must.
• Malaria tablets - at £3 per tablet for Malarone you are welcome to help us out in buying 42 of the blimin things.
• Fire extinguisher - not only a requirement in a number of countries but also a very good idea.

That's just a quick list there are bound to be many more things that we'll need so check back to see our wants list grow.

If you can help with anything email us




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