Engineering students get ready to drive an ambulance to Mongolia
Four Engineering students from Southampton are joining forces for an epic journey to Mongolia. They are raising money to buy and refurbish a 4x4 offroad ambulance, kit it out for use and drive it 8,000 miles to the capital Ulaanbaatar. It will then be donated to a local hospital.
Callum Livingstone, George Tuckey, Oli Hampden-Martin and William Sexton are using crowdfunding to raise the £7,000 needed for the trip in July 2015 across mountains and deserts, through Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan, to reach Mongolia.
Health services in the remote central Asian country are in desperate need of more ambulances and modern medical equipment. The Mongolia Charity Rally, organised by Go Help, motivates adventurous people to fundraise and drive these vehicles directly to the hospitals that request them.
“We were inspired to do this after Oli dislocated his shoulder while windsurfing in a remote loch in Scotland. Even with our great NHS, it still took three hours for an ambulance to arrive to pick him up,” says George. “We can’t imagine what it would be like to live in a country without these essential resources so we decided to help in our last year of education before we all get jobs.”
Team members will be using the skills they have learned at Southampton during the project. Callum is studying Mechanical Engineering with Automotive, Oli and William are taking Mechanical Engineering with Sustainable Energy Systems and George is studying Ship Science. This is the second time Southampton engineering students have taken part in the rally; a group successfully made it across Europe and Asia with an ambulance in 2012.
Callum, George, Oli and William will be paying for all their own travel expenses and accommodation on the trip. The University of Southampton’s Alumni office is matching any donations made to their appeal, up to £3,500.
https://southampton.hubbub.net/p/southampton2mongolia/
http://www.sixdegreesofprocrastination.com/