A tuk tuk road trip across India in aid of charity Educate Girls
In two barely roadworthy tuk tuks, one team, made up of five nationalities, travel the length of India to study and raise awareness of the gender gap in the country's education system. Words and pictures by Paul Niel
"Just five minutes, sir!" It isn't the first time I've heard those words and I know it means my wait will not be a short one.
I am in a remote Indian village with my teammates Tom, Phil, Clare and Sofia, and one of the two auto-rickshaws we have been driving has decided to stop working. Luckily, Ahmad, a friendly mechanic, has appeared from seemingly nowhere to come to our rescue. With a big smile and the typical Indian head wobble, he listens to the strange noises emanating from the vehicle's engine and then disappears into his work shed.
We're less than a week into our mission to travel the length of India, from the tropical beaches of the south to the deserts of the north. Our vehicles, also known as tuk tuks, are each equipped with a seven-horsepower engine, a very fickle gear box, almost non-existent brakes and no lights worth mentioning; they are possibly the least suitable mode of transport for the 3,000km of potholed, dusty roads we have in front of us.
exploring India - a country of vast diversity, natural beauty and exotic cultures - for a while, but had needed to find the right team.
Then in Hong Kong, six months ago, the team found itself: Phil, a Swiss media expert at a large bank; Tom, a British-Australian filmmaker and photographer; Clare, a Hong Kong Chinese language teacher; and Sofia, a logistics entrepreneur and journalist from Chile. Five nationalities, each with a differ-ent background and language, together we shared a passion for adventure and education.
Soon after, we were introduced to Indian charity Educate Girls, which campaigns to close the gender gap in education in the South Asian nation. More than three million girls in India have no access to schooling and, in rural areas, only one in 100 completes year 12 (aged 17). Schools in rural locations suffer from poor facilities and inadequate teaching, with The Economist magazine recently reporting that less than half of these pupils gain basic literacy skills after five years of schooling.