Palaces on Wheels ride puts UK charity efforts for south Asia on track

By Rohit Chadha 

A FEW years ago, as my 50th birthday approached, I reflected on the incredible hardships and sacrifices made by my parents and others in their generation to provide a better life for their children.

They emigrated from their south Asia homes and left behind the social and emotional safety net of fam­ily in the selfless hope of better opportunities for the next generation.

I realised how truly privi­leged and fortunate my generation is as a direct re­sult of the decisions taken by them a few decades ear­lier. It made me want to al­so take advantage of my privileged position in the world and give back to have a transformational impact on others who are much less fortunate.

Conscious of the level of injustice and poverty across the world, I decided to focus my efforts on south Asia, my “natural, spiritual home”, where people strug­gle to live on less than $2 (about £1.42) a day.

These vulnerable people are deprived of life’s basic necessities that we take for granted, such as clean wa­ter, food, education and safety from domestic vio­lence and human traffick­ing. Sadly, the needs of the most underprivileged have only been compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The common theme with all these causes is education. By providing education and support in a safe and secure environment, we can pro­vide a long-lasting solution to lift the most vulnerable out of the spiral of poverty for generations to come, and instead help them be­come net contributors to their local community and economy.

I believe in the transfor­mational impact of diaspora-led fundraising and becom­ing a “living bridge” between the UK and south Asia.

My commitment to rally the British Asian community for stronger philanthropic efforts and diaspora-led charity work led to the launch of the Most Exotic Challenge in 2016. Every year, we arrange cycle rides in ‘exotic’ locations, with the aim of making fundrais­ing fun and exotic.

In previous years, the riders cycled through India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Tanzania. To date (not in­cluding the 2021 ride that has just been completed) we have raised just shy of £1 million, thanks to an in­credible team of donors and riders. This is immense, given that just £100 per child per annum can trans­form their education and pave a way out of poverty.

This year, the ride has come home to the UK. The 2021 ‘Palaces on Wheels’ annual charity cycle ride has crossed £1m in funds raised since 2016 – and hopefully by a big margin as we seek continued dona­tions. The ride supports the vital work done by the Brit­ish Asian Trust in south Asia. Launched by the royal founding patron of the Brit­ish Asian Trust (BAT), the Prince of Wales, Palaces on Wheels (PoW) was a four-day, 450km ride that saw more than 30 people cycle across England, stopping off at royal residences on the way from Highgrove in Gloucestershire to San­dringham in Norfolk. The highlight was the Prince of Wales starting us off riding a bike, an event that has captured the attention of everyone nationally and amazingly, globally as well.

The British Asian com­munity, especially my gen­eration, owe it to those who emigrated to the UK and suffered hardships. We should be doing a lot more in philanthropic efforts to ease the suffering in south Asia as our second genera­tion are the result of the ex­act same efforts by our par­ents and their sacrifices. I encourage you to get in­volved and influence others to join the cause.

You can donate at www. justgiving.com/crowdfund­ing/palaces-on-wheels

BAT PoW webpage: www. britishasiantrust.org/sup­port-us/fundraise-for-us/ palaces-on-wheels-2021/

Rohit Chadha is the man­aging director of Luxlo and a supporter of the British Asian Trust.