KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 — It took them 46 days of riding their motorcycles, sometimes through rough and difficult terrain.
But a group of 23 Malaysian Sikh riders from the Santana Bikerz Malaysia Club managed to raise RM31,408 from their five-nation expedition in aid for children with cancer under the National Cancer Society of Malaysia (NCSM).
Besides raising funds for the children, the ride also included visiting five Sikh Takhts (throne of authority in Sikhism) across India and Pakistan in conjunction with the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Devji, the founder of Sikhism.
The expedition started off with only five of them riding across Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, India and Pakistan while the rest had joined the convoy via rented bikes during their ride across India.
Club assistant secretary Tejuir Singh Chelli who was among the five to ride from Malaysia to Pakistan and back said it was a fun but challenging ride for everyone.
“Part of our journey was really exciting but then it was very challenging as well.
“There were certain parts of some countries where the roads were very bad. There were some with no road at all and others where there a lot of landslides had been happening.” he said.
Tejuir added that the most challenging area was Moreh in India, which is a mountainous area with ongoing constructions.
“They’re making a new highway and the roads are still under construction for the past few years. There were landslides and the day before there was heavy rainfall and the roads were quite muddy.”
The riders also had to contend with multiple breakdowns due to the conditions of the rented motorcycles.
The third-generation bikers club has been actively organising charitable programmes for underprivileged communities all across Malaysia.
NCSM general manager Michael Warren said the overwhelming result of the charity ride could not have been achieved without the help of publicity by the Santana Riderz.
“It’s not only the fact that they came and donated money but they ran a program for three to four months where they travelled all over Asia.”
“People like that are very important to us as well because by ourselves we cannot raise enough publicity but when others see people like that raising publicity, it’s fantastic and this is where I think, Malaysians can come together,” he added.
“We come together, we support each other. We help each other.”
Those interested to ride and give back back to the community, may surf over here.
