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A team of ambitious young travellers have
driven a fleet of three Trabants, the infamous East German autos,
from Germany to Phnom Penh as a fundraiser for Cambodian street
children. The 16,100 mile journey spanned 21 countries -- and 320
breakdowns.
A team of intrepid young travellers
arrived in the Cambodian capital this week to cap off a fundraising
campaign that sounds as unlikely as their method of transport -- a
fleet of East German-made Trabant cars.
John Lovejoy, a 27 year-old American, came
up with the idea to drive Trabis from Europe to Cambodia in 2006
after buying one of the infamous Soviet-era autos in Hungary for
$60 (€41). He promoted the so-called "Trabant Trek" as a
fundraiser for street children in Cambodia, and set an ambitious
goal to raise $300,000 (€204,000).
The four-person team that he led into
Phnom Penh Monday piloted three jury-rigged Trabis all the way from
Germany. The six-month journey took them 16,100 miles (26,000
kilometers) across 21 countries.
Eight people started the trip last July,
but four dropped out along the way as the team struggled to coax
the three Trabis -- named Dante's Inferno, Ziggy Stardust, and Fez
-- across two continents.
The dauntless travellers endured more than
320 breakdowns. On some days, said Lovejoy, the finicky Trabis
would need to be repaired 10 times. Only two of the vehicles made
it to Phnom Penh.
Despite being much maligned for their
shoddy construction -- the cars are made mostly of plastic and have
a top speed of around 80 kilometers (50 miles) per hour -- Trabants
are an icon of German popular culture. Trabiphiles celebrated 50
years of the cult car (more...) in 2007 -- the first Trabant rolled
off the assembly line in the East German town of Zwickau on Nov. 7,
1957.
Lovejoy's Traban Trek was a fundraiser
for two charities, Mith Samlanh and M'Lop Tapang, both of which
work with homeless children in Cambodia.
"We're passionate about this cause and
knew we'd have to take an unusual spin on traditional fundraising
tactics to really get the word out," Lovejoy told the Associated
Press. He said the team had raised $16,000 (€10,880) as of
Wednesday -- slightly more than 5 percent of the original
target.
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