"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime." Mark Twain
Catalyst Traveler Program
The Catalyst Traveler Program is a stipend-based volunteer program. These volunteers will formulate a program or project for one or more of our local partners. The commitment is to volunteer for a minimum of two weeks and to create and tell their story. Through photography, video or written work, these travelers will share their experience traveling and volunteering with our collective networks on social media to spark a change in others, inspiring and encouraging them to realize their dream to travel and connect with people along the way.
History of the Program
The Catalyst Program started as a result of a generous donation that the Foundation received from Horizons Unlimited in 2016. We decided that we wanted the donation to be allocated towards something specific that would connect with and hopefully benefit the community of travelers. Out of this desire, we created our first and only sponsored travel program. We knew that the motorcyclist that comprise this group are tenacious and vastly talented individuals - we would not have a difficult time finding wonderful volunteers. The program started in 2016 and has continued until the present. We were so impressed with their dedication and professionalism in the field. As Catalyst Travelers, one is expected to commit a minimum of 2 weeks of volunteering and must share their reflections, experiences and stories from the road with our network as as their own. Most of them have created meaningful relationships with our partner organizations, others have developed programs and donated equipment to the communities.
If you are traveling and would like to apply for the Catalyst Traveler Program, please APPLY HERE
We thank our sponsors Horizons Unlimited and Global Moto Adventures for making this program possible! To learn more about this program and our current Catalysts Travelers see below.
Hi, we are Nicki and Moe. In December 2017, we will begin our 2Up RTW-Trip in Montevideo. On our way through South America, we truly want to get to know the heart of this fascinating continent combining both of our big passions: riding motorcycle and hiking! On purpose, we do not decide on a certain route to follow or a limitation of time. With a big portion of greenness, we like to go wherever spontaneous encounters will take us. Moe has a teaching profession for sports and IT and is an enthusiastic photographer. Nicki is a developmental scientist, specialized in the fields of health and education. Besides, she has worked for many years pedagogically with mentally disabled kids and adults. We both like different kinds of sport very much, especially when they are outdoor.
In the past years, travelling changed us a lot. We have the strong feeling that there is the need to foster the connection of people all over the world and support the understanding of each other. More and more, we try to reflect about the decisions we take, trying to discrete the consequences of our actions. Therefore, we have the aim of promoting a general understanding: With the documentation of the experiences during our open-end journey on our website Moppedhiker , we want to embrace the stunning beauty of our planet, show spectacular landscapes and celebrate the variety of cultures.
Hi! My name is Arthur Bremner, I am 26 years old and have just graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder with a degree in Physiology. I am pursuing the career of a physicians assistant, but have taken time off before my graduate degree to travel the world and volunteer along the way!
I will be riding my 2000 Honda XR650L Motorcycle, that I built in my bedroom this past winter, through parts of Central and South America! If finances allow, I will ship the bike and continue on to Africa!
I am Steffan Ajay, I work as a project officer in WWF India and my travel companion is Princy William, a Zumba Instructor and a story teller.
We are on a bicycle trip around Tamilnadu, a state in India. Tamilnadu is specially known for its cultural tourism especially the temples and architectures.
Our plan is to understand Tamilnadu to the depth. Mainly on the history and the practices which are forgotten. As our trip is slow we are also planning to meet different organisation working in Tamilnadu, with experience in working with NGO I have made a list of organisations which we will be visiting. Which will help in knowledge sharing, organizing different workshops and build partnerships.
I'm a late 20s young professional who decided to take a year off from work to travel and get to know a little bit of the world. I worked as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace industry for the last 5 years designing mechanical systems of aircraft (propulsion, flight control systems, airframe structures, etc.). I'm an avid soccer fan, love sports and outdoors in general, and really enjoy traveling and seeing the world.
I'm currently traveling by motorcycle from Washington DC in the USA, to Buenos Aires in Argentina. My first objective is just to make it there! But along the way I hope to really get to know the countries, cultures, and peoples of Latin America. While I'll certainly stop at tourist sights as I go, I'd like to get far enough off the tourist path to see how life is really like for everyday people of the different countries I visit. Learn more about my journey from Travstrek
My name is Candida Louis, I have been riding for the last 9 years. I relocated to Bangalore 5 years ago to work with Infosys and that is when I realised my true passion for riding and I left my job to follow the calling of my heart and embarking on a journey, picking a new direction every day, with no intent of arriving. Only to explore, learn and enjoy the variety of feelings that my country had to offer. I was the first woman to ride around India alone, with a message of women empowerment and that India is safe for women. Also by conducting riding classes for women and encouraging them to be independent.
I dream of riding around the world, but what is a dream if it involves only me? I love helping people in what ever way i can and love volunteering at orphanages and old age homes.
"India on a Motorcycle," is not just a sticker on my helmet but the purpose of my existence. I rode for 6 months, through 24 states and over 34,000 kms comprising of breathtaking places, diverse people and life-changing experiences to prove that point and i continue exploring and meeting people all over.
The road presented itself to me a year and a half ago. I wasn’t ready. Circumstances pushed me out on it. And when I embraced it, I grew wings. The road has a way of opening our eyes when we’re ready. It was about time. 2017 gifted me global travel. I joined Tiffany Coates to go help Lorraine Chittock film her movie Rallying For a Wild Life in Eastern Africa. My days on the road aren’t complete unless I’m helping others, which is why I do healing work in between the day’s miles. The wildlife in Africa needs healing and support from humanity. Rallying took action to raise awareness that it was time for us to step up for these animals.
One of Lorraine’s projects for the film stole my heart. It captured the connection between children of Africa who had no parents, and the animals there who needed to be seen in their raw beauty for the first time by them. We took a group of 20 children from Good Care Ministry and Orphanage into Lake Mburu National Park for a weekend of communing with the wildlife from the backs of our motorcycles. For those waiting to take turns on the freedom of two wheels, there was a ranger educating them about the wild culture and the animals there from a bus. None of us would ever be the same.
Currently, fellow rider Mike Haley has taken orphanage founder Violet Scovia under his wing. Her orphanage touched him deeply when he was in Uganda, and her plea for help building a school for these children turned out to be his calling. Mike formed World Riders Foundation to raise the money needed to get the project done. This touched me deeply, and I wanted to contribute in some way.
Now as a Catalyst Traveler,I will be working with Tiffany Coates and Mike Haley to bring a photography program to the new school for Good Care Orphanage. It’s a long term project, but one that will tie connected to higher education and multimedia programs for these children who experienced Lake Mbura Park with me. Follow along as new hope and opportunity unfold for the next generation in far corners of the globe.
“Prejudice - a preconceived notion, not based on reason or actual experience” and “Fear - brought about by something you don’t understand or know.” As husband and wife we’re travelling together across the Americas on our motorcycles. We are focused on facing these two great challenges: our own prejudices and fears. We acknowledge that we have preconceived ideas about ourselves, our abilities, the world we currently know and the things we fear. We’re committed to sharing with honesty our learning about both our inward and outward journeys. We hope this honest account will inspire others in examining their own thoughts, with respect to prejudices and fears. Our blog documents our journey just-say-yes.xyz .
‘The Muskoka Foundation - Do Good As You Go’ is aligned with our value of experiencing people, not places. Time with people is where the real journey and insights occur. We’re excited at the opportunity to be spending time within local communities, learning new customs and languages,exchanging experience, learning about alternate ways of life and sharing of ourselves as we travel.
Kix Marshall was Canadian born and globally educated. Having lived in and traveled to over 40 countries he’s written and spoke about his many adventures on the road including writing his first e-book on how to set up your life as a “Travel Escape Ninja”. Having hit the world for the first time at eighteen on a self proclaimed rock star tour of Australasia he’s since dabbled in a life of adventurer, travel, entrepreneurship, food, speaking, writing & philanthropy.
Kix has been interested in business his entire life and has owned and operated a number of Canadian small businesses and a couple of minor ventures abroad. He’s currently working on his next project scooping out ideas across the Americas where he has been riding his motorcycle from Canada en route to Ushuaia in the South of Argentina, accompanied by his KLR 650 Motorcycle named KLaiR and their monkey side kick Stanley. Kix regularly shares his adventures and sporadic thoughts on his personal blog, KixMarshall.com
Kieran Minor is a rising junior at Oberlin College from Danbury, CT. A double major in economics and environmental studies, his academic research interests include indigenous land rights, rural development and common property resource management. He is also an avid musician, performing in several bands and vocal ensembles while spending his summers as a music director for multiple youth summer projects. He has worked with youth, arts and media-oriented organizations in southeast Alaska, the Navajo Reservation, Haiti and across Australia. This fall, he will be traveling to Udaipur and Bangalore, India on a program through Duke University, researching environmental and public health issues in rural areas. He looks forward to volunteering in his spare time, making connections with local organizations there and discovering the intersections of sustainability and the arts.
For Stefano, helping to develop the imagination and self-expression of kids through a process of visualization is key to help transform their vision of a better future. As a kid, he was inspired every time he went to the theater of his small town in Italy to see the exhibition of travel photographs. As he started to live and travel around the world he became a Restless Traveller and started to record the world through images. When Stefano thought how he could share his experience, the project PORTALS was born. PORTALS are collections of 30 photos that tell of a place or a special event.
Since spring 2016, Stefano started collaborating with DGYG. He is riding the Pan- American highway on his motorcycle not just for the adventure but also give photo workshops and community presentations to different partner organizations in Latin America. He will give the workshops to youth between the ages of 9 and 15 years and share the results in other communities on the continent.
Together with DGYG, they have raised funds to buy cameras that will be donated to some of the partner organizations to continue photo workshops. Through the camera lens, the kids involved will be empowered to watch, learn and create a PORTALS about their place from the pictures they take during the workshop. Hopefully, the kids can see things differently and help shape the world around them.
PORTALS created by the kids at the workshops so far can be seen here: a Guanajuato, Tlacolula, Oaxaca.
Hi, my name is Brad. When I'm not on the road I call Seattle, WA home. I'm a Submarine Veteran and Aerospace Mechanic currently traveling the world on two wheels capturing moments. I firmly believe we can break down barriers by treating our world as one global community, and through that union, continue to celebrate our differences. My experience has shown me that its truly the people you meet along the way that leave your lasting impression of a country or place.
I believe we are a product of our experiences and I aim to grow my experiences as much as possible by interacting and collaborating with people as possible while on the road. It’s through these interactions that I build a more genuine understanding about the life of another person and their get a secret look at their culture. My website, Perpetual-Moto-Discovery is all about travel and exploration. Perpetual literally means never ending or changing, continuous under its own power. I use it as a platform to share photography, videos and text to detail my experiences on the road. I find that I meet the most inspirational people all the time and I feel like I have an obligation to share these positive moments and people with the world.
I especially enjoy sharing short videos because video can share so much more detail and do a lot to make people seem, not so far away. I have created a series, "Videos that Matter" on YouTube. Which takes a look at people or environments and shows this secret look into a far off world. I plan to work on the series, sharing stories about inspiring people that I meet, over the next two years as I ride my motorcycle from Seattle to the southern tip of South America. I'm really excited for the road ahead because, I know where I'm heading but I never truly know where I'll end up.
For more than 25 years Don and Carole have committed their time and attention to raising three daughters. Now with two girls having completed University and the third scheduled to finish in 2017, it was time pick up a new challenge.
Sometime during 2008, Don took up motorcycle riding and by chance, stumbled across Horizons Unlimited. After doing shorter tours from Calgary to Alaska in 2012 and a tour from Calgary to The Grand Canyon in 2013 the travel bug was fully entrenched. During these early trips it was easy to find help and to give a little help. It was clear that on a significant tour, more could be done. With 25+ year careers in Mechanical Engineering and Nursing it was hoped that it may be possible to offer something to others while we travelled. We had a desire to pass along our experiences and build positive connections as we moved through our journey.
Our trip, starting in 2016, is called, “The Blue Dot Trot”. This is a reference to the first photos of earth taken from a spacecraft. Earth appeared to be, “…a pale blue dot suspended in a sunbeam…”. As such, it is plain to anyone looking at these photos that all of us, humanity, are floating along on this pale blue dot. It is our sincere hope that we can directly help a few folks along way by participating in the delivery of educational materials. We also hope to inspire others to perhaps do the same, in their own way.
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