Special Offer 'Green money 2010' just in time for World Savings Day

Just in time for World Savings Day on 31st of October, 2010 sinnvest is making a very special offer to all friends of The Glass Half Full under the headline 'Money makes the world go 'round - in which direction is up to you'. sinnvest is offering free consultations to

• check your existing investment portfolio


• introduce 'green' investment opportunities


• show you how to save taxes by investing in renewable energies

And as if that's not enough, they'll donate 10% of their commissions resulting from this to us - The Glass Half Full. This special offer ends on 31st of December 2010. For more info check their page or contact Tino Rosa from sinnvest directly.

Ortlieb on board as sponsor

Thanks to Ulrike Saade from Velo Berlin (another great event by Velo:Konzept) and her amazing fame within the cycling community in Germany we have a new sponsor on board.

Ortlieb has agreed to fully equip us with their fantastic, one and only waterproof bags for our journey: rear bags, saddle bags, handle bar bags, rack packs and even bags for our laptops and cameras. That's equipment worth around 1000 Euro (we could probably get at least 1 good bike for that!). And any outdoor lover knows this is the one and only company to trust when it comes to waterproof equipment. Very, very happy!!!

Thanks Ms Engl at Ortlieb for her patience, thanks to Ulrike Saade for the enthusiasm with which she opened so many doors for us (and still doesn't give up on the bikes), thanks to Martin Brem who made this connection possible. We'll be in touch and proud ambassadors for Ortlieb and the ever growing cycling community in Berlin.

Mission Impossible??

So many things falling into place right now. Wiebke's got her 1-year visa, ready to board the plane to Bangalore on Oct 28, nearly all equipment needs are covered, Kalyan is drumming up support in India and the guys from getoffurass Adventure Travel are waiting to get us fit for the wilderness. We're extremely excited and my last few days in Berlin are sprinkled with energy bursts, adrenaline rushes, doubts (very tiny ones disappearing very quickly when I smile at them), vaccinations, farewells and packing stuff.

What's still left is the race for our bikes. Will we get them in time for the boot camp starting Nov 1st?? Ulrike Saade, MD of Velo:konzept and always interested in projects promoting sustainability took on this mission impossible.

Thanks, Ulrike!!!

Betting on horses was yesterday...

Betting on a social cause is the way to go nowadays: how far do they come? Will they run out of steam? Will they really go through with the entire journey? Ride through every Indian state? Can they make the 12.000 km planned in 210 days?? What if one of them gets sick?? What happens when they fight??

And so on, and so forth... Of course, we get asked some other, much more private questions as well (we'll spare them for a day where there is nothing to tell). After all it's just two of us on the journey. One man, one woman. One Indian, one German. One experienced rider, one just getting fit again. Just THE invitation for challenges all over the place. And for fun. But most of all, we ourselves are curious HOW this will pan out.

We've come far and no matter how much further we come, we are shaking some deep seeded beliefs in the world of poverty relief and 'development work' already... And we're learning with every step we take - from each other, from our supporters, from the villagers on the ground, from interested individuals and businesses all over the world.

Within 3 months we've raised nearly 15.000 EUR - enough to get us shipped and equipped. Now let's see if we can sustain the pace. With 1 EUR we cover the very basic costs of more or less 1 km of our journey. Help us move along and buy your share. Anything goes: from 1 km once (or twice or once in a while) to being bold and ensuring our ever-lasting gratitude throughout an entire state?

Oh, and just in case you didn't know yet: We'll stick to betterplace because donating at betterplace.org is safe and easy. betterplace.org forwards 100% of all donations, regardless if they come from a desk around the corner from their Berlin office or from far away India. And you'll be always able to see how far we get with your help.

1 EUR raised = 1 km progress.

Piece of cake, right?? Thanks for supporting us, shifting perspective to The Glass Half Full and co-creating an adequate world!

PS: we're still looking for a way to translate the idea of placing bets on us into an online fundraising format. Anyone???

eBay auctions for TGHF

Place your bid for 3x tango lessons with Mehmet Ballikaya now and 100% of the proceeds will be donated to our tour. Auction finishes this Sunday. Also on sale:

• coaching sessions with Joachim Klöckner


• photo calendars Kinderhaus Kathmandu e.V. for 2011


• clothes & accessories from India


• JBL on stage dockingstation/loudspeaker for iPod/iPhone


• 70s designer Dinnet tea tray (a la Bremshey)


• and more...

And the count down starts…

Wiebke here. Only 20 (!!!!!) days ’til I leave for India, 22 days ’til our boot camp starts, 68 days and the cycling begins. 154 days ago, I wouldn’t have dreamt of what’s to come. 153 days ago there was a spark, an idea, an inspiration.

Since then, there’s been countless hours of planning, writing, discussing underlying theories and questions, spreading the word, improving the concept and fundraising, fundraising, fundraising. Within 90 days we’ve raised well over 14.000 EUR – in cash or in-kind, not counting the priceless contributions like logo, website, training in our 1-month bootcamp and other things yet to come.

All of this is already covering 83% of our equipment needs!! We’ve got a top-notch HD video cam, 480 Euro for our respective health insurances, 960 Euro for my flight, 156 Euro for the Visa fees, 14 Euro for our Web Hosting package for the 1st year, 186 Euros for two mega-sized external hard drives to store our pics and films and documents and just today, 500 Euro came in from an anonymous contributor for cycling gear & tools.

Now it’s down to bicycles (something really big must be waiting for us with all the ‘thank you but no thank-you’ we’re getting on that one), camera accessories, mobile phone chargers & mounts for the bike, sleeping bags and thermo mats. Awesome!!!! As Trent zum Mallen said the other day: “You are awesome! We are awesome! Together we are even awesome!” And it’s simply for this reason that I dare to take the risk to jump into the unknown, to jump at the risk of (yet another) failure (???). To jump knowing there is an amazing bunch of people who believe in questioning assumptions, in looking deeper and in entering the rabbit hole.

Let’s make the glass half full!!

betterplace lab about our SMS pilot project

...and this is what betterplace lab says about our pilot project with tickertxt (sorry, only in German this time). Thanks, Susanna Krüger from good root:

"Wie wir herausfinden werden ob und welche Hilfe es

in indischen Dörfern braucht"

TGHF featured as recommended project on Betterplace

We're very proud to be featured as 1 of 10 recommended projects within a database of over 3000 projects on our fundraising platform BetterPlace!!

BetterPlace quickly became an 'important piece of the puzzle' in our initiative. Currently we discuss how to take this exciting partnership to the next level. One of the questions betterplace lab is asking itself  evolves around how to find out what kind of impact projects have on the recipients of the aid raised through the betterplace portal. And their answer??? By asking them directly, of course! In their stakeholder feedback studies in cooperation with tickertxt.org they now experiment with SMS, video and online technologies, providing a platform for the stakeholders to voice both criticisms and praise.

And TGHF is part of this pilot project!!! Very cool!! We'll keep you posted how it will all work and how you can be part of this....

I'm excited and I'll sure keep you posted on this as soon as decisions were made.

‘Incredible India’ Fundraiser full success

Hey everyone. Wiebke here. My birthday + welfare party turned fundraiser was the most fun birthday, I've ever celebrated. The small organic/vegan cafe and co-working venue Yorck52 was bursting at times and brimming with the energy of the diverse crowd til 4am. The fleamarket items disappeared at a steady rate, the lottery yielded some 60 EUR, badges with our new logo brought in 18 EUR and the auction raised 313 EUR.

At the end of the night there were 560,50 EUR in cash alone, around 300 € were already contributed via betterplace, some more contributions are expected in the next few days.

Thanks to all of you for a night not to be forgotten, 12 hours that I will remember if and when inclined to give up. A heartfelt, very special thanks goes to (in no particular order)

• Birthe and Simon from Yorck52 for the venue as well as the sponsoring of a brunch for 2 and a 5-days co-working membership


• Miriam Notowicz for decorating, preparing the lottery and running the auction as well as for her donated illustration of Mimi on the chili


• DJ Jens Hildebrandt aka Jens Brown (www.cassettes-delight.de) for putting on the music and making us move our hips


• Dominik Hofstetter aka Domingo for his incredible patience and even more incredible cooking


• Joachim Klöckner (www.joachim-klöckner.de) for his sponsored coaching sessions (still available until the end of Oct. btw)


• Frank from Plattie-nie.de for his bicycle repairs


• Mehmet Ballikaya for the sponsored tango lessons


• Francisca Drechsler for her fantastic note book 'Persönliches. Ein Notizbuch'


• ‎Oodie for the super cool TGHF badges


• and last but so not least Goldene Zeiten Berlin for getting the awesome new logo and website ready in time for the party!!!


• all the wonderful co-cooks and bakers, the gifts for the fleamarket and the auction

I sincerely hope I haven't forgotten anyone or anything but I am deeply moved by the support from near and far and am once more convinced that this initiative is worth my while. But more than anything else I realised what fantastic friends I have!!

Boot camp

As you can imagine, the journey ahead of us is not a walk in the park. A lot has happened since Kalyan and I first met in India in May this year. We've been fundraising, choosing our first partners, drafting the route of our journey and refined the theory and concept behind TGHF further.

Here, you will be hearing from us in detail during the month of November when we'll be testing it all in what we call our 'bootcamp'. We'll be cycling every day, getoffyourass.com will train us in film, photography and all things survival. We will hold a conference with reknown scientists, academics and practitioners from the field to further develop our action research approach at the end of the month. And then.... And then we'll take off to Mumbai where our expedition will start.

‘Incredible India’ Fundraiser

Hey again, Wiebke here. It's party time in Berlin!! On 2nd of October, we will celebrate the kick-off of our initiative, the name change from Folks on Spokes to The Glass Half Full and yes, my birthday and wanting to say good-bye before disappearing also had to do with it.

We have cake & coffee, a flea market, free bicycle repairs, an Indian-inspired buffet, an auction of some must-have things and even a fire show. All proceeds go towards The Glass Half Full, so come and celebrate with us, spend some money and have fun!!

Thanks to Domingo for holding my hand when nervousness was at the brink of taking over, thanks to all the amazing co-cooks and bakers, to Birthe and Simon from Yorck52 who sponsored the venue, to Miriam Notowicz for taking on the role of auctioneer, Pierre von Zauberstein from www.fueogpaz.de and all the others who made this happen.