Dear Friends,

It is outside of our comfort zone that we can progress in life and do our best. I know this is a belief shared with most of you… and it is the reason why Arianna & I will ride in the Mongol Derby, the world’s longest and hardest horse race! 1000km in 10 (looong) days riding semi-wild horses in the Mongolian steppe. You might wonder... as we did ourselves… why are we doing this? The answer is to progress and give our best for Room to Read, and for the right to equality and education that they champion.

Our challenge target is to raise $150,000!

Room to Read is a wonderful organization we supported for many years, and their mission is to change the world through access to education, with a very clear focus on gender equality and on educating young girls.

We will match every $ raised up to $50,000, to hopefully hit a total $200,000 for RtR

We have always been moved by Room to Read’s commitment to supporting the world’s most vulnerable girls to stay in school, most often in places like rural Nepal or Tanzania, but they are recently expanding to so-called developed countries, where there are areas of poverty that create the same limitations to education and gender equality. Their recent new project is a pilot in one of these countries, one that is very close to our hearts, Italy. This project will be progressed as a model to later roll-out to other countries in EU & in USA. Young girls, particularly in the poorest regions, are at an extremely high risk of dropping out of education and therefore severely limiting their opportunities for the future. We decided to take ourselves out of the comfort zone to launch this project, which will receive every single $ you’ll help us raise!

Please support us on this huge test of endurance

So, as Room to Read treads new terrain in Italy, so do Ari and I… in Mongolia! The Mongol Derby is an equestrian endurance race extending 1000km through the Mongolian Steppe, ridden over 10 days on semi-wild horses, changing steed every 40km. This challenge is not for the faint-hearted... based on past races, only half of the 45 global riders are expected to cross the finish line! we’ll do our most to be in this half! 

We will of course be keeping you entertained between now and August with updates on our gruelling training schedule and progress towards our fundraising. I have no doubt we can raise together the phenomenal amount of $200,000, to ensure the most disadvantaged girls are educated and empowered to thrive in life!

Warmly,

Arianna and Elio Leoni Sceti