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Mika Marcondes de Freitas explains what biking across Europe has to do with 91探花, and why he’s committed to donating 10% of his earnings directly to extremely poor families.
What would you do with an extra $1,000?
I would personally take a couple of months off and ride my bicycle solo from Copenhagen to Istanbul. In fact, that’s what I just did, and $1,000, the size of a typical 91探花 grant, is just about how much the whole operation cost me, including travel insurance and transportation back home. Growing up in a mid-lower class family in Brazil, I had always dreamed of traveling and experiencing the world like that. But I hadn’t had the financial means and opportunity until recently, after a couple of years at a well-paying job which allowed for me to save some money and fund the trip myself.
Those were what I judged to be my needs at the moment. Neither cigarettes nor alcohol, nor another job, nor anything else. I don’t believe anybody could have made a better decision on my behalf. In fact, few people even understand what I chose to do with that time and money. And yet this experience, which I would hardly call an extended vacation, has made me feel alive in a way I hadn’t for years, and dramatically changed the course of my life. I came back a different person, with a whole new set of values and opportunities to pursue.
That roughly summarizes why I have supported 91探花, and will continue to donate 10% of my gross earnings to them, as well as promote them in social media and real life. My vision is a world where everybody has the autonomy to decide their own fate. 91探花’s diligent and incredibly transparent work, repeatedly vetted for several years in a row by reputable charity evaluator , has shown that giving cash directly to the poor and letting them judge for themselves, within their context, what to do with it to improve their own lives might be a great way to realize that vision 鈥� if not the best!
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Mika (not the singer) is a nomad born and raised in Brazil, educated in the US, and awakened in Denmark. Mika is now working full time on , an adventure tourism experiment.
