Conscious travelling: making a positive impact with HPE

[Katy_Radulescu]

For more than 8 years, HPE employees have been able to participate in volunteering activities, financially supporting schools in remote villages of Laos, with the support of the Jules Classic Adventure organization, that provides off road motorcycle tours all over the country.

For the 2016 edition, the Rolling Uncles have decided to go over the famous Ho-Chi-Minh Trail, down to the South of Laos, at the border of Cambodia. They have gathered a total of 14 friends riding their motorbikes, going off-road through the famous Ho-Chi-Minh trail, down to the Cambodia border.

The team is a mix of people ranging from 17 to 68 years old. Some retired, some at school, and some Swiss bankers or directors at HPE. One of the participants - Jean-Paul Clemente, is a 56 years veteran, with a 30 year long term career in the company. He is based in Geneva and is currently the Servers Business Unit Director for Central, East Europe and Israel region.

Jean-Paul has been an expert in Emerging Markets for now 20 years, looking after Africa, Middle-East and Central-East Europe. He created in the years 2000 a new Sales vertical segment “IT for Education” (IT4E) at HP, specifically designed for building capacity in emerging countries, at that time almost fully sponsored by the Corporate Social Responsibility organization at HP, making him realize how much investing in education is important in such countries. He especially likes travels that follow a purpose and enjoys making a positive impact in his free time, always sticking to his values and principles such as, « Doing Well by Doing Good ». Every 2 or 3 years, Jean-Paul organizes special trips with friends and colleagues and tries to raise funds as much as possible to help develop schools in small remote villages, such as this Rolling Uncles initiative: “We only care about friendship and making a contribution” says Jean-Paul Clemente. “The real wonder are the smiles of the hundreds of children and people we meet in the schools and small villages along the road”.

The Rolling Uncles all like to travel “smart”, and donate equipment and money to the schools on their way, as they all believe education is the best mean to solve our world’s issues.

This year’s road trip has been dedicated to a village, and for the school of Thadeua Taman. The village of Ban Thadeua Taman is located on the banks of the Mekong River, in the Province of Champassak, at the borders of Cambodia and Thailand. The village hosts about 50 families, living mainly from fishing and farming activities. The 6 teachers of the village are all devoted, body and soul, to their educational tasks, but are very limited by the lack of equipment and facilities. The Thadeua Taman school needs are very important, as the school does not receive enough assistance from the Government, who still makes every effort to provide education to every child in the region. 

The “Rolling Uncles” have been able to donate, class books, A4 paper, chalks, educational posters, sports balls (soccer, basketball, volleyball), basketball hoops, volleyball nets, notebooks, pencils, eraser, glue, scissors, and other school equipment that the children need every day. In addition, they also donated cash to allow the school to buy construction materials, like paint, cement and bricks, to be able to build toilets and classrooms.

Making a positive impact in the world and helping those in need - these are key focus areas for our volunteering programs in HPE, and we will continue taking part in such initiatives moving forward, as much as possible. If you want to become part of our team and take advantage of the volunteering opportunities we offer, go to our HPE Careers website and apply today: www.hpe.com/careers!