On February 25, mechanical engineering students from the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), Borja Gallud and Alfonso Ases, will begin a 4,000-kilometer long journey in a twenty-plus-year-old SEAT Panda automobile and use only a compass and a map to assist with their navigation. The purpose of this trip is to transport more than 30 kilograms of school supplies for that country’s desert schools.

Sabinar Raid UMH is the name these students from the Engineering School of Elche (EPSE) have given to this entrepreneurial initiative. This team will represent the UMH in the UniRaid for 9 days in Moroccan territory, and complete seven stages of the Dakar Rally. The project is being supported by the UMH Vice Rectorate for International Relations, a result from a collaboration agreement recently signed between the Vice Rector for International Relations, Vicente Micol, and Anunciación Serrano, Manager at SEAT Serrauto, S.L.

The Sabinar Raid team with Anunciación Serrano, Manager at SEAT Serrauto, S.L, and Vicente Micol, UMH Vice Rector for International Relations.

Sabinar Raid UMH is part of the UniRaid event, an amateur rally raid begun in 2010 in which university students from Spain, Portugal, and Andorra cross different portions of the Sahara desert in early model vehicles with limited resources to deliver school supplies or clothing to families in need living in desert villages.