Heathrow to Colombo and then to Galle could not have been smoother even though we had prepared for the worst as we had been warned of shortages in many things. In fact it was probably the smoothest journey to Sri Lanka I’ve ever had! Pick up from the airport by Aitken Spence (the leading tour operator in Sri Lanka) was speedy and we were whisked to Galle while picking up a coconut on route!

Pre-school book distribution

The morning of Day 1 we visited a pre-school funded by Their Future Today and sat with the young children watching them draw after they had sung us several songs they’d been rehearsing. Then we went to a primary school where Gill and I distributed exercise books to 100 children on behalf of TFT. These books enable the children to continue in education following almost 18 months working from home due to Covid lockdowns.

Following these we visited two women who are being supported by TFT to start their own business. The first of these is a sewing enterprise where TFT have purchased the sewing machine for Bianca. She can now work from home making clothes to order as she can no longer travel to work in a garment factory due to a back injury. The second was a pineapple planation project run by Malkanti, a single mother of two, who is now growing pineapples and selling them for 800 Sri-Lankan rupees each. This is considered a very expensive fruit in Sri Lanka. Again, TFT has supported this project supplying the labour to prepare the ground, the seedlings and fertiliser and the transport to market.

Run out of time now, sitting in the dark with another power cut so next instalment tomorrow following day one of our trek. Xx

Click here for Blog 2

Further sponsorship – If you’d like to sponsor us on this trek whilst being assured that every penny will go to those who need it, then please donate by clicking on this link Marcia Summers is fundraising for Their Future Today (justgiving.com). Don’t forget that if you’re a tax payer to declare ‘gift aid’ when doing so which will increase your donation by 25% at no cost to you . Alternatively, if you know anyone or an organisation which may have any interest in these causes please forward onto them.