Round up

The first stage of my charity trek across Sri Lanka (Galle to Kandy) is complete after 18 days and we’re now back home in the UK. Whilst our activity out there finished yesterday, I wanted to do a round up of what we achieved, some key takeaways from the trip and my next steps. I hope our blogs will inspire some of you to want to visit Sri Lanka and if you’re thinking about it please feel free to ask for any recommendations or places to visit that are a bit off the beaten track. There are loads!

But first of all, thank you to everyone who’s enabled us to have a trouble-free trip and an amazing experience whilst raising a lot of money for those in need: Aitken Spence Travels who sponsored our driver/guide for the duration of our stay, friends who took us to the airport and picked us up, Their Future Today (TFT) who supported us prior to departure and whilst we were in Galle in the south, and to Women’s Development Centre (WDC) who looked after us for our final few days whilst in Kandy.

We’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity we’ve experienced, not only the financial donations to support women and children in Sri Lanka, but also all the interest and the positive and supportive comments on my blog site and our social media pages as we journeyed along. This support gave us such a boost every day, (especially whilst climbing Adam’s Peak!), and we’ve been so grateful that our friends and supporters have been reading about our adventures, empathising with those we are seeking to help, and interested in the beautiful island of Sri Lanka.

Some of our favourite trek snaps

Key takeaways

• Covid lockdowns have had a hugely detrimental impact on tourism in Sri Lanka resulting in many hotels, shops and other tourist-related activities having to close
• How hard it is for most Sri Lankan people at the moment to obtain nutritious food, basic medicine and diesel for cooking and transport. Furthermore, the daily power cuts of up to 10 hours each day and drivers needing to queue sometimes for many hours to fill their tanks is impacting on people’s ability to work and earn a living
• The need to keep raising awareness of the difficulties people in Sri Lanka are facing and especially how the current situation is impacting on the most vulnerable eg; children, certain groups of women and people with disabilities
• Realisation that the greatest need at the moment for the groups of people we’re helping is nutritious food to help prevent malnutrition, sickness and death. This is particularly the case for the poorest families and pregnant girls/women living in refuges
• The dramatic fall in the value of the Sri Lankan rupee to the pound/dollar has meant that everything costs so much more for Sri Lankans, even though as a tourist you can buy much more for your money thus making it an attractive travel destination
• All of the above has resulted in political demonstrations, a recent national 36 hour curfew by the government to help prevent large gatherings, and huge political and economic instability and a potential humanitarian crisis

Next steps

• Research Sri Lanka’s regional climates and especially the monsoon periods to support the planning of my Stage 2 trek (Kandy to Trincomolee) and gauge the best time to return
• Continue to raise funds through events, JustGiving and pre-loved clothes sales
• Keep identifying needs and continue to raise awareness of the issues and then target support
• Resume blogs as I’m getting close to setting off for Stage 2 of trekking the length of Sri Lanka

Funding update

To date we’ve raised 94% of my £10k target. I’m absolutely amazed as it was a STRETCH target! My JustGiving page will close at the end of this month (April) so if you’d like to donate and help us achieve the £10k then please do so by clicking here.

That just leaves me to thank you all for the amazing help you’ve given in so many ways and looking forward to the planning of Stage 2. Xx

If you missed our last blog about the Royal Botanical Gardens based on Kew and a woodcarving workshop then click here to view it.