My Sri Lanka, a journey I’ll never forget.
There’s a travel quote I love that says the following: “Twenty years from now you’ll be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do then by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade wind in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover” - Mark Twain. And that’s exactly what I, in my case, did... I dreamed, I abandoned my safe harbor in Spain and I went exploring in Sri Lanka.
And Twain is right, I’m never going to regret this trip.
My firsts days in Sri Lanka were difficult -as the culture shock was hitting hard. It isn’t that easy to get into a totally different culture, all by yourself, and live there. But, as they say, time heals everything... and the pain of leaving home soon disappeared. My host family was great (Malika’s house in Demanhandiya, Negombo) as was the pre-school and orphanage there. Every morning we went to the pre-school and stayed with the almost 60 kids, trying to teach them some basic english and make them talk. We sang, drew, talked and played. Then, we had lunch and in the afternoon we went to the orphanage, where we helped with some tasks but most of all stayed with the kids.
I’m not going to explain my trip (I have an online blog of everything: www.ceylonvolunteeringtrip.blogspot.com) because I prefer to explain my highs and lows of the whole trip.
What I’ve learned is impossible to teach to someone else, you have to experience it yourself. Living with the basics during three weeks is awesome, and in no time you start enjoying and appreciating everything 100% more. It’s silly how long you have to travel to figure this out. To wake up every morning with a coffee and then going to the pre-school to teach the kids some English... how can we call that? I think Paradise. And its not only because of what I did I call it paradise, its also because of everything you get back from the people around you, the kids, the host family, the village people... Always smiling, always a cheerful “Hello” when you pass by, always a laugh... incredible.
Of course, you also experience some lows. I remember all the times we went to Negombo town, and all the people we saw there asking for money on the streets. Its hard to see very thin, old, maybe blind or cripple people at every corner, but what can we do about it? Also all the stories behind the kids at the orphanage were hard to listen to... but that’s reality. I still think everyday of a boy at the orphanage. He’s 15 years old, and due to the fact that I’m only 17, it was difficult to see a boy almost my age living in a total different way than I and even so, being able so smile. It made me realize that we’ve got so much and we don’t even appreciate it. Yes, carpe diem, enjoy.
I would like to thank everyone taking part in this mind-opening trip: Malika and her family, Projects Abroad Staff, all the other volunteers (specially my room mate Krystel) and most of all, the kids, that even though they might be small, I learned everything from them.
I’m never going to forget this experience, it was perfect. I encourage everyone to to this, it really makes you grow and see the world in a different way.
Thank you.
