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A trek to help from Canada to Lanka
By Marisa de Silva
The ‘Sri Lanka Challenge Trek’, a 10-day walking challenge initiated by Escapades, a Canadian tour operator brought a group of Canadians to Sri Lanka on a humanitarian mission cum trek in November. Each tourist donated CDN$300 (US$257) in support of the “Ontario Village”, a housing project for those affected by the tsunami.

The project, initiated by the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA) is a post-tsunami rehabilitation programme in Boossa, Galle. Estimated at CDN $800,000 (US$684,479) it hopes to build 40 middle-income houses and a community centre. Supplying a direct water connection for the entire village is also a part of the “Ontario Village” project.

Director - of Escapades, Priyantha Amarasinghe conceived the idea of a fund-raising trek to Sri Lanka through their local partners Nature Odyssey to help those affected by the tsunami in Sri Lanka and promote Sri Lanka in Canada.

Most of the group comprised retired teachers, professors, business people etc., (50 years and over) who were adamant to come on the trek - some even against their family’s advice, he said. In addition to the CDN$300, most of them even made further donations to local charities.

“I really liked the combination of trekking and helping out and can’t wait to come back or at least send my 20-year-old son back, to help out as a volunteer,” said Gail Cope, a businesswoman from Toronto. “The people are so gentle and friendly that it’s vital to preserve the nature of this country,” she added.

The Canadian group also visited the Boossa Child and Youth Development Centre, which shelters and educates 52 children from the area. Here, the children receive free education, computer classes, library and medical aid. A dedicated staff of 10 run the Centre, with the help of volunteers from around the world. This centre was previously Dr. Asoka Jayasena’s ancestral home which he donated to People In Need (PIN) Foundation, after the tsunami, to start up the centre, says its Public Relations Officer Ruchira Udara.

“The whole experience was amazing, especially as it’s so much more personalised and reassuring to know exactly where our money’s going,” says Maria Zaremba one of the oldest members of the group from Toronto.
The “baby” of the group, Julie Heyes (31) had been in the middle of a world tour when the tsunami hit last year. On being shown a brochure about this trek, she had seen her chance to see a new country and do something to help. She also got the chance to visit her foster child, twelve-year-old Ramya in Galaha, Kandy, whose education she funds via Plan International.

Patrick Demeyere, a Belgian living in Canada, stayed back a week longer to volunteer his services at the Development Centre. A retired Professor of Human Kinetics and father of four on his first visit to Sri Lanka, he says, “I’ve travelled around the world but have never seen so much geographic, cultural and climatic diversity compacted into one little country. This has been an absolutely fulfilling experience.”

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