Thanks to generosity of the family of Timothy M Smith and the efforts of the Honors Program at the University of Tampa, the Inspiration through Exploration Award will allow me to travel to Sri Lanka and volunteer in service organizations while learning about the culture first hand. My trip starts on 2nd June, when I will be taking a train from Hyderabad(my hometown) to Chennai, India. On 4th June I will be flying to Colombo, the former capital and the largest city in Sri Lanka. The volunteer experience starts almost immediately, as I will head to Galle, a picturesque town that was ravaged by the Asian tsunami of 2004. I will be teaching English in a rural school around 25 miles away from Galle. After one week of this teaching experience I will be heading north to Kegalle in central Sri Lanka where I will be working with orphaned elephants. Some of the work I will be entrusted includes feeding and bathing the elephants, cleaning out their enclosures and working with the vets. I will spend around two weeks at the elephant orphanage before making my way to Jaffna in Northern Sri Lanka. Depending on the security situation, I will spend two to three days in Jaffna researching the socio-economic conditions before heading south to Colombo from where I will fly back to India.
To better document my experiences and share them with all, I have decided to maintain this blog. Hopefully I can keep it as updated as possible and post some of the interesting pictures I will be taking during my brief Sri Lankan sojourn!!
To better document my experiences and share them with all, I have decided to maintain this blog. Hopefully I can keep it as updated as possible and post some of the interesting pictures I will be taking during my brief Sri Lankan sojourn!!
