Retired Major Ruvan Ranatunga of the Sri Lankan army embarked on a mission to raise much needed funds for two charities looking after cancer patients. On May 30, 2013 he started to trek from Dondra, in the southern Sri Lanka, on a 750+ kilometre journey to Point Pedro, located in the extreme north of the country. The fund raised by The Long Walk Of Hope will be used in two charities: The Courage Compassion Commitment (CCC) Foundation and The Colours of Courage Trust. His target was to raise 1.5 million rupees (USD 11,500) by the end of his trek.
According to his words:
Hi, I?m Ruvan Ranatunga, and I?ve been nurturing this passion to walk across my country. Having served in the Army for fourteen years and walked in many parts of the country including some of the operational areas of the North and East during my tenure it is seemed timely to embark on this exiting journey for a different reason. But ?The Long Walk of Hope? is not just about living my dream; it?s bigger than that. I believe that to have lived, we have to reach outside ourselves and touch the lives of others in whatever capacity we can. Therefore, I want to combine that with my passion to trek? providing a ray of hope for those suffering from cancer.
How? Your pledges along my trek will go directly into funding the CCC House, a 188-??bed cancer transit home for outpatients at the National Cancer Institute in Maharagama in the South, and to the Colours of Courage Pediatric Cancer Ward which is under construction at Thelippalai in the North of Sri Lanka.
My walk of hope is also in a sense my quest for peace. I plan to walk through the many shades of people, races, religions, happiness and poverty that make up this country.
Blogger and entrepreneur Indrajit Samarajiva writes:
The walk is to raise funds for cancer (you can donate here) and it?s also pretty awesome in its own right. I?ve been following his Facebook feed and he?s seen and experienced things that you just pass through when traveling from point to point. It?s an inspiring and interesting story.
Ruvan shares the equipment he's taking on his 39 day adventure in an YouTube video:
Watch his video diary in YouTube for the proceedings of the walk.
He also got a lot of encouragements in Facebook and Twitter.
Thilina Randeniya ?(@ThilinaRishan) from Colombo tweeted:
@ThilinaRishan: @slwalkofhope Weather here is terrible with stormy rains. Hope u r ok there Ruvan. Trek safe. http://bit.ly/15cH5Ef #LongWalkofHope #lka
Later on his journey family and friends also joined him. Smriti Daniel wrote in the Sunday Times:
They climbed mountains, and cut through rain forests, wound their way through tea plantations and stopped for a dip in every lake, lagoon, or well on the way. At night, they often relied on the kindness of strangers ? sleeping in a little kade?s store room, in a temple hall, on a verandah or in someone?s home. In doing so, they found the Sri Lanka Ruvan knew was there all along ? a land of staggering natural beauty, its people so very different yet all capable of extraordinary generosity.
Screenshot from the Video Diary of Ruvan Ranatunga
According to the report Ruvan?s Long Walk of Hope has raised around Rs. 800,000, short of his target.
Ruvan completed his walk on July 7, 2013 and wrote in Facebook:
Even though the walk has ended there remains the core component of this great journey yet to be fulfilled. The funds have come in slowly and steadily and thank you all for your generosity.
Follow the Long Walk Of Hope's Facebook and Twitter pages for more updates and pictures.
Written by Rezwan
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