When I arrived off the plane, I was unsure of the country that lay beyond the doors of the airport. I have never really travelled and the excitement was building as I approached the exit door.

The glass doors parted and I was hit by a wall of heat, a humidity that enveloped me like ablanket. My initial thoughts were truly comfort based at that moment in time. How was I to lastten weeks when I was already regretting walking out of the air-conditioned airport?

Regardless of the heat, we all made it to the bus, a small van with seats, which snaked its waythrough the Colombo traffic. I knew the road systems would be different to the UK but I donot think any of us were expecting a somewhat relaxed attitude to highway rules and general safety. Buses, tuck-tucks and cars all fight for tiny plots of road space as they bustle to their destinations with road markings being more of a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule.

We arrived at the Sarvodia offices and hostel in Colombo. I had an image of warm showers,and of a light dinner with comfortable beds. It was comfortable but rather different to what we expect. The dining room was much more open to the weather and elements with few windowshaving glass except for the bedrooms. As we walked up to the large dining table to help ourselves to food it was noticed by most of the team that there appeared to be a line of ants that seemed to be helping themselves to a great deal of our rice. After some rather odd looks at each other and some shoulder shrugging, aided by the twelve-hour flight, we dived in. The food was delicious. A particular initial favourite was the dahl, a curry made from lentils and exceptionally addictive.

After a good meal we made our way to bed applying a lavish amount of insect repellent andtying the wholes up in our mosquito nets so not as to attract unwanted tenants during themiddle of the night.

In the morning we dragged our bags back onto the bus for the long journey to the British Council and then onto our new home for two months at Moon Bridge in Matara. We arrived to find warm showers, well some of us did, and a swimming pool complete with sea views, stunning! I never expected charity work to be like this and certainly not from the impressions given on the first night, having said that, the people’s generosity and kindness at Sarvodia more than made up for the somewhat basic living conditions.

What has stood out for me personally has been the people of this beautiful country, the reasonwe are here. We have been welcomed into villages, schools and communities as though theyhave and always will be our home. We have had blessings, dinner and been shown a general selflessness that has moved the whole team and me. Nothing is too much of an effort, from free rides into town to lunch in people’s homes and as Sri Lanka moves up the long road to financial development I hope it retains its generosity of heart to lose it would be a backwards step towards a general western society.

I could write for pages about the impressions I have had so far from Sri Lanka, but pen and paper can only disseminate so much, so I leave my entry here, a taste of this country that leaves me with an appetite of exploration for the coming weeks.