Serendipity means a fortunate happenstance or a pleasant surprise. This beautiful word stems from Serendip, the name for Sri Lanka prior to being called Ceylon.

The view from my balcony at Amaya Hills Resort – a treat for my birthday.

My love of this country began back in 1991 when I was fortunate to visit with a good school friend Alix whose father lived and worked here during the 1980s and 1990s. I returned with Alix and another friend Lis during our gap year in 1993. We spent three fabulous months exploring the island, getting to know the people, its culture and generally doing all the things you would expect three 18 year old backpackers on their gap year to do.  In 1998 after graduating from university I returned to spend another two weeks revisiting my favourite places and discovering new. My love of this country and its people was well and truly established.

Life however took hold and two overseas moves combined with a busy job and a lot of travel resulted in my time here being confined to a series of happy but distant memories. Sixteen years later however, as I considered leaving my job to teach and travel*, I could finally contemplate a return to the island.

Sri Lanka has endured many tragedies since I last visited; a bloody end to the 30 year civil war and a tsunami that devastated the lives and livelihoods of so many people. I knew that I wanted to spend as much time here as I could getting to know the country again after all this time. I also knew that, as clichéd as it sounds, I needed to give back, to do something in this country that had given me so much. The combination of volunteer teaching and traveling in Sri Lanka made perfect sense. Now all I had to do was to find an organisation that would be happy to have me.

Serendipity struck last summer on my final trip to the Getty Images office in New York when a work friend mentioned that one of our photographers had just finished a visual storytelling project in Sri Lanka with an organisation called the ‘Foundation of Goodness’. The connections were made and the adventure began to take shape.

*”Rachel’s having another gap year, she has one every 10 years” as my Dad likes to tell friends!

Celebrating the religious holiday of Vesak in Colombo.

A Vesak panal in Colombo.

Vesak lights around the lake in Colombo.

Visiting the temple during the Vesak holiday.

Offerings in the temple.

Colombo Fort train station on the way to Kandy.

The view from the train on the way to Kandy.

The best way to travel!

The view towards Kandy across the lake.

My accommodation in Kandy – Lakshimi guest house. Alix, Lis and I first stayed here in 1993!

Kandy market.

Rice and spices on sale at Kandy market.

Tasty but pungent dried fish on sale at Kandy market.

At Ranjana’s in Kandy market. Meeting the tailor that Ali, Lis and I used back in 1993 – 22 years later!

Another Vesak pandal, this time in Hikkaduwa.

Inside the main temple in Hikkaduwa.

The wall of death! Vesak celebrations in Hikkaduwa. Very loud!

Not sure all appropriate health and safety checks were conducted prior to this spectacle!

Written at Budde’s Guesthouse Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka.

Budde’s guest house Hikkaduwa beach, Sri Lanka.