What was your motivation to take a gap break?
After 30 years of being a wife and mother, I am now on my own and want to make the most of my freedom!

How did you feel before you joined the programme?
Excited, the more and more terrified as the departure date came closer!

What was the accommodation like?
Wonderful - right on the ocean, and the hotel manager took care of our every need.

What do you feel you accomplished during your programme?
A tiny bit of usefulness, and the courage to do another!

What advice could you offer to someone considering this programme?
Go for it!

I left on New Years eve to fly to Sri Lanka for 6 weeks. 4 weeks on a building site of 130 new houses donated by Austria, for people who lost theirs in the tsunami which struck on 26th dec 2004 (two years before) and a further two weeks to travel round the country. Not only do the people have to recover from this natural disaster, but they also have a civil war that has been going on about 40 years; which hotted up when we were there.

At 8 o'clock each morning we squashed into a three wheeler ‘tuk tuk' with our vital bottles of water, to go to the building site. Along the coast a bit, 10 minutes inland, over the railway line (where 1500 on a train has been swept to their deaths by the tsunami), all the while dodging pot holes and the people walking to work or school.

We worked alongside dozens of builders, who seemed to find us very entertaining - they would stand and watch us work. Most of them couldn't speak any English and I can't imagine what they thought about us being there. 6 women and 2 men from another country, sifting and, mixing concrete by hand (not me), painting walls and windows of the new houses. WE took weekends off, but THEY were working 7 days a week; except Poya days which fall on each full moon; the Buddhists don't work or drink alcohol on these days. We weren't supposed to be served drink either, but if we were desperate (which of course we were) we would be served beer disguised in a china teapot!

After finishing at the building site around 3pm we were taken back to our hotel on the ocean. After showering, I went to the house nearby to teach patchwork to some garment factory workers (in a small hot and humid room). They could then pass it on to the tsunami widows, who could then earn some money at home. Luckily there was one young girl who could understand a little English, but mostly it was a demonstration anyway. We ran up some patchwork pieces in no time; working as a team one cutting, one machining, one ironing. They loved it. The tsunami had been through this house, the fabrics we were working with had been rescued and washed. There were two sweet young Irish girls living in the same house, and teaching English to some groups of children.

It was a good feeling to be part of a worldwide aid programme. The people are SO poor but very charming and smiley!