The week in which everyone had been excitedly anticipating. The Hippola well opening. We started our journey at 7:30am, in the typical monsoon rain. We made it to Colombo by bus around midday, and after discovering we hadn’t actually lost Ollie after a brief trip to the toilet, we boarded the bus to Kandy. Sri Lankan buses are not my favourite of places, and after having to take a seat on the very back row on a very crowded bus where the aisle turns into seats, I could sense it wasn’t going to be an enjoyable journey! But, surprisingly I managed to fall asleep, and was awoken by Ollie informing me that I looked like I was meditating in a Buddhist temple whilst asleep. On arrival in Kandy we were greeted by the Sarvodaya staff to take us to the small, remote village of Hippola, and whilst on the drive further into the hills, it began to feel a lot like we were in a scene from Jurassic Park. Just as we were about to reach our destination, on a very narrow and steep road, we were met by a truck that had slipped off the side of the road, and was starting to slip down the mountain, whilst attached to an electricity pylon, which began to shoot sparks. As night fell, we began to feel even more like we were in a scene from a movie and were expecting dinosaurs to appear at our car windows at any moment! When we finally reached our host families, we introduced ourselves and were given dinner, which consisted of ‘the best dhal in Sri Lanka’ by my account. Our host family were lovely and we were made to feel very welcome, and the following morning we were greeted with a delicious breakfast before we left for the well. To say we weren’t properly equipped for the walk to the well was an understatement, our flip flops struggled over the rocky terrain, steep slopes, paddy fields and hilly agricultural setting. When we finally made it after the guide, who was significantly older than us, didn’t even break a sweat, it was amazing to see the hard work that had been put in to create such an amazing facility. We were treated with such kindness and gratitude on arrival, and it was a very inspiring ceremony in which you could the effect it was having on the villagers. I am very grateful and enlightened to be part of such a successful and life changing project that will positively affect the lives of future generations for years to come.