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“It’s been absolutely amazing so far,” Ranatunga said over the phone as he made his way towards Vavuniya. “I’ve met people of all races and colours right across the country and now I’m on my way to Vavuniya to meet yet another segment of people. They’ve all been wonderful, it’s hard to describe really.”
A retired major from the artillery regiment of the Army and an alumnus of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, it has always been Ranatunga’s dream to walk across the country. Having walked in many parts of the country including some of the operational areas of the north and east during his 14 years in the Army, he felt that it was now time to embark on this exciting journey – but it has now become bigger than just living his dream.
“I’ve always had a passion for trekking and it has been a long held dream to walk across the country, to observe the diversity, the fauna and flora and the different people and this walk is really living the dream,” he explained. Ranatunga added that he wanted to meet and understand the people of the country, the Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims, the different generations and people of the north and south who have been torn apart by three decades of war.
When asked as to why he chose to support cancer, he responded: “I chose cancer because there is no ambiguity about it. Whatever age or colour you are, whether you have money or not and whether you are from a town or rural village, people are affected by it and can relate to it as nothing dictates who and who doesn’t get it. Furthermore, it’s also a common cause, with no political or religious sensitivities – I certainly won’t be stepping on any toes!”
He commenced on his journey on his own and has been accompanied by his friend Indunil over the past 30 days, with scores of people joining him at various locations across the country. Anyone is free to join him at any point, as long as he is informed of plans and locations in advance. However, it certainly isn’t easy going, it being a live-off-your-backpack adventure with no prior arrangements made for food or accommodation.
“People come and go. Indunil has been with me and we had a group of 16 people when we climbed Sri Pada a couple of days back,” he said. Ranatunga added: “Not planning out accommodation and food has actually worked out really well! We’ve been offered shelter, have asked for shelter, we have slept in temples and in the outdoors.”
“Last night, we passed a small village and we were camping by a small stream. Quite a few people from the village came to us and were with us until we set up camp, offered us food and water and chatted with us for a long time and this keeps happening every day.”
When asked as to how the people he had met so far on the journey have reacted to him trekking through their villages, he stated: “Their initial reaction is to look at us in wonder. When they see us with our backpacks, they think we are tourists, even when we talk to them in Sinhala! It takes some convincing but they are then amazed and really appreciate what we are doing.”
Any interesting anecdotes or memorable stories? “It’s actually difficult to pinpoint one. I’m loving it though – you can’t see or understand these places when just driving past them. You need to walk across the villages and talk to people to really get a feel of what their lives are like.”
Although he initially estimated to complete the journey in 45 days, he admitted that this may not be the case. He added that he tries to cover 20 kilometres per day – but of course, there are good and bad days so this figure varies somewhat.
Pledges made towards the Long Walk Of Hope will go directly into funding the CCC House, a 188-bed cancer transit home for outpatients seeking treatment at the National Cancer Institute, Maharagama in the south and to the Colours of Courage Paediatric Cancer Ward, which is under construction at Thelippalai in the north of Sri Lanka.
