Nov-Dec-Jan | 2019-2020

FEATURE

In August, I set off for Iceland with 11 other women from all around the world, to take par t in a 7-day expedition with HER Planet Ear th; a Singapore-based NGO that promotes female empowerment and environmental conser vation. We were on this journey together to bring awareness on how climate change affects underprivileged women in rural areas. We were raising money for UN Women UK to suppor t effor ts in Nepal, Bangladesh and Vietnam. I star ted my fundraising effor ts in May, hoping to raise a substantial amount of money. I was thrilled that from the suppor t of my friends and families I was able to raise over S$10,000, contributing to our team achievement of S$53,000!

I arrived in Reykjavik to a chilly temperature of 8°C and blue skies, where I would finally be meeting the rest of my team, a group of amazing women who I would be hiking 10 hours a day with, sharing tents at night with and motivating each other to keep going when the terrain and weather got tough. After a delicious dinner in the city and a night’s sleep in a warm hotel, we loaded our gear and climbed into a 4WD bus to make our way to the Laugavegur Hiking Trail. Located in the southern highlands of Iceland, nor th of the infamous Eyjafjallajökull Volcano that erupted 9 years ago, we would star t our trek. The roads to get there were unpaved and long, driving for a few hours across a black lava field deser t! We set up camp for the night, pitching our tents among many other travellers looking to experience the beauty of Iceland. Having not slept in a tent in 20 years, I was surprised at how well I managed to sleep each night, thankfully restoring my energy for the days ahead. With a 6:00am star t time and temps down to 4°C, I was beginning to wonder though what I had gotten myself into! Coming from 14 years in Singapore, my body had yet to adjust to the cold weather, so I piled on the layers and set off with the team to begin our first day of hiking through Landmannalaugar, Iceland’s geothermal nature reserve. Within the first 30 minutes of our hike, our bodies quickly warmed up and we began stripping off

22 THE AMERICAN CLUB SINGAPORE