Mary Storrie is the co-founder of the Rosie May Foundation. After the tragic murder of her 10-year-old daughter Rosie in 2003, Mary, her husband, and their two sons decided to create a legacy for their daughter and visited Sri Lanka in 2004 to plant a tree in her honor. But then the Tsunami hit, changing hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives in the process. The Foundation then opened a home in Sri Lanka for girls who lost parents in the tsunami, and their work has grown by leaps and bounds since then. Lucky for us, Mary reached out to us after hearing our Traveling by Tuk Tuk episode and we asked her to come on the show to talk about Think Pink Tuks in Sri Lanka, which is training the first women taxi drivers who specialize in driving for other women, children, and tourists to Sri Lanka! Today, Mary joins us online from Nothingham, UK.
Listen to Episode 123 to hear Mary’s answers to the following questions:
- Hi Mary, the origin story of your foundation is both heartbreaking and amazing. Without completely reliving it, can you give us a quick overview of what happened and how it led you to start the foundation?
- Why did you choose Sri Lanka and what do you love about it?
- How long did it take for that first project to really get working well?
- We’re going to focus specifically on your project – The Future is Pink – which is a tuk-tuk program in Sri Lanka for women. Tell us about it.
- How has it been going so far – what are the challenges?
- What does the typical profile of a driver look like?
- Where does funding come from?
- What do non-female Sri Lankans think of this program and women driving tuk tuks?
- How can travelers get involved?
- What other projects might our listeners want to learn about?
- Where can people learn more about what you do?
Click the link below to support the Rosie May foundation
Rosie May Foundation – JustGiving