Daryl and Andrea receiving an award on Terry’s behalf at a special ceremony was held at St Paul’s Pillar Church, Kato Paphos. Terry was presented with a special award for raising €15,000 during his Asian Odyssey charity drive. He has completed the journey (see his blog) and has decided to stay in Australia for a little while. Now he has returned to Shanghai where he started a university course to learn Mandarin. The charity drive is still ongoing with the Fruitful Tree of Terry’s Odyssey with more donations given to the hospice. The hospice now has the roof and the internal walls.....work is ongoing

Having fun and serving the community - two building blocks to enrich your life and that of the community. Is this suppose to be a slogan? It might well be. But a serious community undertaking is at stake and seeing the ‘young-uns’ immerse themselves in the community undertakings, with the total generosity of heart, is indeed a heart warming experience for us all.

Terry, a mere 23 years old, is taking himself on a journey of a lifetime to help raise moneys for the St. Michael’s Hospice, fully paid for by himself and his family. “This is my way of giving back to the community,” says Terry, “I’m graduating with Master of Engineering this July and before I start my working career I wish to do something special for the community I grew up in. This is my way to say Thank You”.

Terry leaves on 40,000km epic journey on the 8th August and his trip will take him across three continents and will take three months to complete.

The journey is by land and sea and takes in Cyprus, Turkey, Ukraine, Russia, Mongolia, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia. The Trip is dedicated to Cyprus and particularly Paphos community and the aim is to help raise moneys for the building of St. Michaels Hospice in Paphos.

You can sponsor Terry at €2 per kilometre (sponsor as many as you wish) and every cent raised will be donated to St. Michael’s Hospice.

For live updates on his trip and how it unfolds can be viewed in the below widget. As to pictures and videos go to Terry's Asian Odyssey website .

Saturday 9th August, from \Turkey

Hello! I am not ?n Kon?a (Paphos, cyprus) but ?n Konya (Turkey). I have been travell?ng most of the day so I a b?t t?red. I have a place to stay wh?ch ?s good but you should see the shower room. It ?s shared w?th a wash?ng mach?ne so I don,t know what happens there. So far so good. Tomorrow even?ng I w?ll be Istanbul.

Paphos community has undertaken a mammoth task of building a local hospice which, in effect, will be the first custom built hospice in Cyprus. The Hospice will provide palliative care and symptom control of cancer in its terminal stage. All care is free of charge and available to everyone regardless of race or creed.

This ambitious plan started with Mr & Mrs Gibbs and was enthusiastically embraced by Father John Sansour and the Latin Parish and through community and church effort the land was secured in Mesa Chorio, a charming hilly village on the edge of Paphos. The building works commenced and today, thanks to the efforts by the whole community of expatriates and Cypriots, the Hospice is coming to the ‘final construction stage’. The community’s fund raising effort has redoubled as indeed the need for hospice services are great, especially now when the hospice seems to be ‘so close and yet so far’.

In readiness for the eventual opening the team of experts is being gathered to ensure the best of care starts from Day 1. It is an honour to welcome Dr Philaxtis Constantinides, Paphos District Chief Medical Officer, Director of Surgery and Hospital Director at the Paphos General Hospital, who has gladly, with enthusiasm, accepted the post of Medical Director of the St. Michael’s Hospice and will support the Matron, Anne Margaret Wailes. Dr Constantinidis was the guest of honour at the Latin Parish Church Bazaar. Besides drawing a host of fabulous raffle prizes, he thrilled everyone with his impassioned speech. Dr Constantinidis reiterated that Cyprus is not only his island but belongs to all of us and therefore both Cypriots and ex-pats need to be involved in working together for the Hospice. He added, to rapturous applause, that he is looking forward to working for the Hospice in his retirement and will dedicate his skills and more of his time.

Matron Anne Wailes, as you would expect, was particularly pleased to welcome Dr Constantinides who brings the very best of medical care for the hospice. Our dear Matron was in her element organising everything and everyone to the good cheer of all attending.

Hundreds of people turned out to visit the Spring Bazaar held in the Latin Parish Hall on the Tombs of the Kings Road. Stalls plying jams, brick-a-brack, new soft furnishings, toys, books and many many more took part to raise moneys in aid of Paphos St. Michael’s Hospice.

On offer was a Manchester United shirt, signed by the famous Mark Hughes, as well as Gunda’s hairdressing services. Terry’s Asian Odyssey was there too looking for sponsors for the great journey that he will be undertaking this August to help the Hospice. See Margaret doing the Irish jig whilst her husband, Jim, looks on!

Grand community send off for Terry’s Asian Odyssey on Saturday 2nd August 2008 at Alexander the Great Hotel. Tickets Euro36. Secure your Tickets NOW. Send email to daryl@fitzgeraldcyprus.com or telephone 00357 7000 8877 or 357 26 930 345

The evening was a great success with lots of young people attending and everyone thoroughly enjoying themselves.

We are very happy to report that €4,300 was raised for the St Michael’s Hospice.

Thank you to everyone including Michael Radford and Jack Johns who dated €500 each!