This October we’re running our first ever Sumatran Jungle Challenge with Inspired Adventures. The 13-day trek of a lifetime gives people the opportunity to match their environmental passion with adventure.
We chatted to Sunset Lorentzon, one of our inspiring adventurers, about her motivations for undertaking the upcoming challenge.
“I have many passions but the one that has defined my life the most is women’s health. This stems from my own personal battles. When I was 14 I was devastated to lose my grandmother to breast cancer. I then fought my own battle with cancer before I turned 20 but thankfully defied the odds and survived determined to live my life to the full. I underwent retraining after 20 successful years in optometry to set up BreastLogic – a pain and radiation-free breast scanning technology – to help women avoid similar situations. And since then I’ve become a regular guest speaker at events and lunches, embracing every opportunity to encourage women to become more ‘breast aware’.
My personal experiences made me thankful to be on this earth and, in return, I am passionate about giving our earth a voice. I have always wanted to ‘make a stand’ by way of a physical challenge, both as a grounding opportunity to connect with the planet, but mostly to awaken others and help raise awareness. I feel that humans sometimes consider themselves the ‘superior species’ and the destruction of habitats and extinction of animals devastate me.
I joined Greenpeace in 1988 to help protect the planet and its inhabitants. I am also a keen bushwalker and runner. This is the first time I have combined the two passions – it’s very exciting! It is such an honour to have been accepted to the Greenpeace Sumatran Jungle Challenge and I am very much looking forward to seeing creatures in the wild.
It is my mission to raise $10,000 for the much needed causes of the Sumatran Orang-utans and rainforest preservation worldwide. While this is beyond what I need to raise, it’s really nice to talk to and mobilise the people around me to help this important cause. The staff at the clinic are excited about setting up a little jungle display with a fundraising tin, asking clients to help. Among other fundraising activities, I will have a few fundraising concerts with my band “Sunset Lounge” – the boys in the band are very keen to help too.
I feel quite lucky really. I am always driven to do what I can to protect our natural world, but now I can do it while having this unique experience in the jungle. And I get to hang out with orang-utans, monkeys, elephants, exotic birds, butterflies… “
Join Sunset and take on the Sumatran Jungle this October!
