SPEECH BY MR ROBIN NAGY
Project Coordinator for the Tsunami Book Project –
Children of the Tsunami, Khao Lak – a Story of Hope

TRANSCRIPT

Ladies and gentlemen

May I first of all add my voice of welcome to all of you at this exciting and remarkable occasion, the culmination of over half a year of intense work by many of you here today. I would also like to say that this project would never have got off the ground without the trust and generosity of our sponsors. Thank you again to all of them and in particular to Amadeus, Chevron, Souer Co. Ltd, and Mermaid Maritime who donated the most. Thanks must also go to Austrian Airlines for agreeing to ship 1,000 copies of the book to the UK free of charge and to the Sheraton Grande for so generously hosting this magnificent event.

Well here we finally are – the official launch of the book ‘Children of the Tsunami, Khao Lak, a story of hope’.

And that is exactly what it is: a positive, story of hope. It is the story of how the children of the Khao Lak region of Thailand witnessed those unexpected, horrific and catastrophic events of 26 th December 2004 and how their lives were permanently altered by the Tsunami. It is also a story of how ordinary children: the students of Bangkok Patana School, decided to do something about it and how the Tsunami Book Project was born.

The book is a beautiful collection of photographs of, and stories, poems and pictures by, the children of the Khao Lak region of Thailand. Its focus is on how the community of the Khao Lak region, and in particular their children, have moved on in one short year, from being ‘victims’ to becoming examples of hope to us all. The book concentrates on the positive aspects to have come out of those terrible events; it re-tells stories from the children’s perspective: stories of community, of bravery, of hope, of motivation and of love.

Profits from the book will enable local children who were affected by the Tsunami (some of them orphaned and many of them made homeless) to help themselves and to raise money for their own education. (All profits from book sales will go back towards the education and schooling of the children of the Tsunami affected regions of Thailand). This is their book, earning money in order to help themselves and their community. They gave us all the material – the students at Bangkok Patana School simply helped them to make it into a book.

But the book is about more than that. We hope that it will also inform people all over the world that the Andaman coast is open for business once again and that it will attract many tourists back to this beautiful part of Thailand, a region whose long-term economic survival is so dependant on the tourist dollar.

It is also a story about how the impossible becomes possible with enough imagination and determination. We were told by major UK publishing houses that it was simply not possible to produce a book in the timeframe we were planning and that it was unfeasible that we could have a book ready in time for Christmas. This group of children proved them wrong!

This is a unique project which was undertaken by students for the benefit of students. The book has been published in time for the first anniversary of the Asian Tsunami and I hope that it will receive the worldwide publicity that it deserves. It will be on sale in Thailand for B950 in Asia Books and B2S as well as other good bookshops, and in the UK for £14.99 in W H Smiths and other leading bookstores.

I feel privileged to have worked alongside so many inspirational and dedicated young people and staff and I’m sure you have already seen how remarkable they are from their presentation today.

There is an old saying that ‘for evil to triumph, all it takes is for good men to do nothing’. Surely it also follows that when good people refuse to do nothing, truly remarkable things result. Because of people like the children of Khao Lak, the students and staff of Bangkok Patana School, the sponsors of this project and because of every individual who buys this book – good has indeed triumphed.

For more information please contact:
E-mail: nich@patana.ac.th
Tel: +66 (0) 2398 0200 ext.198
Fax: +66 (0) 2744 5924

Related article:
Bangkok Patana School launch the book, ‘Children of the Tsunami’
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