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Jun 6, 2012

"For listening to the stories of others ... is a kind of water that breaks the fever of our isolation. If we listen closely enough, we are soothed into remembering our common name." --Mark Nepo

The Boy Who Fell Into The Water & Lived

"The only way to get to this island village is by boat. The current in these parts is treacherously strong and the sun beats down in sheets of heat. About 2000 people live in this village. 125 died in the tsunami. Twenty-six of them were children. There is no bridge connecting the village to the mainland, only a jetty that wanders partway into the water and stops. When some of the children saw the water rushing in they'd run to the far end of the island towards the backwaters and onto the wooden jetty in terror, hoping perhaps to make it to the safety of the other shore. When the second wave struck it took them all with it... almost all..." In the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami in South East Asia a young journalist visited a string of affected villages seeking beyond the statistics, to be present with and listen to the deeply human stories of those who survived.