Value Presence: Part 2

We are currently on a journey through Imagine Thailand’s seven OUTWARD FACING VALUES.  This is the third value in our series … We Value Presence.

Last month we considered that “80% of the success in life is just showing up”.   We’re continuing with that theme and reflecting on how Imagine Thailand has done just that.

Many of you will recall what happened in Thailand and other Indian Ocean countries on December 26th, 2004.  You may also know that that tsunami—10 story’s high and travelling more than 800 km/hr—launched the birth of Imagine Thailand.

It was huge, devastating, tragic news. The numbers were almost unimaginable … 230,000 dead worldwide, 5,400 killed in Thailand alone.  Rather than one violent jolt, the quake lasted an unrelenting 10 minutes, with a pent-up power equivalent to several thousand atomic bombs.  Towns, families, loved ones, neighbours … gone in literally minutes.

NGOs, governments both domestic and foreign, and armies of volunteers converged upon the tsunami zone.  Everyday people performed heroic acts, day in, day out.  But as time went on, the perceived need grew less, the next disaster loomed, and the aid dried up.

At that point civic officials in Takua Pa asked the embryonic Imagine Thailand one of the most defining questions in its entire existence … “are you leaving too”?

We stayed.  And what followed was nothing short of remarkable:  The start of the Lighthouse Learning Centre (LC) to give hope to kids and their families.  Immense favour with local authorities.  Public school officials and educators asking for training by LC staff as a result of the very obvious spiritual, mental and physical transformations in so many children.

Then Myanmar.  But instead of a tsunami of water, there was, and is, a tsunami of desperate people fleeing ethnic cleansing and burned villages.  They flood into Thailand, often with just the shirts on their back.  Ever hopeful, they build schools for their kids.  Once again, there is a tug on Imagine’s heart, and we show up.

Over 100 water purification systems have been installed.  Teams from Canada and elsewhere converge to teach ESL and put in more systems.  Survival packs are sent covertly into Myanmar to help those who have literally nothing make it through another week.

Then Hat Yai.  Then Bangkok.  Compassion doesn’t just end with kids and refugees and tsunamis, but includes university students, many affluent, many far from home, but all in need of someone who will embrace and encourage.  So we show up again to hold English groups, teach leadership development, create community, and befriend the lonely.

We value presence.  It’s in our DNA.  And we will continue to show up.

Next month we’re on to our next value, “We value open-handedness”.  See you then!

In the meantime:  Add value.  Act with valour.