This is the 4th and the final speaker I attended to. Christopher Newman, a.k.a. “Crispy” is our school’s head of outdoor education. His story is about how he got there, and how his life was not as easy as some people might think it was. He was born and brought up in the UK, with his parents and grandparents. His family was quite well off, and therefore had many exotic sports equipment and a yard. Throughout his life, he has struggled multiple times with academics, (Bs and Cs) but always found himself occupied and engaged in outdoor activities.

His message is clear; persevere and you can do anything! Enjoy the journey, it matters more than the destination. And finally, the quote that was his favourite because it made the most sense to him. “A ship in harbour is safe – but that is not what ships are built for.” – John A. Shedd. Despite these being said, he only took risks when required, and by that, I mean that he was conscious and he critically thought upon it. Therefore, I feel that the real lesson is; never make risks erratically and recklessly, it will always result in your demise.

The second and final day, first speaker; Jabiz Raisdana. Mr.Raisdana is a middle school teacher and he loves his family and exploring the world. One vacation, he and his family went to “Koh Phi Phi”, an island part of Thailand for sailing. One day, they started sailing and were slowly distancing themselves from shore. Suddenly, there was a “weird and peculiar” change in tide, such that the water was being pulled away from the shore rapidly. It wasn’t the usual intake from the ocean, but much more. Mr.Raisdana and his family were already quite far away when this happened, but it was noticeable as more than 30 meters of wet sand (that was previously underwater) was exposed! In front of them, there was what seemed to be a gigantic wave building up… which somehow harmlessly went under them, leaving the sailboat bobbing up and down, ever so slightly. After this, the growth multiplied rapidly, increasing and increasing until the wave was so large that it crashed down with so much pressure that it overflowed into the city. It was a tsunami! The scary thing about all of this was, NO ONE EXPECTED IT. There were no alarms, no predictions (via weather forecast) and it just all happened too suddenly.

After the waves calmed down, it was safe for them to return to the island. Mr.Raisdana couldn’t believe his eyes. The hotel that they stayed in… was rubble! There was a building which was IMPALED by a sailboat, ON THE 4TH STORY. Without going into too much detail, Mr.Raisdana observed devastating destruction that the island had withstood that day, and 2 days later officials were informed and the population was to be taken care of. Sadly, there were around 3600 deaths and this was soon to be confirmed as one of the (if not the) worst natural disasters of Thailand history!

How did this event affect Mr.Raisdana?

Being a survivor, he learned that being grateful is very important in life and even though he lost almost about everything (his passport, luggage, money etc.) due to the tsunami’s damage, he still had his life and his family. He was extremely lucky to have survived such a disaster (which was actually broadcasted worldwide at that time on about every news channel), especially while BEING IN THE WATER. He recalls that the whole incident was extremely awkward and weird, however, they did help a lot of the population by handling rations and medication when required. Obviously, their flight tickets had to be cancelled, and all the tourists were given a free flight to their home country. I’m not sure how this worked out for the Thailand economy, but I’m pretty sure the market had a recession shortly after the tsunami.