The Myth of a Flat World

Round Pizza in a Square Box

Excerpt from Chapter 2 – The Myth of a Flat World:

I will not soon forget the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami that caught the world off guard a day after Christmas in 2004. A violent 9.0 earthquake in the depths of the sea quickly gave rise to fifty-foot waves that thrust their way onto the shores of eleven unsuspecting countries. In a single day, over one hundred and fifty thousand people died, and millions more lost their homes and families. The tsunami was arguably the most disastrous in recorded history.

Girl crying.

In those days, I was working as the Director of Financial Services for a U.S. based non-profit called Mission of Mercy. The organization supported two hundred and fifty projects in nineteen countries, providing holistic support to disadvantaged children. On December 26th, the moment that news of the tsunami hit American shores, my colleagues and I rushed to the office for an emergency meeting. We sat together for hours, stunned and heartbroken as we discovered the extent of the tragedy in the Southeast. In Sri Lanka, we operated thirty-seven projects, sponsoring over two thousand children. Many of these children were now dead:

In Lunugamwehera, twenty of our children had died.

In Galle, thirteen had died.

In Kalawnchikudy, fourteen had died.

In Chenkalady, thirteen had died. 

In Manawa and Tissamaharam, we could not determine our losses because our projects were uncommunicative due to the destruction.

In Valachenai, fifteen had died.

In Batticaloa, nine had died.

In Hambantota, twenty-two had died.

In a single day, over one hundred children enrolled in our projects had died.

For us, it was not about numbers. We knew the names and faces of each child. It was hard to believe I would never see little Kumar again. Shanti, the girl with the two short pigtails, would never again come running to meet me.

And what of the children who had survived without their parents? They had nowhere to live and no one to whom they could turn.

Clearly, our team had a large task ahead of us. The tsunami had not undermined our resolve to continue the work. On the contrary, it awakened our  desire to do even more.

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