Recently, we took a week away from the snow for a very special visit to a location definitely not known for their snow. We joined a group of 60 entrepreneurs and business owners to visit to the Hands Across The Water Orphanage created following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. We are very happy to present the following video of our trip to the orphanage and to tell you a little about what we saw.

It’s important to remember that in this amazing world of ours, there are many more issues that face us than slope conditions, weather forecasts and snowfall.

The trip was organised by Dale Beaumont and his business education company called “Business Blueprint”. Dale and the Business Blueprint program talk a lot about the power of “giving back” to those less fortunate around the world.

Pete Kvist and Snow Report TV would like to thank Hands Across the Water

Hands Across The Water is an incredible organisation founded by Peter Baines who worked by heading up a team of people in victim identification following the 2004 tsunami. His experiences in seeing the children left displaced from families as a result of the devastating wave moved him to become founder of this amazing orphanage.

Baines quickly moved to set up an orphanage to support some of these children and quickly outgrew its initial resources. Today, the orphanage is able to house around 70 children with generous contributions from others, though they have also moved to grow and become self sufficient. The addition of a community center, hotel, school and even a rubber plantation helps provide income and stability that sees the setup able to rely less on the continued support from others.

The trip you can see in the video allowed the participants to spend time and stay with the children, though also to visit their self sustainable projects and volunteer some time and muscle in contribution to some of the current tasks underway.

The incredible glue that holds the organisation together is the selfless love and generosity of those who are a part of the operation. The orphanage director, Rotjana Phraesrithong and her team of approximately 20 part time and volunteer staff who support this wonderful cause are some of the most amazing people you will ever meet.

Through these orphanages, the children have been given a chance at life that would almost certainly have not been possible without these programs and the people involved. One things you notice everywhere in the orphanage is the love, friendship, smiles and the fact that they are now all “family”.

Pete Kvist with Tong at Thailand Orphanage

Through the programs, the children are not only able to be educated, though they are also setup to have the opportunity of continuing their education at a university level following the “graduation” from family life. The incredible thing is watching people within this organisation, including the children, give back to other causes as well, continuing the circle of giving that makes this world of ours a better place.

If you would like to find out more about Hands Across the Water, we encourage you to visit their website at http://www.HandsAcrossTheWater.org.au, or get in touch with us at Snow Report TV.

For us, the trip certainly was a trip of a lifetime and one we will never forget. We are excited to see how we can help more in the future and watch these children grow into adults who in turn are able to make a difference in this great world of ours.

If you would like to see the full photo gallery from the trip, you can check it by clicking on the following link: 2012 Thailand orphanage visit photo gallery.