Providing a future

Is there anything that Peter Baines — who founded a successful organization to support Thai children; helped identify thousands of dead bodies as a crisis-response forensic investigator; worked in Interpol’s counterterrorism unit combating chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats; and ran the equivalent of 33 marathons in 26 days to raise funds and awareness for the 20-year anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that claimed more than 225,000 lives across a dozen countries along the Indian Ocean — can’t do?

Yes, he says. Have patience for people who make excuses.

“There’s nothing special about what I’ve done,” said Baines, the founder of Top of the Table Annual Meeting charity partner Hands Across the Water. “Ordinary people can do extraordinary things simply by making a commitment and refusing to quit.”

Baines’ success stems simply from trying to help, and then not stopping or giving up.

In 2005, Baines was working as a forensic investigator in Thailand eight months after the tsunami and met a group of kids who had lost their families in the disaster and were living in tents. Having “seen and witnessed those left behind” throughout his career, he planned to spend 12 months trying to raise money and change the way the kids spent each night. A year later, Hands opened its first home, and Baines, who previously planned to return to his life in Australia, now was confronted with questions about who would continue supporting the 34 kids in the home, who would pay the staff and who else could be helped.

“I can’t change what’s happened, the fact that kids have lost parents or homes, but I thought it was in my capacity to change what happened next,” he said. “When I drove away from opening the first home, I realized the job wasn’t done. It had just started.”

Nearly 20 years later, the organization has raised over $30 million Australian, cared for several hundred children in seven homes across Thailand and had 47 of its alumni graduate from university.

Who

Hands Across the Water supports three categories of kids: those referred by a hospital or social welfare agency who have no parents or relatives to take care of them; those whose relatives cannot care for them due to substance abuse, criminal issues, health challenges or otherwise; and those who have been removed from their homes by police or a welfare agency due to a threat of harm or abuse.

How kids assimilate into a Hands home depends on their age and prior circumstances. Regardless, Baines says the kids look after and support each other, particularly older kids treating younger ones like siblings. “They pick them up when they fall down and play with them,” he said. “It’s like a big family.”

There is no age minimum, and while no one is ever told to leave, Baines says age 18 is the time many feel ready to leave for school or work opportunities and to spend more time with people their age. While some kids live in the organization’s facilities for a short time, many stay long term.

How

Hands’ smallest home has 20 kids, and its largest has 100, with locations run by more than 60 Thai staff members. All kids have their own bed (boys and girls are separated into different buildings) in shared, dormitory-style facilities and enjoy meals together, with everyone contributing to chores. All kids attend school off-site and can participate in additional activities like a hydroponic program in which kids can grow vegetables to sell at the market, earn money, and learn independence and financial management. Kids also can work on fish farms, participate in cultural and community activities, and devote time to spiritual priorities.

“Visitors to the homes are genuinely surprised at how happy the kids are,” Baines said, citing brightly colored beds, soccer fields, music and more. “They might have a picture in their mind of malnourished, unhealthy kids in sad, depressing conditions, but these kids have rich lives in a happy place.”

For kids who prefer not to go to university, Hands is working on developing a training center for tourism and hospitality jobs as well as an agricultural learning center to develop experience and skills in that field. Both projects will be commercially viable to generate income and provide training that meets community needs, Baines says.

Looking ahead

Whether or not you attend the Top of the Table Annual Meeting, you can learn more about Hands Across the Water at handsacrossthewater.org.au. You’ll find information about how Baines believes in providing value to supporters and the benefits of being involved. For example, 73% of participants in the charity’s annual 800-kilometer bike rides (100 km per day for eight days) return for another race and remain involved.

Being motivated to push forward is important to Baines. Consider his remarkable, multi-marathon fundraising effort in 26 days, which he calls the best experience he’s ever had. It’s not that he was a runner (he previously completed just one marathon). It’s that he’s committed to and remembers that there is more work to be done. There are as many kids under 3 at Hands now as there have ever been, and they all have the possibility for a brighter future.

That’s exemplified beautifully by Game, a young man who came to Hands not long after the 2004 tsunami. With the organization’s support, he completed his law degree and after earning a master’s degree and doctorate in psychology became director of the Hands home where he grew up.

“We create opportunities so that kids can be members of society and have meaningful jobs,” Baines said, “and not need support moving forward.”