Tsunami survivors help other orphans

When British brothers Rob and Paul Forkan survived the Indian Ocean tsunami that killed both their parents 10 years ago, they knew they had to help other children in need.

On Dec 26, 2004, the then teenagers awoke in a beachside hotel room in Sri Lanka as a wall of water ripped through coastal communities in 15 countries, claiming 230,000 lives.

Their parents had taken the brothers and two of their siblings to travel and volunteer on humanitarian projects in India and were spending Christmas in a village called Weligama.

When disaster struck, Rob and Paul clung to trees and eventually found their younger siblings, but their parents were swept away.

They hitchhiked to safety, despite having no passports and no money, and managed to get a flight back to Britain where they were cared for by one of their elder sisters.

Realizing how lucky they were to survive and have family to help them, the brothers' desire to give back led them in 2011 to set up Gandys, an ethical footwear company that makes colorful, funky flip flops from natural materials.

The company channels 10 percent of its profits into funding projects for orphans and underprivileged children, and the brothers are marking the 10th anniversary of the disaster by opening a center in Sri Lanka that will provide medical treatment, nutrition and education for about 400 children.

"We want to help children and give them an education," said Paul, 25, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt, pink shorts and flip flops at the company's office in south London.

"It's been hard work getting it off the ground because at first people thought we were weird for wanting to do good when most fashion brands want to be hot and sexy, but things are changing and consumers are becoming more ethical."

His brother Rob, 27, also in shorts and flip flops, said it has been difficult to grow the company that started from his one-bedroom flat in south London and now employs 15 people.

The idea was sparked when Rob woke up at a music festival saying his "mouth felt like one of Gandhi's flip-flops". The spelling was modified and the brand was born.

The rubber flip flops are sold in some leading shops in Australia, Japan, Dubai, Thailand and a growing list of countries. They hope to expand to the United States soon.

In the past three years the company and the driven, charismatic brothers have won praise and support from British billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, Prime Minister David Cameron, and various celebrities.

"It is good to see that we are starting to get impact," Rob told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

They are convinced that surviving the tsunami and the experiences with their parents in India, volunteering in slums and children's homes, had enabled them to cope.

"Doing the volunteering work we always saw children worse off than we were," said Paul, adding that living through the tsunami had given them a "no fear" approach to life.

(China Daily 12/23/2014 page10)