26/12/2018
On the 26th of December 2004 an Indian Ocean earthquake occurred at 00:58:53 UTC resulting in a series of large tsunamis up to 30 metres (100 ft) high. These tsunamis flooded communities along the coasts of the Indian Ocean and killed an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries, one of the most affected countries being Sri Lanka.
Our colleague (the then First Officer, now) Captain Nicolas Auclaire was working on secondment in Sri Lanka and saw firsthand the devastation that had occurred. Wanting in some way to provide some sort of direct help Nick decided to try and raise some money to either try to buy a fishing boat or basic supplies of some sort that people so badly needed. Over a short time as money started to come in it began to look like enough money could be raised to build a house or two. What followed became known as ‘Nick’s Fund’, a fund-raiser to which Nick’s friend and family in France as well as his colleagues in Aer Lingus donated generously. I and Capt. Mike McBurney collected all the Irish donations and sent the money directly to Nick.
Irish generosity, our ‘spirit of giving’ and the strong sense of Aer Lingus people coming together really shone through as we collected money. On many occasions I was stopped by fellow crew members who told me their child was donating their birthday, communion or confirmation money to help the fund or that they themselves were celebrating a ‘milestone’ birthday and had asked their family and friends not to buy gifts but (if they wished) to give a cash ‘gift’ which would be donated to ‘Nick’s Fund’.
The stories of generosity have always stuck with me. Many of the [then] ‘kids’ have probably forgotten they donated money: hopefully some do recall their kindness. Over time some of you may have thought of the project or even in recent days following the Tsunami in Indonesia may have been reminded of the events of 2004, of ‘Nick’s Fund’ and have wondered what happened to the money that was raised.
As a reminder and an acknowledgement to all who contributed, but especially to all the ‘kids’, now young adults, who donated money here’s a brief overview of what happened and the impact your donations to ‘Nick’s Fund’ had on the lives of a small group of people.
In 2005, almost €5,300 was raised, the bulk of which came from Aer Lingus employees and their families. With that money, land was purchased in Kalutara South in South Western Sri Lanka, legal fees were paid, utilities were brought to the site and all the necessary materials for building were purchased. In the end 10 houses were constructed and equipped with basic equipment such as a cooker and gas bottle. A small amount of money and materials which were left over after the building of the 10 houses were donated to a man named Anthon so as to enable him to complete his own partially built house: Anthon had supervised the building of our 10 houses. He owned his own, partially built house which was located on the edge of the land Nick had bought and by completing his house it was counted as house 11 built by ‘Nick’s Fund’.
Each house was given a name; the names having been suggested to Nick by a number of the key people behind the fundraising. One name was ‘Concorde House’, another ‘Shamrock’, one was named ‘Kathleen’ (I believe) in honour of Mike McBurney’s mother who passed away in 2005 and another was named ‘Gavin’ which was of special importance to me as it was named in memory of my young cousin who died tragically in 2005.
Through an unbelievable set of coincidences my Aunt and Uncle (Gavin’s parents) ended up making donations to a charity that provided additional educational classes to the young boy who was growing up in a house named after their son. The boy in ‘Gavin’s’ house is named Chithira, he’s just turned 15, doing well in school and hopes to become a doctor.
This year I visited Sri Lanka and was fortunate thanks to some help from Nick and others to find the houses that were built with your money, to find the house named ‘Gavin’ and to meet Chithira, his mother Chitra as well as some of the other people who have lived there since the houses were built: people who remember with great fondness a guy they call ‘Boss Nick’ [their nickname for Nick Auclaire]..
I met Greta, now an elderly lady, who insisted I drink coconut juice from a fresh coconut in honour of ‘Boss Nick’; our conversation [and the slicing open of the coconut with a machete] was made possible by Sameera, a young man who works as a travel guide who kindly translated for us. Sameera later told me he’d lost everyone and everything in the tsunami and offered to work on building houses just so as to have something to do. As the project came towards completion he was given one of the houses, a house he still lives in today with his wife and daughters. All of the inhabitants of the small enclave were very friendly towards me; they came outside to see this ‘odd’ looking Westerner and when Sameera explained I was a friend of ‘Boss Nick’ and was involved in the ‘building’ of the houses, there were nods of approval and handshakes all round (and thankfully not too much more coconut juice).
In general I found Sri Lankan people to be very friendly, but quite private at the same time and so I wasn’t surprised when I didn’t get an invitation into any of the houses: instead people came out to meet me and walk me around the place they now call home.
As I left to head back up the coast of Sri Lanka to Colombo, I did so with the knowledge that the kindness of so many people and the hard and selfless work of ‘Boss Nick’ achieved what it was supposed to do. Through your unquestioning kindness towards total strangers, people were given somewhere to call home, somewhere to feel safe and secure; a place from where they could start rebuilding their lives. And that’s exactly what they did!
So to all those ‘kids’ (and adults) who donated, some 14 years later I can confirm to you that no matter how small at the time your donation may have seemed, you made a difference; you helped change people’s lives for the better and the houses that were built with your money are as cherished today as the day they were handed over to their owners by Nick: houses which now form part of the thriving community of Kalutara South.
