A triumph of humanity

A Model Life With Petra Nemcova caught my eye when I was flipping through cable channels. The series follows 6 new models from their test shoot to the runways of New York Fashion Week, with Petra acting as mentor. At the end of the series, one girl will be offered a modelling contract with NEXT Modeling agency.

During one dinner, Petra asked the girls what they thought was the most difficult part of their lives so far. She then told them about hers, and this was what gripped me. She was a 2004 tsunami survivor. This intrigued me and I went online to look for more details of how she survived.

When the 2004 tsunami hit, she and her fiance, fashion photographer Simon Atlee, were holidaying in Khao Lak. They were swept away. The last she saw of him was his shouting "Petra, Petra". She hung onto a palm tree for eight hours before she was rescued. She said she could hear children crying and screaming for help, but after a while there was silence. Her pelvis was broken, which disabled her legs, and she had to hang on only with her hands. Two Thai men rescued her, and one of them passed her his T-shirt because the strong currents had swept everything off her body. She was transported to a hospital and placed next to a Thai patient, who gave her a small Buddha she wears to this day. "He said, 'It will protect you,' " she said.

Simon's body was found only two months after the disaster. She said that it was difficult to leave the country so that she could begin her treatment back at home because every day, she kept wondering whether Simon was alive somewhere and in need of help. In an inquest into his death later, it was revealed that she and Simon were apparently planning their wedding just hours before the tsunami struck.

In some news reports, she said that she deeply admired the rescuers because they were out rescuing people even though they were not sure whether their own family members, relatives or friends had survived. She spent two weeks in a Thai hospital and then flew back to her homeland Czech Republic, where she underwent daily therapy, learning to walk all over again because of her broken pelvis and bones.

One year later, she went back to Khao Lak to help in relief efforts and decided to set up a fund - Happy Hearts Fund - after she saw that some of the orphaned children's faces were blank and had no signs of life or hope. The fund initially started with offering assistance to children orphaned or in need of help following the tsunami, and has now extended its scope to children all over the world.

I am deeply humbled and tremendously encouraged by Petra and how she reacted to her tsunami tragedy. We can also make a positive difference in other people's lives in our own way. This is how we bring the love and hope of Christ to the world.