How a story saved 181 sea gypsies
THE USE OF STORIES IS A POWERFUL TOOL that aids in material retention. Humans have been telling stories since the dawn of language. Many times, stories contain key information and lessons that then can be passed down to generations. The story itself may be hundreds of years old and has been told and retold countless times.
Recently, knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation using stories within of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the 2004 Asian tsunami.
The tribe told of a old story about a giant wave a hundred years ago that wiped out the village. The called it "Laboon": the great wave that ate people. Before the massive wave crashed into the village, the shore had dramatically receded.
A 65-year-old village chief Sarmao Kathalay told a reporter, "The elders told us that if the water recedes fast it will reappear in the same quantity in which it disappeared."
When the shoreline began to disappear, those who had not been told this story flocked to the beach to take pictures and to pick up fish.
Unknown to them - Laboon was streaking towards southern Thailand. The entire 181 person population of the Morgan sea gypsy fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island.
Those that did not flee to higher ground were left to the mercy of the tsunami. Hundreds of thousands of men women and children perished in the massive wall of water.
The value of information contained a story in this case saved 181 sea gypsies.