“What will our generation be remembered for?”

Nelson Mandela






The response of people the world over to the Tsunami disaster provides a real opportunity for a level of cooperation, perhaps, not witnessed before. Our challenge has been to discover how to “capture” the spirit of giving and engage it going forward, not only to provide long-term support to the Tsunami affected areas, but to look at how to address the wider issues of people living in poverty.

2005 was the ‘Year of the Volunteer’ and saw the launch of ‘Make Poverty History’. It is apt, following research, discussion and consultation, that our mission has been defined to encourage and sustain charitable giving in order to tackle world poverty.

The question we need to answer is how?

Education - information and knowledge - around the causes of poverty and how to make a real difference and change people’s lives is, we believe, the key.

If you hear you forget. If you see you remember. But, when you do, do you understand?

To bring about this education we will take people to the heart of the problem through a volunteer programme that not only adds new skills and resources to communities in need, but will also bring about new ways of working and enable people to change their lives. It is essential that we maintain the interest and release the potential of the individuals, who inspired Tsunami Generation, to create change.

As we pursue our mission over the next few years we hope to develop many innovative ways to tackle world poverty. But to come back to where it all began, the consequences of the Tsunamis, our long-term goal should not be to restore people to their previous levels of poverty, but to release people from the poverty trap.

I look forward to reporting how the Tsunami Generation has risen to the challenge.

Suzanne Gowler
Founder and CEO
Tsunami Generation