SUNAMI survivor Michelle Mills-Porter will speak about the devastating Boxing Day disaster that she and a group of other fellow Bromsgrove residents experienced in a keynote speech, writes Lola Griffin.
The presentation will take place at Bromsgrove Golf Centre at 6.30pm on July 31 to mark the 20th anniversary of the incident which killed more than 250,000 people in south Asia.
Mrs Mills-Porter FFSA, ADHD is the National President of the Professional Speaking Association (PSA). She was raised in Bromsgrove and now lives in Cofton Hackett with her husband Stuart.
The pair were part of a group that set off for a Christmas holiday in Sri Lanka in 2005 with a group of divers and they found themselves caught in the tsunami.
Sri Lanka suffered with 30,000 lives taken, and this catastrophic natural disaster occurred just miles from where the group were staying – remarkably, every member of the dive team survived.
On their return to the UK, driven by appreciation and purpose, the group formed the Hikkaduwa Village Fund which, with the help of friends, family, and the Bromsgrove community, raised a remarkable £100,000 is just six months to help rebuild lives in the region that had taken care of them.
At the event with Mrs Mills-Porter, a TEDx speaker and human behaviour expert, there will also be a Graze Board Buffet Station.
She says this talk is a heartfelt thank you to the community that helped turn her devastation into hope and gives a rare and moving insight into the power of humanity, unity and transformation.
This story is not just Mrs Mills-Porter’s – it is the story of the team, the town and a lesson to society of how light that can come from tragedy.
A donation will be made to from the proceeds, after all the costs are covered.
To book tickets, people can call the Bromsgrove Golf Centre on 01527 575886 or Michelle directly on 07748 755360. Or, use the QR code on the advert for the event at the bottom of this page.
