As a former forensic specialist with NSW Police, Peter Baines has plenty of experience of witnessing the unimaginable. But nothing could have prepared him for the task of identifying thousands of victims’ bodies in the aftermath of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.
Peter was deployed to Thailand shortly after disaster struck. Upon his arrival, he met a group of children living in a tent, who’d lost everything. Seeing just how many families had been ripped apart by the tragedy, he knew he couldn’t just move on.
“I felt like I was abandoning them,” Peter, 57, tells New Idea. “So, I decided to go back and help out where I could.”
In 2005, Peter, from Capertree, NSW, launched his charity, Hands Across the Water. Initially, he wanted to raise $250,000 for an orphanage in Khao Lak, north of Phuket.
The father of three has since raised more than $40 million through HATW and supported more than 1500 children across Thailand with housing, education, and healthcare.
For Peter, the charity has always been about creating long-term stability, not just short-term relief, and giving children the chance to build meaningful futures.
But with the charity marking its 20th anniversary recently, Peter decided that he wanted to do something extra special.
“I wanted to raise more money than we ever have in a single campaign, so I decided to do a run… but not any old run, this was to be a ‘Run to Remember’,” he says.
In December last year, Peter ran 1400 kilometres across Thailand in 26 days. He also released a book about his experiences, hoping to inspire others to act with compassion.
“When the finish was in sight – the orphanage we built all those years ago – people were running and cheering alongside [us]. We linked hands and ran to the end together,” he remembers.
