AARON Le Boutillier is not the first man to write a book as a cathartic process but when you know the subject matter it seems even more understandable than most.
Aaron was on Koh Phi Phi when the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 devastated the island, taking with it friends and neighbours.
He has written And Then One Morning to tell his story, that of the tsunami and its aftermath and, most importantly, in an effort to raise money for the island which had for a time been his home.
‘The first thing was that it was a cathartic thing to do. I had been through so much hell and trauma on the day that I thought that it would be good for me to put it down on paper. I wanted to get it off my chest,’ he said.
‘Then an author in Bangkok read it and said that with my history with the island and the fact that I had stayed after the tsunami it would be worth recording it,’ he said.
There are also far more personal reasons for completing this book. His friend Heinz Oswald was one of those who died. Heinz’s son, Dino, was so young at the time that he has no recollection of his father. Aaron said: ‘I thought that if I could write a book, then I could say to Dino: ‘‘Here is a book about your family.’’ ’
Then he got a publisher on board who began hassling him and giving him deadlines and it all started to come together.
The last part of the jigsaw for Aaron was to find a way to benefit Phi Phi and the people who lived there. That being the case, the publishers have agreed to Aaron taking 15 per cent of the proceeds of the book, which he in turn will donate to a charitable foundation which is in the process of being established.
‘I think it is well known now that some of the cash collected for the victims of the tsunami was syphoned off, paying for bureaucracy. I thought that this would be a way in which people could see what they were paying for and the difference that the money would make. People can log on and see that the money has gone to do something,’ he said.
Of course, the website – www.bigwavepublications.com – is still in its infancy because Aaron needs the punters to buy the book before he can show how the money is spent. ‘I can’t really post anything until people buy the book,’ he said.
In his bid to get as many copies sold as possible he will be sending it to anyone who might review and publish a copy – even Oprah’s people are on the hit list.
Aaron’s own journey to that day had been a convoluted one. He first went to Phi Phi and Thailand as a 21-year-old. He left behind the family business – Le Boutillier’s, now Redvers – with the idea that he would return to it one day. In the event he spent four years in Thailand before returning and joining the States police. His diverse career chart, which also includes a spell running a nightclub, has, also along the way, involved a spell teaching defensive tactics to the Bangkok police and then hijack management for Singapore Airlines.
Between times he was flying back and forth to Phi Phi to see Heinz and his family – especially after Heinz, who ran Moskito Dive Shop, suffered a heart attack.
The attack meant that Heinz had made the decision to slow down, move to Phuket and enjoy family life. This was never to happen.
Aaron travelled to Phi Phi shortly before Christmas in 2004 to help Heinz and his wife Oiy pack up their belongings and move. The packing happened but the tsunami then intervened. Oiy and the couple’s youngest child, four-year-old Dino, survived. Heinz and their two daughters, Tina and Anna, did not.
And Then One Morning voices the desperation, shock and horror of the tsunami and the search for family and friends which then consumed the energy of those who stayed.
It is easy for someone who was not there and has never experienced such horror to imagine that the first thing that survivors would want to do would be to get the hell out. However, it is clear from what Aaron said that adrenalin kept most survivors going and after that the clean-up and continued searches needed as many willing hands as possible.
‘From the moment that it hit I was charged with adrenalin for about three weeks,’ he said. ‘Some people are born to do something, to help people, but they don’t know it until something like this happens. Part of the process for me was that I did not go home. I was running around that day and that felt like the right thing to do. And then later, helping at the temple with all the dead bodies. I did everything that I could have done.
‘I will never forget about it. The things that I saw and did were super-horrific but in some way this book is the best thing that I have ever done,’ said Aaron.
It is personal accounts like that given in And Then One Morning which bring the terror of the tsunami to life in a way that even footage of the time could not. There is no distance when someone is talking about the friends for whom they are searching in the rubble. These are, needless to say, events which will stay with Aaron forever.
As well as pushing his book as internationally as possible, Aaron has brought copies back to Jersey for sale and, during the morning that he was interviewed, some hundred had already walked off the shelf. He is also hoping that it will eventually sell online because for every book sold more money will be available for the foundation.
And Then One Morning is available at Redvers, Waterstones and Big Verns for £9.95, and Aaron will be signing copies of his book at Waterstones in Queen Street on Saturday between 10 am and midday.
Article posted on 20th August, 2008 - 3.00pm
