Believe you can help

It’s not even the end of January, and the year has already brought a torrent of sad news and happenings that can make any one shrink and fall into despair. Some say it’s already giving them a whiff of 2020.?

But today, I decided to tell you a story that will inspire you to believe you can make a difference in the world, despite the chaos that surrounds us, despite the noise of the world being against our goals and better angels.

This one will inspire you to make a difference.

An Impossible Rescue

It was 2018, and in the Chiang Rai province of Thailand, "The Wild Boars" a young soccer team of twelve members and their coach got trapped in the cave system of Than Luang, as the monsoon rains flooded the caves.

As the water kept filling the cave, the search & rescue operation became a logistical nightmare that kept growing in participation. It involved about 10,000 people, between the Thai government workers, international volunteers and military elements, local farmers that sacrificed their crops to allow for the rescue to take place, and even the Thai Royal Navy Seals, local government and dozens of volunteers that started pouring in.?

Vern Unsworth was a Financial Consultant in Thailand that did Cave Exploration on the side. Somehow, he’d become the local cavern expert, and as the rescue operation started, he gave the Thai Minister of Interior a dire warning: “Sir, you have one chance at this rescue. We need expert cave divers out here.” And then handed a small piece of paper with the improvised headline: “These are the best cave divers in the world”.

The call came to the top two on the list. A pair of scruffy-looking, mild-mannered and rather shy British middle aged men: IT Consultant John Volanthen and Retired Fireman Rick Stanton.

Like the rest of the good and courageous volunteers, they got to work under really harsh and chaotic conditions. Murky waters, opposite currents, cables and pipes laid to facilitate the operation. They even rescued four pump workers who got stuck inside the cave complex, and no one even knew they were even missing.

But as they kept interning themselves deeper into the cave, they realized about the improbability of, or rather the perceived impossibility of the task of rescuing the team on time. After some difficult exchanges, they probably felt like they couldn’t make a difference, so they contemplated going back home. To the blessing and benefit of the trapped ones, they decided to stay. You’ll see what I mean by this.??

On each dive, John and Rick used their unique experience to keep clearing chambers deep into the cave system as they looked for the soccer team. They would also lay a line along the walls of the cave system, to work as a guide for them and for the rest of the rescuers.

On day 10, they went (to quote the Bard) once more, into the breach. As they had done before they prepared their minds to task, as well as the very vivid possibility of only finding bodies inside the cave. On this dangerous attempt, the British divers reached a chamber which the experts deemed had the greatest chances of holding the team, hoping to find them.?

After emerging from the water they realized the chamber was flooded, and there was not a chance of survival there. It would only be natural to return to the exit at that point, as they had gone beyond a sensible air margin in their containers.?

However John Volanten had a distinctive and powerful impression: “It’s time to push.”

Both divers kept progressing eastward and upstream the flooded tunnels, until they reached another chamber. As they surfaced, the silence and the pungent smell in it prepared them for the worst. It was then that one of them saw a flash of light, which they followed immediately. To the astonishment of the divers, they were greeted with the thank you’s of the soccer team.

John immediately got out his camera and started filming to give proof of life: As the shot showed a group of emaciated kids in their soccer uniforms he asked, “how many of you are here?”

Most voices from the small crowd started speaking in Thai, and then some kids answered: “Thirteen, thirteen”.?

John replied in joy, “Thirteen? Brilliant!” and then he’s heard uttering a simple and random phrase to convince himself that the miracle that just had occurred was actually happening:

Believe... Believe...

The children wanted to leave right away, but the divers told them they couldn’t, as they’d have to dive to leave. However, John & Rick started instilling courage in them by saying: Many are coming, many are coming.”??

They could have immediately returned to the outside world and given the news, but these two divers weren’t done. They put their equipment aside and John, a father and a Cubmaster, led the feeble children on a cheer as they looked at the camera. They hugged them both and they were happy he was there. In return, John promised he’ll be back.?

Now What?

At the news of the team being alive, people around the world rejoiced. However, as miraculous as it was to find the soccer team, that was the easy part. How in the world were they going to get them out?

Rescuing four professional divers out of the cave previously by diving with them for a few minutes proved a horrible task. The underwater landscape was so treacherous, and the distance was so long, that it’d been impossible to expect the soccer team to learn to dive their way out on their own.?

How would they get out inexperienced divers for about 2 and half hours under water under horrible conditions?

Different approaches were being taken, but no solutions were viable.

As the oxygen levels were dangerously low for them, the clock was ticking and a solution needed to take place. Both John & Rick saw the task as simply impossible and shared their concern with the American military component.?

It was then that in a true American innovation fashion, the US Military helped in coming up with a solution. While John and Rick stated that it simply could NOT be done, UASF Master Sgt. Derek Anderson poised two questions:

What if it could? What does the impossible look like?

Big shout out for our Armed Forces! They provided medical personnel, technical assistance, logistical support, and as it turns out, a different mindset, at least when it was needed. That mindset helped Rick come up with an idea, in fact, a ludicrous one: Sedating the children to transport them out of the caves.

It hadn’t been done before, the risk of loss of life was extremely high, and there was the risk of the team being at the center of the public ire if things went South. An international crisis was looming above them.

Despite professionals telling him it was not viable. Rick presented the idea to Master Sgt. Anderson, who replied: “That’s a terrible idea.”?

Rick’s response was another defining moment: “What if it’s the only idea?”

The plan was to put together the best team of cave divers in the world together. Among them, Dr. Richard Harris, an Australian anesthetist, who was reluctantly convinced of the plan only after diving to see the children.?

The idea was presented to the Thai Government as the only viable solution. Redundancies were planned, the risks were exposed. The ludicrous idea was greenlighted.

Mentoring & Collaboration Across Cultures

The crucial point was now mentoring, with not a whole lot of time to do so. Two crucial moments of mentoring came for the team: teaching the divers how to administer during? dry runs were rehearsed. They had to take into consideration that they’d have to re-administer the sedative mid way into the dive. The mentoring challenge now was giving effective training to a team made of almost 20 different nationalities.

Success

Against all odds, despite the loss of two Thai Navy SEALs (Saman Kunan and Beirut Pakbara), and after a rescue operation riddled with high risks, John Volanthen along with thousands of volunteers fulfilled the promise, and the entire party was rescued, causing the entire world to celebrate, as it was being announced while the FIFA World Cup was taking place.

Answering the call

Sooner or later in life we find ourselves in the type of pickle that requires a family, a group of friends, even a community to organize and do. At that moment, it’s regular people like you and I that make all the difference when they heed the call.

Vern Unsworth, the cavern expert, was a Financial Consultant with a particular knowledge of the local mountain and cave and became the man with the ground knowledge. Rick Stanton was at the moment a retired fireman with a modest, humble and awkward demeanor and came up with a crazy and yet effective idea to save the team.

John Volanthen is now a published author and a world class speaker, but at the moment, he was a Cubmaster dad from Bristol, England who had a rather unique and odd hobby, namely, water cave diving.?

They, like many others, heard the call, showed up, and despite the impossible odds and chaotic conditions that almost made them shirk from it, fulfilled their mission without seeking a personal agenda.

Today the news is riddled with really sad and catastrophic circumstances, and the voices that call for compassion, for cooperation and for making a positive difference in the world seem to be less and less audible than the ones screaming to do the opposite. The odds to make the world a better place sometimes seem indeed impossible, like the challenge of extracting an entire soccer team out of kilometers of underwater tunnels.

If you’re feeling like you want to help others, but it looks like you could not make a positive difference in the world, I’d like to echo Master Sgt. Anderson. Ask yourself:

What if you could?

The answer might be the answer to many people’s prayers. Sometimes, all we need to do is perform to the best of our ability and to simply believe.