The Third Wave: A Volunteer Story

After the 2004 tsunami hit regions bordering the Indian Ocean, Australian filmmaker Thompson traveled to aid a devastated village in Sri Lanka. More than a year later, she arrived home to New York with hundreds of hours of footage, later edited into her documentary, The Third Wave. Here, Thompson (daughter of a preacher and a nurse) relates events often harrowing (terrorist attacks), disturbing (bone collecting), disheartening (the "dirty" aid business) yet, on balance, uplifting (lasting friendships) within the context of her emotional and spiritual growth. She interweaves her narrative with accounts of her work at ground zero after 9/11 and in Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake with The Third Wave executive producer, actor Sean Penn. Readers will marvel at Thompson%E2%80%99s ability to leave her life midstream to help others, clearly relishing the adventure as much as the opportunity to serve. She urges readers to redefine heroism by doing whatever they can with examples of small efforts (maintaining a toilet at ground zero) with great impact. (July)