We spoke this week with Santiago Aguerre after his retirement from the board of SurfAid International, one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the surf industry.
Santiago has served on both the U.S. and international boards of SurfAid for the last nine years and retired this week.
“It has been a great ride to help the organization created by Doctor Dave Jenkins 10 years ago, and we did a lot to help a lot of people and to also make the surf industry aware of such an important humanitarian cause,” he said.
A photo from Santiago Aguerre’s retirement party last week. He retired from SurfAid’s U.S. and international board after serving for nine years.SurfAid International was founded in 1999 by New Zealander Dr. Dave Jenkins who was traveling to Indonesia on a surf trip and was horrified at the health state of the local villagers whose perfect waves he’d been surfing off the Mentawais Island chain.
He went back to his practice in Singapore, got his doctor’s kits and started helping villagers and talking to surfers about his cause.
Originally started as a way to help stop the spread of malaria, today SurfAid has evolved to become a global organization aimed at improving the health, wellbeing and self-reliance of people living in isolated regions connected to them through surfing.
Not only does SurfAid do programs with malaria and tropical disease prevention, but they do numerous community based health programs, water and sanitation efforts and emergency preparedness and relief efforts including tsunami relief.
Santiago was especially affected by SurfAid after first hearing about it in Surf Writer Steve Barilotti’s Surfer Magazine article titled “The Jungle is Looking Back.”
See Page 2 for more about SurfAid
Barilotti’s story showcased what was happening in the villages behind the perfect waves many companies sent their surfers to.
After reading the story, Santiago recruited his brother Fernando and they immediately got support from Dick Baker to present the cause to SIMA in 2003 at the Surf Summit in Cabo.
“Companies like Quiksilver and Billabong got on board right away,” said Santiago adding that today most companies in the surf industry are involved.
Dick Baker, second from right, was an early supporter of SurfAid.In 2002, lawyers Gary Sirota, along with Robert Gerard, Santiago and a few like minded individuals founded Surf Aid’s U.S. chapter.
To raise money, Santiago decided to throw a party at his brother, Fernando’s house. He recruited his wife and Louise Balma from Transworld to help, and Fernando was deemed the auctioneer for the night.
The event, called the Liquid Nation Ball, was SurfAid’s first fundraiser and now is SIMA’s biggest annual humanitarian fundraiser and benefits several humanitarian organizations in addition to SurfAid.
SurfAid Founder and Medical Director Dr. Dave Jenkins said Santiago brought some important traits to the board that helped SurfAid succeed with its mission.
“Santiago joined our mission with commitment, compassion, and unique entrepreneurial flare – all critical success factors in the growth of SurfAid USA, enabling thousands of children to now live free of extreme suffering,” Jenkins said.
Santiago sounded bitter sweet about retiring from SurfAid’s board, but alluded to the fact that like a kid going off to college, the organization is in great hands and he’s excited to keep watching them thrive.
As for what’s next for him, Santiago said, “I’m not quite sure yet, but knowing me something good, fun and big…like I like my waves,” he added with a smile.
I asked Santiago after nine years, besides having helped raised million of dollars for the organization, what he’s most proud of.
“We’ve seen incredible malaria control, up to 70% improvement and reduction rates in some villages, helped with massive community development and hygiene efforts and have done a lot of efforts for tsunami relief,” he said.
“But I think the biggest legacy of SurfAid is that we introduced a major humanitarian cause to the surf world in the U.S.
“We created a humanitarian movement in the industry that didn’t exist before. We have helped a lot of people where we go play and take pictures and do what we do what we love to do.
“Surf Aid’s actions in the Mentawais was the first time surfers went into a virgin area to help the suffering of its people on a large scale, and they turned it into a much better place than what they found.
“Companies like Quiksilver, Billabong, O’Neill and most of the competing surf companies, through donations, ideas, presence of its people and more, have helped SurfAid become the savior of many thousands lives over the last ten years. That’s a fact that should make all of us very proud to be surfers.
“Today we wouldn’t by products from companies without an environmental mind and in another few years you I don’t think people will buy products from companies that don’t have a humanitarian side. Humanitarianism will be as important environmentalism.”
