Tsunami - A history

This entry is kinda overdue.. after visiting Acheh I had thought of putting up an entry about Aceh, post-tsunami on the 26th of Dec itself to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the tragedy but I got myself occupied with some stuff... Anyway....

I've been reading the newspapers the past couple of days about the tragedy... somehow it seems like it is a tragedy that people would want to remember? Or maybe because it is just nice to say that it is the '5th Anniversary'.. I dunno... meeting the people in Acheh and actually talking to them, I get the feeling that they just want to move on... and they need to move on i.e socially and economically.. I guess although reconstruction was very much in need, post-tsunami, it had made people pay less attention to the needs of a normal living human... yes, they build houses, buildings, shops, etc.. but what about in terms of their needs for sustainable income? Livelihood?

We met Mrs Linda, a British citizen who runs the Lamjabat Foundation with her husband Pak Yadi. Linda has worked with various NGOs and been living in Indonesia for 15 years (married Pak Yadi when she was working with Lamjabat - Pak Yadi lost almost all of his family members during tsunami). Lamjabat Foundation was set up one week after tsunami to help the victims in terms of livelihood program. Throughout the days that I was in Acheh, I have been listening to gory stories about deaths, bloated dead bodies etc.. so it was quite a change to hear stories from Linda about what had been done instead of what had happened...

Granted that she started with giving us some alarming statistics i.e like Ulilie (not sure of the spelling) which had lost 95% of its population and buildings.. but she then continued telling us about the programs that they have done with the local people.. One of the first programs that they had done post-tsunami was to help the people at Maralisa (again, not sure of the spelling).. a slightly wealthier area in Aceh..many of the people there were quite well-off before the tsunami as they had their own business..when tsunami hit them, they have lost their family members, business, houses etc and were living in small camps.. despite already pshychologically affected by this, the community at Maralisa, even the young ones were asked to go to the village to use shovels and search for bodies..they were actually being paid for this but they were very very depressed..

So the people at Lamjabat Foundation under the children's program had taken about 500 children from Maralisa, (many of whom have lost their family and friends) away from the distressing camps to get them together so that they could actually have friends and basically have a life... when she was telling us all this I just could not help thanking God for giving my children all that they have today... really...I can't bear thinking about these kids in Acheh who could not understand what was happening to them, with no father / mother/ relatives/friends...

Their program sounded almost too simple - they started with a swimming class! But simplicity works the best especially because all of them were still in shock and the tragedy still very vivid in their minds... they had swimming competitions, playtime for the kids.. basics stuff to get the children together and have new friends... after some time the program seemed to be working and they then continued to have more programs to help the youths and women... computer classes for the youths and handicrafts for the women...

They are still trying their best to get the community more involved and having a source of income apart from fishing and farming... at the village where she is, it's sometimes frustrating when there is no proper structure in terms of leadership...and in a place like Acheh where it was like a war zone with gun battles and all just before tsunami, makes things much harder...without an active vilage head, things were moving slowly... apparently at the village, the people elected a 23 year old man who cannot read and write because they think that if he's not educated then he would not be corrupt... hmmm....

I can see that there is a lot of potential for Acheh.. the beaches (minus) the cows/cow dungs are very beautiful.. but it would be tough to develop it into a tourism area when the beaches are just behind somebody's house.. or even simple handicrafts made in Acheh are not that easy to find..

We were told that the donors money, about 6.7 billion USD are all gone. Which is why the govt is now almost in a panic mode to sustain the economy of Acheh. I truly hope that moving forward, there would be more programs to help the people economically.

The people will have a future, and tsunami will just be a history.

Masjid Baiturrahim..125 years old...I was told by Pak Irfan who brought us to the mosque that almost 2000 people who ran into the mosque during the tragedy were all alive..others outside the mosque died and buildings ruined... the only damage to the mosque was the side gate..

The infamous 'Kapal PLTD Apung 1' which weighs 2600 tonnes right in the middle of a housing area..

Photo taken at Ujong Pancu, a very beautiful village by the beach..

Fishing is still their main source of income..

Some of the villagers had gone up to the hills before tsunami to save themselves...they had predicted that something bad would happen because the sea looked different..

Playground for the kids at Lamjabat Foundation..

The participants listening to Linda..She can speak very good Bahasa Indonesia by the way..

Linda and Pak Yadi..

Checking out some of the crafts made by the villagers..

A view of Acheh from the sky.. go visit... not much activity to be done..but a beautiful place and a good place indeed for some soul-searching...