A year later, tsunami-battered Aceh searches for security and hope
By Chris Herlinger, ACT International
Banda Aceh , Indonesia , December 7, 2005—It is difficult for an outsider visiting Banda Aceh not to be drawn to the ocean.
Not to swim. Nor to fish. But merely to look and marvel at the ocean's destructive power.
On Banda Aceh's coastline, neighborhoods like Kampung Mulia and Lampaseh Kota took the full brunt of last December's tsunami. A year later, the surviving residents, most still living in tents and awaiting completed housing, still struggle with memories of an accursed day.
They include Afifuddin, 26, an information technology graduate who acts as a community representative for Lampaseh Kota, a once vibrant neighborhood now laid waste and recovering from an almost indescribable loss of life: from a population of 5,000, the urban village now has about 1,000 residents.
Afifuddin lost a grandmother, nephews, nieces, a brother and a sister last Dec. 26. He speaks of memories of that day - of panic, confusion, pandemonium - quietly, almost dispassionately. He is focused on the future and not the past, but that is not always easy - many around him are still traumatized, he said.
Lutheran World Relief partner Church World Service (CWS), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, provided basic relief items to his neighborhood - health kits, tents, mattresses - which have proven valuable in what has been a difficult year.
Marzuki Arsyad, a community volunteer in the Kampung Mulia neighborhood of Banda Aceh, Indonesian, lost 13 family members. He and his neighbors are working together to rebuild. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS |
Not far from Lampaseh Kota stands another urban village, Kampung Mulia - "noble village" in Indonesian - and also a recipient of CWS assistance. It is home to Marzuki Arsyad, a one-time driver of a bicycle taxi and part-time fisherman. Arsyad's immediate family fared better than many in his neighborhood - his wife, a physics teacher, works in another city and was not in Banda Aceh the day the tsunami hit. But he still lost brothers, sisters and other family - 13 in all.
The memories of that day refuse to lay dormant. "We were like people losing our minds. We saw these bodies - women, children, older people - all around us, and we couldn't do anything."
Staying determined and busy has helped ease a bit of the trauma. Like Afifuddin, Arsyad is focused on the future and believes Aceh's full recovery depends on developing the region's economic base.
Education and easing trauma also have key roles, as Siti Mariam quietly but determinedly believes. Mariam, a CWS program officer, helps coordinate a psychosocial support program for children in Krueng Kala village, south of Banda Aceh, site of a resettlement program for internally displaced persons affected by the tsunami.
A girl at a CWS-sponsored trauma assistance program at a local school at Krueng Kala village, south of Banda Aceh. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS
|
Mariam said the program, which one day recently hosted nearly 100 lively and talkative children as they engaged in crafts, has noticeably helped the children. Once afraid of noises that suggested the roar of the tsunami - even the sounds of helicopters sent the children cowering in fear - the young people are now engaged, funny, and "not afraid to express their emotions."
Small steps, to be sure, in what remains a long process of recovery. Much housing has yet to be built - CWS and the other ACT members in Indonesia are actively involved in that work - and Aceh itself is recovering from a double crisis, not only from the tsunami, but from a 30-year civil conflict that only recently ended.
In fact, the tsunami and recovery efforts are believed to have caused the Indonesian government and rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka, or GAM) to recognize the need to end a war that, prior to this year, showed no signs of abating.
That is why, as reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts continue into the future and as Aceh sets to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dec. 26 tsunami, the word "security" has particular poignancy in Aceh.
"This is not just about building homes," said CWS staffer Ejodia Kakunsi after several days of visits to Aceh's recovering coastal areas, "but building for the future."
Chris Herlinger is the information officer of the Emergency Response Program of Church World Service, a member of ACT International.
In one village, facing the future with patience and determination
By Chris Herlinger, ACT International
Near Banda Aceh , Indonesia , December 7, 2005—In battered Aceh coastal areas like Meue village, where fish and melons were once harvested in abundance, the sounds of hammers now punctuate the air.
Usman Umur is a member of a crew helping rebuild houses with CWS support in the village of Meue, Pidie district, Indonesia. Photo: Chris Herlinger/CWS |
A harbinger of hope, perhaps: as houses go up, fear is eased some. A quiet sense of optimism - once almost unimaginable 11 months ago - is no longer in such short supply.
But as Aceh prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, optimism is still something hard-earned, as Nurdin, a spokesman for the village of Meue, told a group of visitors recently.
"We've faced the last year with patience and a determination to move forward," he said. "Working has helped with the sorrows we've faced."
Meue, a three-hour drive south from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh, was spared the large loss of life common in other villages and in Banda Aceh itself, where an estimated 90,000 people - about one in four - perished.
But the disaster took a toll on the village's economic life. Its fishing fleet was destroyed, most of its houses flooded or destroyed, and nearly all of its livestock lost.
In working in a partnership with Lutheran World Relief partner Church World Service (CWS), a member of the global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International, the village has begun to regain some semblance of stability. CWS-ACT assistance has helped the village replenish its fishing fleet - 15 boats in all - and 91 houses have been built in the last year.
Economic uncertainty is far from resolved, though the new boats have at least given the community a chance to renew its fishing base. That has yielded a foundation so that residents of Meue can begin to move forward a bit.
"There's been no other place to go," said village chief Abu Bakar Mahmud, 50, as he and his wife, Nazariah, 35, worked on preparing fish netting. "But we're strong, resilient people."
That fact has been recognized in the village's partnership with CWS-ACT. Those assisting in CWS-ACT rebuilding efforts are from either the affected communities or from nearby communities and not outside contractors, said Indra Rerungan, a CWS technical officer who is helping coordinate housing efforts in Meue.
With the sounds of pounding hammers nearby, Syaraini, 31, a mother of three children - baby Noval, Sarah, 4, and Reza, 2 - said that preparing to move into her house is but one example of a community whose worries and fears have "calmed" a bit, saying housing reconstruction has made "everyone feel more secure, so they can focus on earning an income."
Her hopes for the future? "All I want," she said, "is for my children to be useful and resourceful for themselves."
A year later, that is the singular hope throughout Aceh.
Chris Herlinger is the information officer of the Emergency Response Program of Church World Service, a member of ACT International.
WHO IS LWR? Lutheran World Relief, an international nonprofit organization, works to end poverty and injustice by empowering some of the world's most impoverished communities to help themselves. With partners in 35 countries, LWR seeks to promote sustainable development with justice and dignity by helping communities bring about change for healthy, safe and secure lives; engage in Fair Trade; promote peace and reconciliation; and respond to emergencies. LWR is headquartered in Baltimore, Md. and has worked in international development and relief since 1945.
Lutheran World Relief is a ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), individuals and parish groups in international relief, development, advocacy and social responsibility.
For more information contact Emily Sollie at esollie@lwr.org or 410-230-2802.
