Dear All,

Mission of Team for Aceh the second round is accomplished. Start Feb 15 and returned safely Feb 25. Only 4 TFC members remain in Aceh to finish Tank Ferro Cement. Until March 9 th

Person involved:

 

 

No.	Name	Role & Info
1	Johnny W. Utama	team leader
2	Francisca Rodriguez Kaimowitz	Bakery. Mexican Volunteer
3	Kiyomi Takeuchi	Journal. Japanese Volunteer
4	Elly Wisanti	Economic Recovery Program
5	Fitria	Children & Education Program. From Yogya
6	Aloysius W. Widhi (Bebek)	Children & Education Program. From Yogya
7	Sri Sekarpeni	Economic Recovery Program. From Jakarta
8	Ariesnawaty	An Architect from Jakarta
9	Rully	An Architect from Jakarta
10	Sabinus M. Melano	Team Tanki Ferro Cement YDT. From Jakarta
11	Edward (Edo)SH	Team Tanki Ferro Cement YDT. From Pontianak
12	Adi	Team Tanki Ferro Cement. From Sg. Ambawang
13	Kiling	Team Tanki Ferro Cement. From Sg. Ambawang

 

Stay in Dusun Cot Riwat Village Durueng since 15 January 2005 .

From Yayasan Lentera Anak Kota (LAK):

1. Heri Chariansyah, Mr from Medan – as Administration Support for Durueng Village
2. Yudhi, Mr from Medan – Assistant

From Yayasan Anak Kreatif Ala Rimba:

1. Hendri Zakaria from Medan – Assistant
2. Iskandar Oloan from Medan – Assistant

In total 17 persons join forces to finish many programs.

 

PREPARATION STAGE

Feb 13, I flew across to Medan to organize almost all material for training including 9 units of sewing machinery, 2 balls of fabrics, 6 sets of kerosene stove and oven. 12 pcs patromax kerosene pump lamp, materials for 2 units of TFC and 8 toilet and other cook ware and rice for team 9. I also bought sugar, flour, yeast, margarine for bakery. For this “shopping” Ferdinand (Inan) Betty’s brother and driver of Pak Nelson (DEXA-Medan) helped me a lot. I rented 2 unit trucks from an Indian truck owner Mr. Siwanesen. To my surprise after the deal he donated Rp 1.000.000 for Aceh via Our Team 9.

He said: ‘I want to donate Aceh, but I didn’t know how. Now I trust your team since I carry this all stuff to Aceh by my trucks.’ I stayed in the good care and hospitality of Nababan’s family.

February 14 th , I flew to Banda Aceh, while Inan and Mrs. Nababan loaded the truck with the help of a group of becak drivers.

Thanks Ibu Nababan, Inan, and Pak Siwanesen, this mission would have never been accomplished without your help in Medan . Arriving in Banda Aceh, I coordinate with Mr. Khaerul of PASE our host organization. After surveying 2 other location, I decided to rent a house for 10 days for Team 9 in Jl. Fatahillah, bought mattresses for the team, then visit Cot Gue Camp in mountain site, 25 minutes from the city. I stayed overnight at PASE office, discussing the happenings in Aceh.

 

THE TEAM ARRIVED

Feb 15, I rented 2 cars for 10 days, unloaded 2 trucks and pick up Team 9 in airport. 12 persons actually came, but they brought almost 1 ton of stuff all 18 coolies and without paying any excess baggage’s. They asked every passage if they have free baggage to bring the all goods for Aceh .

My 2 rented cars are not sufficient, so we rent 1 more taxi for passages only to our ”House” at

Jl. Fatahilah. At night we have a 1st meeting : introducing everybody and briefing all programs.

Actually after meeting it is free to go to sleep some work already start most night : to prepare women underwear XL, L, M, S size 2 pc + 1 soap in one pack. I didn’t participate in the job. I was going to sleep at midnight .

ORIENTATION

Feb 16. With two rented cars, the whole team did the orientation. Altogether we went to COT GUE camp. The camp became so crowded. 703 refugees or 185 families occupies football yard around 1000 M².

In mid January when team 9 left this camp with only 330 refugee, PERTAMINA (State Oil Company) said they want to manage COT GUE , then they attract a lot of people to move there. Electricity from GENSET is one element. The other is good supply of clean water from TFC built by Mr. Rudy and

Mr. Irawan last January.

After so many refugee join in COT GUE, suddenly PERTAMINA pull out their support and left the KARANG TARUNA the small NGO in panic to handle such a big camp.

Regret to say the TFC’s drain-knob at the bottom of the tank was broken by three boys who in one morning opened those drainage knob taking bath happily. They consume all the water which sufficient for 500 people in one day.

No maintenance is the key problem. So the TFC is not workable anymore till we come again. We were scheduled to repair it. It will take three days of reparation.

Then we went to DURUENG village to meet Heri and his friend Yudhi. TFC team will stay here and make a base camp to train local people how to make Ferro Cement Tank. We walked around the village and decide toilet facilities are quite important. It becomes the 1 st priority for survey, after toilet then one unit TFC in Dusun Cot Riwat.

Kepala Dusun ( Village head master) allowed us to use his house with two rooms for our stay.

We now have two places to stay and organize things. One place in the city with electricity and one place in the village near the refugee.

We visit also BITAI camp. This spot is organized by Yayasan PASE. Actually this place is in the city of Banda Aceh . The damage is 90-95%. Three waves of tsunami crushed in Bitai 3 km from the beach. Mr. Khaerul (Head of PASE) is originally from this place. His two parents and two brothers were killed and was never found. His family vanished. Only one sister and Khaerul himself survived. We were astonished at what we can do in such a big damaged place, but Khaerul proposed if we can build one TFC and one toilet for BITAI survivor.

At night we did all preparation for distribution of children program, including school equipment, drawing pencil and books. All of us worked till midnight and we fall on death sleep.

 

TEAM 9 IN ACTION

From 17-24 th I write there is no more dairy(Kyomi’s one is more detailed). The day became very short. Baker training started at the 17 th with 10 participants from three dusun of DURUENG village. Ibu Francisca and Ibu Elly are the ones fully in charge. The real technical training how to make bread is only two days. The TFC team move in DURUENG and fight their own problems, from recruiting local people to the materials management.

Some of us went to Hospitals for assessment of children program, but in three biggest hospitals in Banda Aceh there are not many child victims of tsunami. It is reported to us almost all the victims that came to hospitals during the 1 st week (26/12 – 2/1) mostly died in those hospitals. Because there were no doctors, no electricity and no proper equipment, many children died during those periods.

Day 4 ( 29 Dec 2004 )…I saw the boy in the corner of RS Sakinah, about 9-10 year old bleeding in many places, but the worst is his lung was full of mud. No equipment, no intravenous facilities. Every time he coughed black and sticky mud came out from his mouth, sometimes from his nose. It was a really hopeless situation. I knew this boy can not survive. No one was with him in his very last moments. No parents, no brother or sister. Nobody had taken care of him for four days. We can count his breath.…..In this hopeless situation I cleaned his wound and gave him a toy monkey doll belonging to my own son. I put it in his bedside close to his head. He didn’t react at all.….I saw him again that afternoon; amazingly he grabbed the doll and put it in his chest. He played awhile then slept.… The next day he was already gone. They took his dead body in to the black plastic bag with the monkey doll together in his arm. I just hope he had a little bit happiness… just awhile.(as told by doctor in airport, he showed me a picture in his laptop of a thin black skin, boy with a monkey doll in his bedside. Johnny )

Acehnese call the day by counting how many days after I e Raya (Tsunami)

19-20 February ASESSMENT TO PULO ACEH

Yayasan Pase has regular schedules to Pulo Aceh 2 hours by boat every Wednesday and Saturday. We were invited to join them for short assessment visit. The two architects, Mrs. Aries and Mr. Ruby and I went there just stay overnight and return the next day.

Our boat was donated by Yayasan Aceh relief program. It is quite a medium sized boat to bring logistics and building materials. During the travel we met Mr. Freeman from Hong Kong, a volunteer from COMPASSION (International NGO based in Vancouver Canada ). We exchanged information about programs idea how to rebuilt Aceh Post Tsunami. Corporate with Yayasan PASE, Aceh Relief Collaborated with CRS (Catholic Relief Support) another international NGO, they already have plans for relocation in Pulo Aceh. They have technical drawing for housing 6 x 6 m 2 per family, including toilet and kitchen they plan to built 20 houses per week.

 

Day 1, 26 Dec 2004As Mr. Freeman asked the other passenger I did translation for him, who is on the boat during Tsunami he asked and a group of men told their story.…We are in those small boat.. pointed to other boat PAO2 (Pulo Aceh O2) one of two boat survive from Tsunami. There is a celebration in another city so we went to Banda early morning to catch bus to Lhoksumaweh. All dress up for the party just after sunrise our boat approaching Ulele. One of Banda Aceh’s small harbor…. But the captain felt something was wrong. Not only because the wave was bigger but it seems the horizon look closer. The view from the captain’s room looks very strange. The boat was climbing the ocean. It was not normal. The captain called others to make sure he was not drunk or something. But the others also felt the same. After awhile then they saw the tidal wave. Three layers were approaching the beach. When the 1 st tidal wave hit the shore, the water run very deep within the land. Then they decided to turn back to Pulo Aceh. They were very scared and when they return to their land their village was already gone. No single building survived. The tidal wave reaching up to 30-40 meters high killed 2/3 of the village. Mostly 80-90% young children (1-5 years old) died. They said Pulo Aceh has lost a generation….

Now survival of Pulo Aceh, about 400 people was accommodated in desa LAMCEU camp, mostly the men returns to Pulo Aceh to Pulo Aceh to start rebuild their homeland from very beginning.

They are very brave men, very independent, with or without help from outside they still eagerly to do something to bring their family home again. Now in Pulo Aceh there are 100-150 people volunteer and original citizen of Pulo Aceh. All stay in tents eating food from public kitchen together are working for infrastructure such as pier and harbor.

 

Day 57 th 20 Feb 2005Sunday morning walking alone in the beach of Pulo Aceh , I notice this island was a really beautiful island. Facing Indian Ocean yet the village : Desa Lampuyang is totally destroyed. Coconut trees pulled out with it’s all red roots and stuffed like matches 500 – 1.000 meters from the beach. No single building survived. All flat. It sadden me when I saw children’s toys, red shoe, ladies praying scarf all abandoned in the mud. It is not supposed to be like this such as empty silent village, only sea breeze. Where were the children singing? Where are the teenagers loud radio or stereo tape? Where were the women chatting or men working noise; there were no fishing activities. No, this village so silent, so empty.Then I saw baby’s clothes and a set of diapers laying neatly in the mud….my eyes were already wet. My imagination tricks me as I witness all the death in this single place….For no very good reason I found myself weeping.

Day 60 th ( 23 February 2005 )

BONEKA – DOLLS or SOFT TOYS

Started by Mark Sandiford, donation of Rp 2,000,000 was handed to me on January 15 by Elaine Pinkan. He wished to spend it especially for Acehnese children. That was his special request .

I contacted my friend Mr. Budhi Tirta. He is the owner and director of SUNINDO Soft Toy manufacturer in Bogor . He offered very handsome prices, so with Rp 2,000,000 we got 100 soft toys. Amazingly SUNINDO gave over 155 more toys free as their gift for Acehnese children.

Team 9 took out the pig and dog dolls during the selection process because it will not be allowed in Aceh. Moslems are forbidden to eat pork and also forbidden to be licked by dogs.

We brought 255++ dolls to Banda Aceh with hard effort to transport in such a bulky box.

Then we heard from Heri that dolls is not acceptable in many Acehnese Gampong. The explanation is in one Hadis in Qur-An (Koran) it is said that the Moslem people are forbidden to adore statues or anything that was made in the image of living creature, human and animals alike; because if the statue or its like is adorned, loved and given feelings to, it’ s like giving soul to the object. Especially if the object is to be kissed, loved and carried everywhere. The love that is poured into the object is considered a form of worship towards a thing created by man, whereas God’s creation cannot compare with man’s. (I apologize if the explanation described in this narration is not accurate to the one written in Hadis).

So before giving away the toys, we repeatedly asked the religious leaders in that gampong and also asked permission from the head of gampong. We received permission to give the toys away in Desa Durueng and I participated in handing out the toys in Gampong (village) Garut.

All the children received toys. The girls got teddy bears and the boys got dinosaurs. That day was the happiest day for the volunteers. There are a lot of sad memories in other places, but in Garut Village we witnessed a lot of happiness that seeped into all age groups.

The children were laughing, screaming, dancing and cart wheeling, expressing their happiness freely. They hugged, cuddled, and put the doll’s arms around their necks, they showed the toy they have to each other, to their grandmothers, to their fathers, it was a riot of happiness.

The elderly also smiled, old women shed tears watching happiness return to the village after all the sadness that followed the tsunami.

A mother remarked ; our children were never given anything like this. Others gave instant noodle and used clothing. Precious few is truly meant for the children.

Thanks Mark, Elaine, Budhi and all other donators. I wish you were here in Garut to see Aceh smile again.

Johnny

Day 21We are passing by a Ruko (house and shops) area in Banda Aceh. We noticed a woman and her two daughters in a quarrel with two young soldiers. The older woman pushed at the soldier and spoke in a very loud and angry voice. Our driver stopped the car and opened the window….. suddenly THAT SMELL hit us. The smell of dead bodies. ‘What happened, good lady’, asked our driver.‘This soldier wouldn’t permit me to find my son’s body,’ she said.The soldier defended himself. ‘…what’s the use, it is almost jelly. Nobody can recognize anybody….’‘But I’m his mother. I will know he is my son or not’, yelled the older woman.Our diver, an Acehnese – who – want – to interfere – with – all – affairs – in – the world advise the young soldier wisely. ‘Let her see what she wants to see, so she will not wait her whole life for her son.’The soldier permit her, and what happened is really unthinkable; the woman opened the zipper of the black bag, flies swarmed over it …she and her two daughters looked in and observe the body.I asked the driver, ‘please, let’s go.’ We don’t know the result ; whether it was her son or not. We don’t know how many bags the three ladies opened the entire morning. They believe their son/brother must be somewhere inside the corpse bags, because all the dead bodies were from their home area. How can we judge the people ? What do we know about a mother’s love – ready to do anything just for one last look … just to say farewell. Will you do the same thing if you were in her position?? Looking for somebody you love? How deep is the quality of love that make you do something like this. Johnny