As
a young boy, his dream was to become a soldier, inspired by
the vision of a brave man determined to protect people and serve
his country.
Zarkasyi never became a soldier. But today, at the age of 36,
he is nevertheless a nevertheless a brave man whose joy in life
is to serve people and his country, no matter what.
As a volunteer of the Indonesian Red Cross (Palang Merah Indonesia,
PMI) for more than 10 years, Zarkasyi has become a soldier of
humanitarian service, always on call especially in times of
emergency.
When the killer tsunami struck his hometown of Meulaboh on the
western coast of Aceh province last December, Zarkasyi was among
the first to come to the rescue of his neighbours.
After bringing his wife and two children to safer ground, he
returned to grab anyone struggling from the piles of mud and
debris.
Realizing that hundreds of people had been swept away by the
huge wave, Zarkasyi decided to take leave from his government
job and go full-time as a PMI volunteer. His mission: to save
as many lives as he could and to give food and relief assistance
to the survivors.
Four months later, Zarkasyi still finds time to distribute relief
aid, aside from helping to trace missing people, including his
own parents.
Since the government has assigned to the PMI the job of looking
for missing persons and retrieving bodies, Zarkasyi works from
8:00 am to 5:00 pm every week day tracing individuals who have
been reported missing, dead or alive.
"I feel it is my obligation to look for the missing people,
even if they have died, for the sake of their families,"
said the softly-spoken Zarkasyi, who, together with his team
of 30 PMI volunteers, has recovered more than 4,600 bodies,
most of them children.
Equipped with anti-tetanus vaccine, a pair of rubber gloves
and gauze mask, Zarkasyi admits that retrieving bodies is not
an easy job, partly because of the health hazards and also because
these bodies are in various stages of decomposition.
"But whether or not these bodies are already decaying,
it doesn’t really matter. They are still human beings
who deserve respect. It is important that they should be brought
back to their families or be properly buried, that is, if their
identity can no longer be established," an emotional Zarkasyi
stressed.
Faisal Mulyadi, one of Zarkasyi`s team members who became a
PMI volunteer more than six years ago, and who himself has lost
his mother and a younger brother in the tsunami disaster, nodded
in agreement:
"This is a very special job we do here. We feel both sad
and happy whenever we recover bodies. Sad because of what happened
to them. Happy, because at least we may be able to bring back
their dignity, even in death."
With thousands of people reported dead or missing, Zarkasyi
said, his team has a long way to go to retrieve more missing
people.
Meulaboh, capital of Aceh Barat, has a population of about 140,000
people, mostly living in coastal areas. When the tsunami struck,
40,233 people here were reported killed, 2,911 missing, and
56,497 left homeless.
So far, the International Federation and its member National
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have served 12,928 families
(more than 64,000 persons) in Aceh Barat, by distributing food
and relief aid, offering health services and giving psychological
support.
Jelma de la Peña, head of the International Federation’s
office in Meulaboh, said her team, together with PMI and other
National Societies continued to assess affected areas for further
relief and rehabilitation assistance.
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When
the tsunami struck his hometown, Zarkasyi was among the
first to come to the rescue of his neighbours. Today,
he continues to serve them (p12853)
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Zarkasyi’s
team of Indonesian Red Cross volunteers continue to search
for bodies among the debris of Meulaboh (p12856)
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PMI
volunteer Faisal Mulyadi says: “When we recover
bodies, we are able to bring back their dignity.”
(p12855)
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Zarkasyi
and team member Faisal Mulyadi take a respite at the International
Federation’s camp after a hard day’s work
(12854)
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