On
Pulo Aceh, a small island off the coast of Banda Aceh, is a
courageous young woman who lost everything ten months ago.
“My village was by the sea, now my village has become
sand” says Zaitun, a 17-year-old whose entire family -
her mother, father, two sisters and two brothers - were killed
when the tsunami struck.
Despite the overwhelming grief, Zaitun perseveres: “I
try to study hard in school and talk with my friends. After
graduation this year, I will go on to study to be a teacher.
My ambition is to teach on my island Pulo Aceh.”
In order to help Zaitun fulfil her dream, the Red Cross Movement
is working together to not only rebuild individual lives and
homes, but the infrastructure of a whole community, including
job opportunities, schools, and provide clean water and sanitation.
“PMI (Indonesian Red Cross) and the British Red Cross
helped us clean up our village and gave us some money to start
working again. We can use it for farming and fishing,”
explains Zaitun.
Pulo Aceh was the pilot community for PMI and British Red Cross’
unique cash grant recovery programme. Individuals are helped
to open bank accounts into which the Red Cross pays phased tranches
of money so they can start generating an income once again.
The programme has a strong community-based approach, engaging
villagers at every stage and ensuring they are fully informed
of progress. The investment is already reaping a return in the
patience shown by the people of Pulo Aceh as reconstruction
plans are developed.
For now, those who have returned to the island from camps on
the mainland live in temporary quarters built by the government.
In some villages only a few people can stay for any extended
length of time due to the limited clean water supply.
“The wells are salty, and people can’t move back
to their villages unless there is a safe water supply,”
says Teh Tai Ring, water and sanitation delegate for American
Red Cross.
The American Red Cross identified two mountain springs from
which clean water can be piped directly into the homes that
will be built by the British Red Cross. Work has recently finished
on a dam and gravity fed filter system at one of the springs,
and similar work is beginning on the second. There will also
be a latrine for each house.
“The villages will have their own water committee to operate
and maintain their water and sanitation infrastructures,”
adds Tairing. “The committees will also be trained in
hygiene promotion, raising villagers’ awareness of health
risks and reducing sickness and disease.”
Education is a concern for all of the villagers, and the families
that have returned to Pulo Aceh currently have no schools for
their children. Building four schools on the island, including
one elementary school in Gugop - Zaitun’s village –
the German Red Cross will enable the children of Pulo Aceh to
return to the classroom.
Walking along the shores of her beloved island, Zaitun picks
up beautiful shells amidst pieces of what was once part of people’s
daily lives - clothing, shoes, the remnants of homes. Children’s
toys remain half buried in the sand.
Zaitun stops and points to what remains of a crumbled cement
foundation and says quietly, “that was my house.”
She wipes her eyes, tilts her head down and begins to walk again
– a sole survivor whose determination to return to live
on her island enables her to move forward.
Zaitun’s story symbolizes not only the devastation that
the tsunami imposed on many across the Indian Ocean and the
remarkable strength that survivors have shown, but also how
working together, the Red Cross is able to rebuild houses, lives,
livelihoods, and economies.
All this takes time, but in the near future Zaitun will have
a new home, clean spring water and a school where she can fulfil
her dream of being a teacher to the next generation of Pulo
Aceh children.
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Looking
forward – With the crumbled foundation of her home
behind her, Zaitun, a tsunami survivor, who lost her entire
family to the destructive wave, looks out on the horizon
of Pulo Aceh with hope for a bright future for her island.
Photo: Stacey Winston/International Federation (p13406)
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Fiona's
Spring - Final days of work on a gravity fed water filtration
system high the jungle above Pulo Aceh's Gugup village.
The American Red Cross is managing water projects in support
of British Red Cross livelihoods and reconstruction programmes
on the island and all along the west coast of Aceh. For
this filter system and small dam above it, young men and
women hand-carried hundreds of 45kg bags of sand over
one kilometre from the beach near Gugup straight up the
mountain to this spring now lovingingly named after British
Red Cross technical advisor Fiona McSheehy.
Photo: Virgil Grandfield/International Federation (p13404)
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Rebuilding
together – The Federation, Indonesian, British,
American, and German Red Cross Societies are working together
to rebuild the island of Pulo Aceh. Under the PMI flag,
Ulee Payar village chief, Mr. Ali Samsudin and his son,
Khairani, stand in front the temporary barracks where
they live. The British Red Cross are conducting housing
and livelihood programmes in their villlage.
Photo: Amalia Soemantri/International Federation (p13403)
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Walking
to clean water - American Red Cross water sanitation delegate,
Mr. Teh Tai Ring hikes a trail on Pulo Aceh to inspect
a clean and safe water source for the community of Ulee
Payar village.
Photo: Amalia Soemantri/International Federation (p13405)
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