The following note and pictures document my initial impressions from my journey to Aceh. Thanks to each of you for your support of REACT and our Indonesia project.
Blessings.
Brian
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Banda Aceh, Indonesia
June 2005
When we landed in Banda Aceh, all seemed quiet at the airport, somewhat disturbingly so. Ours was the only airplane there with a couple of helicopters on the side. As we drove in to the city a sense of heaviness started coming upon me. It was almost like I could feel the death and destruction. We began the orientation in the van from the airport talking with Inge, the project manager of Abbalove's initiatives there. Abbalove is a large church, based in Jakarta who was the first group on the ground to help. It is the church NCC initially supporting in this venture. Inge ended up being one of the key "stars" of my time there -- one of the brightest young leaders I've encountered anywhere. An encouraging sign of the growth (and depth) of non-western leadership.
My first impression was that the affected areas are so much larger than I thought. Pictures and video don't seem to be able to capture just how substantial it was (and still is). Vast areas of just nothing but cement, wood and brick pieces, and an occasional building. The streets are cleaned off -- certain areas of the disaster zone have also had cleaning up done. But you still see many efforts going on to clean up the land which is full of every imaginable junk. From shoes to jewelry to furniture, things were everywhere. As they clean up using bulldozers, excavators, shovels, picks, and hands they still find remnants of human bones. At one such place we passed by, we stopped and talked to the workers and asked them about the process. They showed us bones they had just discovered a few hours earlier. Quite sobering to think of their daily work.
We were expecting to experience strong and offensive odors, but most places did not have them any longer. However, there are literally dozens and dozens of "tent cities" all over the place. I'm not sure how they deal with the lack of running water and regular sewage. In a few of those places they have put portable toilets.
Although a couple of organizations have built barrack type housing, but virtually no one wants to use them. One example of lack of cooperation and awareness is that some housing has been built in places that none of the people displaced want to live. So there was nice looking small track homes all completely built with no one living in them. These houses also have no water, toilets, or electricity (wonder why no one wants to live there?). But the source of the money directed them to be built so they were. Someone was able to take some nice pictures of completed refugee housing, I'm sure. Probably didn't mention anything about lack of occupancy. This was but one sad example of donor-driven, rather than need-driven ministry which we saw all over the place.
It has been nearly 6 months since the Tsunami. The CNN effect of generating wide and global interest is gone. Funds seem to be dwindling, personnel is clearly declining, and passion seems to be waning. There are large amounts of money we're told, but they are becoming harder to access due to red tape, bureaucracy, lack of adequate or appropriate proposals, and lack of skilled people to implement projects. And of course there seems to be less real money than was originally pledged. Now the real work needs to begin with building housing and developing whole village economies again.
The Indonesian government is at a virtual standstill -- caught by their own inadequacies and inefficiencies (not counting corruption). Apparently having organized many meetings about different things, people here say that the government is good at talking but little else.
There are some valiant efforts going on by many groups -- several of whom are Christian. Some of them are high profile about the fact that they are Christian and some are more quiet. There is a likely a place for both in this environment. A big need now is construction supervisors or managers who can take large housing projects in hand and get them moving. Hospitals are in need of being rebuilt. Many temporary clinic and temporary community centers have been (or are being) constructed, but those only seem to address short term needs. Most international NGOs are looking to find Indonesians to take the place of western workers. Since there are so few Christians in Aceh that likely means many workers will not be. Another challenge is that most all of the money that is being allocated from the NGOs is only being designated for new houses and thus any domicile that just needs remodeling is not dealt with.
The view of destruction is hard to communicate by words and even pictures. We stood in an area of downtown Banda Aceh near the ocean which had many well-built and expensive homes with 50,000 people there before the Tsunami. Almost nothing is standing any more -- only a few structures here and there. The landscape is just barren with slabs of cement in places (and a few tents) and it goes for about a couple of miles in all directions. When the earthquake finished, Banda Aceh and other parts of Sumatra were one meter lower than before. Well over a football field of the city's beachfront areas are now part of the ocean. Many people have no property to start over with and some are camped out on their property because they fear it will be taken from them.
The sense of devastation is massive. When we stood at the site of the tall monument or pillar that marks the spot where the Dutch first landed in Indonesia centuries ago. They told us that the surge of water was several yards above it. It is a wonder that any of those 50,000 survived. About 10,000 did in that area, but then we were told that many of those were not at home at the time. To stand there and think how high and massive the surge of water was just incredulous. The Kuwaiti government has donated a water purification system that is operating here now. Unfortunately, there is no one able to provide the piping to get it to the area of the city where people are (about 2 miles).
One side effect of the Tsunami is that a number of large sunken European trading ships from 150-200 years ago have been uncovered and moved around. Local entrepreneurs are diving down with scuba gear and recovering stuff. I got a small handmade wine jug with inscriptions saying that it came from Prussia. It will serve as a memory of this trip. It is not accurate to talk about a Tsunami wave or wall of water. It was the whole ocean surging forward with huge force and the sound of dozens and dozens of massive train engines. When it first hit land it was still going several hundred miles per hour they said. Several I talked with mentioned the loud noise of the water. One site where a church association is doing work among one group of 100 refugee families was near a sizable hill which stopped the Tsunami abruptly. In so doing it deposited over 4,000 bodies in an area of a few acres. This was over a mile from the ocean. Banda Aceh was a city of over 240,000 people. In less than 15 minutes over one-third of the city was wiped out. During our travels, we passed by one of the massive mass graves. Estimates are that 50-60,000 people are buried there in about 25 feet of body-fill, body-fill, body-fill, many times over. Needless to say, it makes one pause.
The need for communicating with survivors is great, but gathering them is difficult. Hence the need for many temporary community centers which also serve as clinics. Abbalove is trying to help the people understand what the government wants regarding rebuilding. Because most are saying that another massive earthquake is likely to happen again, the Government is proposing close to a one mile buffer zone between the ocean and residential homes. Understanding what that is all about and how the people might be compensated is a huge job. Of course suspicion and fear and distrust runs high in this kind of environment.
Christian groups are doing everything from digging sewer canals, to laying water pipes, to clearing debris, to building temporary shelters, to creating no-interest micro-loan opportunities, to kindergartens, to food distribution, to digging wells, to digging drainage ditches, building toilets, to building and staffing hospitals, to trauma counseling, to gathering people to begin the process of empowerment and capacity building, etc. Wholism and integration in their approach is a difficult undertaking.
Since the region is overwhelmingly Muslim (99.5%), and some have been fairly aggressive, it is an intriguing context. Though the Tsunami has allowed for outside involvement into this region (before there was no foreign access allowed), it is still tenuous. Farther south from Banda Aceh, those violently resisting the government continue to fight (as do the efforts of the government to keep them under control). Several major stories in the local newspapers talked about the government's insistence on keeping the rebels under control -- especially during this period.
There are seven churches in Banda Aceh. I did not get a sense of how they are participating in the response. Most are older churches that have very few attendees and virtually no Acehnese. The schools are another matter. Many completely destroyed; others made unusable. The children are among the hardest hit by the Tsunami's impact.
The things is, it seems that the response of westerners to the Tsunami has changed some perspectives in Aceh. As we traveled around, including walking through neighborhoods, the Acehnese would call out "Bule" "Bule" (no, not from the song!). They were saying "white person." The context of the saying is one of warmth, of hope. When we stopped once to observe a ferry coming in from one of the larger islands (there nearly 19,000 islands in Indonesia!) one Acehnese man came up to us and asked where we were from. When we said we were from America, he smiled very big and gave us a thumbs up. My Indonesian colleague, said, "do not underestimate the importance of this. They are communicating appreciation and hope."
As always in these situations some Americans have come with no awareness of nor interest in learning about and appreciating the local culture. These so called “bombardiers” have created chaos and damage to those trying to do authentic long-term work. The attitudes and arrogance they bring often just reinforce the stereotypes that some around the world have of Americans. Nevertheless, my colleagues and I felt that there are many who are doing genuine long-term, culturally-sensitive work and deserve tremendous support and encouragement. These workers are under great pressure and need care as well.
The needs in Aceh are so far greater than the resources at this point. I think that raises the question, “Why don't we see cooperation for greater effectiveness?” But many have devoted themselves to their own projects and do not want to be bothered. This is one area I hope to see addressed as a result of my conversations with some of the people and organizations who have asked for my response and evaluation of the situation.
I kept asking the question why things have taken so long. While much of the debris has been gathered and is being dealt with, little has happened in rebuilding in Banda Aceh. I understand some of the reasons for this, but it leaves me questioning the stewardship of the resources some have raised. Whereas some of the groups have focused on areas outside the city, why has so little taken place here? It has been way too long for some of the reconstruction to at least be started. This is another thought I'll be exploring with folks.
One of our days there, we met and toured with Jeff Hammond, who is coordinating the work for Abbalove (it's called YBI in Aceh). He is a high-profile leader with tremendous energy. He took us by many of the projects they are doing -- including community-based temporary shelters they have constructed for health clinics and just to hang out. We also went to one of their "adopted" tent cities where they handed out fruit baskets and talked to the people about being committed to them for the long term. The faces of the people and especially the children are still vividly with me still. Their bravery is inspiring.
One man (Fenny) told us the story of his village of about 1,000 people -- many miles away from the city of Banda Aceh down the coast. he said that after the Tsunami, there was no food or water left and virtually all but the few of them left. The small group of about 20 of them walked six days with no food or water to get to the city. They are now living in this tent city, unsure of their future, and shaken because of the loss of the rest of their family and community members.
There are some signs of hope. One of the days we were there a city-sponsored soccer exhibition was help with Renaldo from Brazil. Many in the community came out and it was a time of play and fun. Kids were smiling and playing -- the people are quite naturally warm and friendly. The sad fact is, there's not a lot to do for kids. A few came up and just wanted to hear me just talk. Others were enjoying ice cream and played on the field after the game was over. It was the first time I had felt the optimism. This soccer field with a basketball court off to the side, has served as one of the few gathering places where people can come to do things they used to do. Perhaps for some small moment it takes their mind off what happened and what lies next on their journey to reconstruction.
Another sign of optimism was when we went to a small cafe late one afternoon to get a coffee (arguably the best coffee beans in the world are grown here on the island of Sumatra), we had a great conversation with the owner, Petro. He gave us a couple of different kinds of coffee to taste -- showed us the place where he organizes and packages his coffee for sale. He was quite an entrepreneur and displayed the kind of savvy that any good coffee house chain would *love* to have (note: there are no Starbuck's, Tully's or SBC's here). Perhaps many of these small businesses would be worth some additional venture capital. Other people are interested in starting businesses and some micro-loans would likely be a helpful project, too.
I guess one of the things that will always remain with me from my time in Banda Aceh is the widespread state of devastation. Far and wide (and we did not even get to places along the western and eastern coastlines) the impact of the Tsunami remains. I'm sure the fear, loss, heartbreak, sadness, and even despair also remains with the people of Aceh. I was taken, however, by their smiles, openness, friendliness and ultimately, their hope.
And what, some have asked quite appropriately, is the "so what" from this trip for REACT? At least three things are on our radar screen as we continue to be involved in this country of 240 million people.
* One, we have been asked to explore assisting a group here in North America that is focused on mobilizing more resources to Indonesia. They are hoping to see more Americans involved in the work in Indonesia.
* Two, I will be working closely with my Indonesian friends in trying to bring some intentionality to cooperation. Among other things, that may include some partnership training and sports ministry projects.
* Finally, I'll be working with a few key organizations in trying to launch a community-based "model" integration project. Something that can demonstrate how working together in a holistic way can address these challenges more efficiently, as well as be an even more effective Christian witness.
