|
More
photos in the Gallery
|
|
Projects completed in Aceh 2005-7 at a
glance
- More than 15,000 parcels of food, water and
medicines distributed
- 2500 family resettlement kits distributed
- 42 small brick factories re-constructed or
repaired
- Two orphanages constructed
- Two new kindergartens constructed
- Two kindergartens, two primary schools and one
orphanage repaired
- 36 new houses constructed
- Recreational kits benefiting more than 3,000
children distributed
- 945 benefited from eye camps
- 334 marginalized farmers benefitted from
agricultural start-up project
- Sewing machines distributed for livelihood
recovery for 130 women
- Computers and internet access provided for 900 high school students
- Counseling, child care and English classes
provided in several camps for
displaced people
Emergency relief
In the immediate aftermath of the disaster,
AMURT and AMURTEL focused on providing
emergency supplies to the survivors. We
distributed more than US$300,000 worth of
food and non-food, medical and recreational
items in the first three months to thousands
of tsunami survivors in different parts of
Aceh.
AMURTEL, our women's wing, made regular visits to interact
with the children in the camps for the
internally displaced people. Our informal English
classes were very popular and we were struck
by how keen these young children were to
learn a new language and to improve their
lives. AMURTEL volunteers provided counseling to
those who had lost beloved family members,
their homes, their livelihoods, everything!
This was not easy and some of us were unable
to hold back our tears as we cried together
with those we were counseling.
Rehabilitation
From this activity, we started to discover
the needs of the survivors on the long road
to rehabilitate and reconstruct their lives.
Education was one priority. AMURT and
AMURTEL raised funds to repair, renovate and
construct six schools. In addition 36 house
were constructed for families that had lost
their house in the tsunami.
From April 2005, AMURT worked with
survivors to rebuild the local economy,
starting with the rehabilitation of the
brick factories in Neuheun. We are delighted
that the forty-two brick kilns now
operate again, and make a substantial
contribution to the overall rebuilding
effort in Banda Aceh. Their businesses is thriving!
AMURTEL
supported livelihood
programs for women. Our sewing program has
provided 130 tailors (who lost their
equipment in the tsunami) with the
opportunity to earn their own sewing
machines, as well as cash income, by sewing
school uniforms for local schools. The women
have sewn uniforms for 3,920
schoolchildren of all ages, from
kindergarten to senior high school.
AMURTEL’s cake-making program has provided
cake-making equipment and ingredients to 40
women from two resettlement barracks. The
program started just in time to catch the
peak Ramadan demand for cakes with which to
break fast. After selling their cakes for a
profit, the women repaid a portion of the
start-up capital in five monthly
installments of cakes which AMURTEL
distributes free to orphans, the disabled
and the elderly.
In Meulaboh, AMURT worked with Sun
Spirit, a Jakarta-based NGO, on the first
organic farming project in Aceh. The 240
farmers have learnt techniques such as
mulching, composting, and the production of
fertilizer, pesticide and insecticide. They
consume most of the crops (such as
lettuce, spinach, carrots, beans, tomato)
themselves but hope to sell the produce in the
future. One of the project staff is so
inspired by the project that he plans to
name his first son “Organic!”
Development
Since January
2006 AMURT has accomplished some large and
much needed developmental projects. The
focus is on education, and in
particularly orphans, building schools and
hostels.
A computer literacy program for high school
students is another program where we invest
in the Acehnese potential beyond aid.
AMURT’s
largest construction project as the
Handicapped Primary School Complex at Jantho
with a budget of about USD700,000. Designed
to be a model school for children with
disabilities, the complex consists of 2
classroom blocks, a dormitory cluster,
dining hall, multi-purpose cum concert hall,
administrative block, library, workshop,
mausolah (small prayer hall) and teachers’
housing quarters. The entire complex is
linked by corridors with ramps and bathrooms
that are wheelchair friendly. Even the
mausolah is provided with two ramps (one for
males and one females) so that no
wheelchair-bound child will be left out. All
in, AMURT and AMURTEL has implemented
the rehabilitation and construction of 9
schools and 2 orphanages with total project
value of around USD1,000,000. Funding for
these projects came from big and small
international NGOs, as well as from other
AMURT/AMURTEL chapters around the world.
Agricultural
start-up program.
Most low
lying islands on the west coast of northern
Sumatra took the brunt of the Tsunami. On
some islands the death rate topped 20% of
the population. To make matters worse, much
of the agricultural land had been completely
devastated by salt water, mud and debris.
With daunting logistics and little local
infrastructure the farmers of these island
had become a marginal population that had
gotten little attention by the NGO
community.
AMURT decided to
initiate an agricultural project in Pulau
Nasi and Pulau Breueh because these two
islands had received very little aid. Two
years after the Dec 2004 earthquake and
tsunami, most of the residents of these two
islands that lay 15km and 20km off the
northern tip of Bandar Aceh, were still
living in tents. Their tsunami-devastated
fields had not been rehabilitated and the
villagers had no means of making a living.
The program entailed several phases of
community outreach and education, soil
recovery, equipment and seed support as well
as monitoring and consultancy. The
crops grown included banana, green bean,
corn, watermelon, cucumber, peanut, ginger,
soybean, chilli and paddy. Experts from the
Aceh Agriculture Department were brought in
to teach the farmers the latest ploughing
and planting techniques, while specialists
from Indonesian NGO Sunspirit taught the
farmers how to make organic compost,
insecticides and pesticides as well as
general organic farming techniques.
In all 334 farmers were
benefitted from the program. Later an
irrigation program was added.
As a result of the
resounding success of AMURT’s agricultural
project, the families involved are now able
to make a comfortable living from their
fields, with self-confidence and pride
restored. The economic activity generated
have also led to the 100% return to these
two islands of their displaced residents who
had been relocated on the Aceh mainland in
the wake of the tsunami.
Community
Many tsunami survivors have expressed deep
gratitude for the services we have provided
them. They never imagined that their grief
would be eased by strangers from different
lands. On one occasion two Europeans saw
AMURT taking children from a resettlement
camp on a trip to the sea beach for the fist
time since the tsunami. They were impressed
with the rapport and familiarity we had
developed with our little “friends”. This
has become the identity of the volunteers
and workers of AMURT and AMURTEL in this
operation: an adaptable multi-national
organization undertaking diverse programs
through people-to-people connections. We
give a special thanks to our Acehnese
staff who have became part of our extended
family.
|
