Jakarta (ANTARA) - Eid al-Fitr is the eagerly awaited moment for\nevery Muslim, following a month of fasting during Ramadan.<\/p>\n
The ANTARA Bangkit Sumatera team captured the Eid atmosphere in the\ndisaster-affected areas of Aceh in March 2026. This third-period team\ndeparted from Jakarta on 15 March, or five days before Eid al-Fitr.<\/p>\n
Landing at Kualanamu Airport in Medan on Sunday (15\/3) night, the\nteam continued their journey the next morning to a hospital in Aceh\nTamiang that had gone viral during the disaster, RSUD Muda Sedia.<\/p>\n
That name had previously been a frequent topic on social media.\nDramatic video clips showed how the second floor of the hospital became\na survival spot for patients and medical staff when floodwaters\nsubmerged the ground floor.<\/p>\n
Now, four months post-disaster, the place has transformed,\ndemonstrating an ongoing recovery process, though not yet 100 per cent\ncomplete. The mud has been cleared, hospital activities have resumed,\nand even some parts of the building have been repaired and repainted,\nsignifying a resurgence from despair.<\/p>\n
In haste, we promptly carried out our duties. Recording footage,\ntaking photos, interviewing several people. Our journey continued.<\/p>\n
Sekumur and the Sea of Wood<\/p>\n
Venturing deeper into Aceh, the team reached Desa Sekumur, Sekerak,\nAceh Tamiang. The damage we had seen on the roads earlier paled in\ncomparison to what had occurred in this rather remote village.<\/p>\n
To reach it, we had to cross the Tamiang River using a simple raft,\nwhich at that time served as an essential transport tool for local\nmobility.<\/p>\n
Descending from the raft, we traversed the village. Once again, we\nwere stunned by the sheer volume of flood debris\u2014wooden scraps carried\ninto the village. One ANTARA team member, Bang Aloy, a burly man from\nthe East, even tried comparing his body to the stranded logs, and the\nresult was that he couldn\u2019t even embrace one with his arms.<\/p>\n
Further along the path, our eyes ceaselessly scanned left and right,\nbut as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but unremoved flood\nlogs.<\/p>\n
A Sampan from the Wound<\/p>\n
The atmosphere in Desa Sekumur was quite hot at the time, but there\nwere still breezes that made our walk less punishing, even though we\nwere fasting. As we walked, we often exchanged greetings with residents\nuntil our gaze was fixed on a house in front of which stood a large\nwooden sampan that was not yet complete.<\/p>\n
It turned out that the sampan was made by a 65-year-old grandfather\nnamed Mukhtar Sulaiman. Not without reason, the sampan was crafted from\nflood-carried logs that had washed up right in front of his home.<\/p>\n
Drawing on the boat-building skills inherited from his father,\nMukhtar transformed a gelam log about 10 metres long and over one metre\nin diameter into a sampan usable by the community.<\/p>\n
Not for rent or sale. With humility, he said that the sampan was made\nas a form of charity to fellow villagers in need.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis I use as my charity for this community, because many from\noutside have helped us greatly\u2014why can\u2019t we?\u201d Mukhtar said this while\nholding the axe used to carve the sampan.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/aceh-a-hope-that-never-fades-3-end-1775965843", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }