Focusing on the living among the dead<\/p>\n
Cameron Bates, Contributor, Banda Aceh<\/p>\n
Yanti does not consider herself lucky to have survived first the
\nearthquake and then the wall of water that wiped more than 70
\npercent of the town of Meulaboh, Aceh province, off the face of
\nthe planet.<\/p>\n
Nor does she consider herself fortunate not to have been in
\nher hometown of Lamno, further north along the devastated western
\nAceh coastline where her mother, father, sisters and brothers,
\nlike countless thousand others, suffered unimaginable deaths.<\/p>\n
Nor does the 24-year-old believe, given the sheer scale of the
\ndisaster, that her story of survival is remarkable; first in
\nMeulaboh and then Lamno as she searched refugee camps and then
\ninspected corpses to find her immediate family, of the joy and
\npain of finding extended relatives alive and of navigating murky
\nwaters littered with debris and the dead on a crowded boat headed
\nfor the provincial capital.<\/p>\n
But she is thankful; thankful that her aunt and her home were
\nspared and thankful that International Relief and Development
\n(IRD), a U.S.-based, non-governmental organization with
\noperations throughout Indonesia that is renting the house, has
\nprovided her with a job, which she is using to help overcome her
\nsuffering.<\/p>\n
\"I feel so bad; of course, that feeling is still there, but
\nwhat are you going to do? Are you going to cry every day? We have
\nto accept the situation, start from nothing and rebuild our lives
\nwherever we can work and do whatever we can do.\"<\/p>\n
The Acehnese are known for their resilience, having lived
\nunder what the majority consider occupational forces for hundreds
\nof years, but the pain lingers beneath the surface of many
\nsurvivors and can be triggered at any time.<\/p>\n
Lena Farsiah, a 60-year-old grandmother from Banda Aceh who
\nfortunately lost only one of her family members and survived
\nphysically unharmed, has succumbed to the emotional fallout.<\/p>\n
Lying in a joint Australian-New Zealand military field
\nhospital bed, the university lecturer could only tell The Jakarta
\nPost that the \"rain began to fall\" before sobs ended her story.<\/p>\n
Farsiah's son continued for her as she held the hand of a New
\nZealand medic, explaining that two weeks after the disaster his
\nmother had been outdoors when the heavy rain sparked fears the
\ndownpour would cause another tsunami. She blacked out, collapsed
\nand broke her wrist.<\/p>\n
Medical experts from the hospital, \"which can perform any
\nprocedure except for open heart surgery\", admit they are
\npowerless to aid the psychologically scared, despite having two
\npsychologists on staff. They cannot relate culturally to the
\npatients and working through interpreters is ineffective, a
\ndoctor said.<\/p>\n
Yanti, a recent law graduate from a university in Banda Aceh,
\nsays she is focusing on the future, busying herself as a member
\nof the IRD team working around the clock to bring relief to the
\nmore than 500,000 people believed to be internally displaced.<\/p>\n
In addition to the immediate supply of food aid and other
\nemergency supplies to Banda Aceh, an effort praised by U.S.
\nPresident George W Bush, IRD, which set up operations in Jakarta
\nin 1999, is implementing emergency contracts from the United
\nStates Agency for International Development to improve conditions
\nin what are squalid IDP camps dotted in and around Aceh's
\ncapital; namely, grants for the procurement of emergency supplies
\nand provision of emergency water and sanitation.<\/p>\n
In Banda Aceh, IRD is actively working in three IDP camps but
\nhas identified a total of nine others in the capital and a
\ngrowing number of others in more remote districts, and counting.<\/p>\n
Yanti has been employed in the spectrum of IRD programs
\nrunning in the camps, which include drainage, providing potable
\nwater, toilets, garbage disposal and collection, and cash-for-
\nwork programs to stimulate the local economy.<\/p>\n
\"It helps me cope, instead of sitting around doing nothing. I
\nam now in a position to be able to get out and help others.\"<\/p>\n
Sitting with relatives and other survivors from Lamno seeking
\nshelter in the IRD compound, Yanti says she does not know what
\nthe future holds, but as the emergency situation eases and IRD
\nlook to more long-term programs to help Aceh rebuild she would
\nlike to complete her masters degree in law, though she will need
\na sponsor if she is to achieve her dream.<\/p>\n
\"Anybody who came here to help is an angel; what IRD is doing
\nis really benefiting the people and we hope the program will
\ncontinue to grow. Even though IRD might not always be here, this
\nwill help the Acehnese people start over again.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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