Samsidar, an Acehnese with integrity<\/p>\n
Carla Bianpoen, Contributor\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
\"What bothers me immensely now is that the Acehnese whose houses
\nwere untouched by the devastating earthquake and tsunami, do not
\nshow a sense of solidarity with their own people,\" complains Ir.
\nSamsidar, herself an Acehnese, who heads the board of RPuK.<\/p>\n
She is also a commissioner at the National Commission on
\nViolence against Women (Komnas Perempuan). She will now hand over
\nher post of secretary general that she has held for the past
\nyear.<\/p>\n
In Banda Aceh, the cost of renting a house has gone up by 500
\npercent to 900 percent, with house owners getting rid of their
\nold tenants to be able to lease their houses to foreign relief
\nagencies, leaving locals -- students and aid workers among others
\n-- virtually on the street.<\/p>\n
Samsidar is deeply disappointed with these people and their
\nmaterialistic goals -- in Islam it is taught that one should not
\nenrich oneself at the cost of others. She feels ashamed that such
\npeople, themselves Acehnese, show so little sense of solidarity.
\nPerhaps influential Acehnese people should do something about
\nthis.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, some people are of the opinion that foreign
\nrelief institutions have a moral obligation as well to prevent
\nthe inflation of rental rates.<\/p>\n
\"They should not rent houses at such prices and contribute to
\na total distortion of the market. Maybe they should use knock
\ndown or temporary shelters or find other solutions.\"
\nThis is just one of the problems now emerging in the field.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile RPuK, whose lease has also expired in Banda Aceh,
\ncontinues to help meet the needs of selected refugees in Banda
\nAceh, and Lhokseumawe and camps within a radius of more than 40
\nkilometers from Lhokseumawe.<\/p>\n
With the overwhelming national and international response to
\nthe tsunami disaster in Aceh, and the flood of goods and helping
\nhands, the haunting question remains whether all that aid is
\nreaching its target.<\/p>\n
While many are actually stretching themselves beyond their
\nlimits to help out in emergency response efforts, Samsidar with
\nher team of young women working at RPuK, or the Tim Relawan
\nPerempuan untuk Kemanusiaan (Women Volunteer Team for Humanity),
\ndeserves special mention.<\/p>\n
Not only are they all from Aceh, but they have consistently
\nbeen bringing relief to victims of the armed conflict in the
\nbeleaguered province since 1999. What is more, these young women
\naged between 27 years and 40 years, many of whom have a
\nuniversity degree, work with an integrity of character that is
\none of a kind.<\/p>\n
Their way of working may appear energy intensive, but it's a
\nconsequence of the need to make sure that the supplies reach the
\ntargeted people. To that end, they personally take care of
\ndistributing kacang hijau (mung beans), eggs, milk, sugar,
\n(sometimes rice), underwear, and mosquito nets for babies, post
\nnatal necessities and women's sanitary towels to the refugees.<\/p>\n
In doing so, they often have to face local and government
\ncommittees who wish to distribute the aid, but the 14 young women
\nremain firm. They hand over the goods in person, and do data
\ncollection at the same time, thus obtaining a fairly good
\noverview of how many men, women and children are in the camps
\nthey visit.<\/p>\n
Samsidar reveals that many are now leaving the camps, to
\neither live with their families or return to their places of
\norigin. As a result, these families who have hardly enough to
\nfeed themselves, need supplies as well.<\/p>\n
Those returning to their hometowns or villages face the risk
\nof not receiving official supplies. Some refugees are returning
\nto their place of origin and are taking the initiative to set up
\ntemporary accommodation for their families. They refuse to go to
\nthe place of relocation provided by the government, which is
\noften far from their original places, despite offering adequate
\nemployment and education opportunities for the future.<\/p>\n
So far, RPuK has been preoccupied with an emergency response,
\nfrom initially 25,000 refugees, 10,000 remain in refugee camps,
\nwhile others have returned to various coastal communities and
\nfamilies who are taking in refugees. But they are not limiting
\nthemselves to such relief alone, and are thinking of strategies
\nto build new livelihood projects.<\/p>\n
Traditional values of mutual help and decision making within
\nthe community itself should be maintained in any form of
\nassistance, says Samsidar who keeps a low profile and is
\nunassuming in spite of her important position.<\/p>\n
A person of high integrity, Samsidar who graduated from the
\nagricultural department of Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh,
\ngave up her position as a lecturer of agriculture at Gajah Putih
\nUniversity in Takengon in Central Aceh.<\/p>\n
She is averse to any personal gain, staying in a makeshift
\nspace in the office of RPuK amid the piles of boxes of supplies,
\nwith no privacy guaranteed. As the head of the board she gets no
\ncompensation for the immense work she is doing.<\/p>\n
The others in RPuK only have the benefit of a meager
\ncompensation. Donor agencies do not value our professionalism, we
\nonly fit in the category of \"overhead costs\", she asserts.<\/p>\n
The question arises: How much longer can they carry on?
\nPerhaps, now is the moment to make groundbreaking changes.<\/p>",
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