Acehnese woman finds solace through sewing

Acehnese woman finds solace through sewing

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post/Meulaboh

Kartini rocks her daughter, Rafi Karanda (4 months old), to sleep
in a miniature cloth hammock hanging from the door. After she is
sure that Rafi is asleep, she begins sewing.

"I sew in this studio in order to temporarily get away from
the tent. Sewing in the studio helps ease my trauma," she said.

The 30-year-old mother has good reasons for being traumatized.
She lost her husband and a son to the tsunami disaster in
December last year. Now, there are two children left, namely Rafi
and Rima.

Kartini, the resident of Meulaboh, West Aceh regency, joined
the sewing studio earlier this month. The sewing studio was set
up by Samaritan's Purse, a foreign non-governmental organization
(NGO), that was established to help mothers affected by the
tsunami. As part of its efforts to help the Acehnese women, the
organization has opened sewing and cooking studios, and a trauma
counseling center.

Joining the sewing studio has given Kartini an escape from the
tent. Living in a tent has been a miserable experience for her.
She has to hug her children tightly to her when the wind rises
and rocks the tent. In such situations, the trauma inflicted by
the tsunami comes back to haunt her. "By sewing, I can ease the
trauma, although I always have to make sure Rafi is OK," she
said.

She only earns a little money from sewing. She even has to pay
Rp 4,000 (0.4 U.S. cents) per day on the minibus to take her to
and from the displaced persons camp where her tent is located.
She is also frequently distracted from her sewing by Rafi. But,
the fact that she can still sew makes Kartini happy.

Now, Kartini is dreaming that maybe one day she will be able
to buy her own sewing machine so that she can sew by herself and
make more money. She imagines having a house and sewing for a
living.

Kartini was a seamstress before the tsunami hit Aceh's coastal
areas on Dec. 26 last year. She had a lot of customers in her
former kampong in Padang Serahet subdistrict, Johan Pahlawan
district, West Aceh regency. The subdistrict is in the center
Meulaboh, a coastal city in West Aceh regency.

Many of her customers perished in the tsunami, but she hopes
that her remaining customers will remember her and will be
willing to use her services.

The sewing studio where Kartini now works every day was
established on Aug. 2 and it will stay open for three months. A
total of 43 people attend the studio and all are victims of the
tsunami. The NGO that helped set up the studio hopes that the
women, including Kartini, will become self-reliant after learning
sewing skills at the studio.

For Kartini, who is already a skilled seamstress, her
participation in the sewing studio is only temporary. In the
studio, she sews school uniforms that will be handed out free to
child victims of the tsunami. She is paid between Rp 25,000 and
Rp 27,000 by Samaritan's Purse for each uniform she makes.

Despite making only a little money, Kartini nevertheless says
that attending the studio is much better than sitting scared in
her tent as the wind threatens to blow it down.