Amputee puts past behind her

Amputee puts past behind her

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

It has been almost a year since Nurleili was swept away by the
raging waters of the tsunami that ravaged Aceh, her right leg
injured so badly that doctors were forced to amputate.

Today, Leili, as the 23-year-old is known, is as busy and
active as she was before the tsunami swept through her village in
Aceh Besar regency.

With her prosthetic leg, which is too small and still gives
her pain, Leili moves around the shelter for displaced persons in
Lamlhom, also in Aceh Besar regency, where she now lives.

Her days are full, as she does the washing, cooking and
cleaning for her three brothers. Their parents died in the
tsunami.

Leili said crying about the past would not bring back any of
the things she lost in the disaster.

"The tsunami left me with this memory, a lost leg. I'll
remember this tragedy my whole life," Leili told The Jakarta
Post.

Only in those rare quiet moments, when her work is finished,
does Leili worry about what the future may hold.

"Maybe I'll be doing this until I'm old," she sighed.

The staggering number of people who died in the tsunami that
devastated Aceh and parts of North Sumatra last Dec. 26 has been
well documented, but there are no accurate records of the number
of people who were left handicapped by the disaster.

The non-governmental organization Handicap International, one
of the groups assisting the handicapped in the province, visits
Nurleili at the shelter once a week.

Over the last 10 months, the group has scoured shelters and
tents across Aceh looking for anyone in need of assistance.

The group has provided prosthetic devices for 180 people and
treated 1,011 patients, only 30 percent of whom were tsunami
survivors.

But almost a year after the tsunami, the people left
handicapped by the disaster are largely on their own. They
receive very little medical attention and no training to help
them live on their own in the future.

Leili herself harbors a dream that one day she will be able to
live on her own, without help or pity.

"Since I'm handicapped, it will be hard for me to get a job.
But I could be a tailor," she said.