Clearing away mud is job one in tsunami-damaged Banda Aceh AP
Clearing away mud is job one in tsunami-damaged Banda Aceh AP
Photos Planned[ By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN= Associated Press Writer=
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -
Clearing away mud is now top priority in Banda Aceh
Christopher Bodeen
Associated Press/Banda Aceh
Boots caked in muck, Said al Eidrus proudly throws open a door
revealing the Al Azhar kindergarten's newly pristine floors,
finally free of the waist-high layer of mud left by the tsunami.
Other volunteers slather gray paint on wooden doors and scrub
down concrete while teachers in white head scarves settle on the
white tiles for a staff meeting.
"When I saw the school for the first time I just couldn't
imagine how the kids could start school again," said Al Azhar's
27-year-old director, Idan Nusraini. "If we'd just had the
teachers it would have taken ages."
While long-term reconstruction of Banda Aceh's shattered
neighborhoods remains far off, a more immediate task beckons:
getting rid of the debris-laden muck that caked roads and fields
and flowed into buildings and homes after the Dec. 26 disaster.
Along with the volunteers, aid agencies and the Indonesian
government have hired crews from among those who lost their jobs
and homes to clean up schools and other public buildings, paying
them each Rp 40,000 rupiah (about US$4) per day.
A maker of musical instruments, Said drove up from his home in
the city of Medan immediately after the tsunami and now oversees
52 members of Islamic charity Mosque Youth from all over
Indonesia.
He said he has spent Rp 15 million rupiah of his own money on
the work.
Students began trickling back to classes this week after Said
and his crew spent 10 days shoveling out the rooms of the tiny Al
Azhar. Just 40 of its original 170 children have registered again
for classes, and teachers fear the rest are dead. Seven out of
the school's 13 teachers also perished.
For the survivors, getting back to the classroom is an
important step in healing the trauma from which many suffer, said
Nusraini, the director.
All over the city a massive cleanup is in progress.
At a mosque down a sodden road from the kindergarten, Abdul
Khalid, 35, shovels mud into a wheelbarrow in a project sponsored
by the U.S. charity Save the Children.
As with clearing up schools, cleaning mosques helps get life
back to normal quicker because the spaces also serve as community
gathering places. In just their second day on the job, Khalid's
14-man team has managed to clear the mosque's interior.
The former government office security guard said the money was
just enough to get by on but not to support his parents, who
moved in with another son after their house was badly damaged.
"I've got few options. I'll have to do this until they get
around to rebuilding the office," he said.
At Aceh's No. 1 State Islamic Junior High School, sticky black
muck runs ankle-deep in the yard and school records sit in soggy
piles, waist-high.
In the chemistry lab, few pieces of equipment are undamaged.
Mud even forced its way into a locked glass cabinet full of glass
beakers, lying 2.5 centimeters thick on the bottom shelf.
"God willing, we'll have it all cleaned up in another week,"
said headmaster Djamaluddin Husein, saying he still had no word
on funds for new books and destroyed teaching materials.
Taking a break from clearing mud, Khairuddin said he felt good
helping with the cleanup and seeing students return.
"It's what is good and needed for Aceh's people," said the
former peddler.
GetAP 1.00 -- FEB 2, 2005 09:18:02