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