Despite adversity, refugees determined

Dedy Ardiansyah, Contributor, Medan

An 18-year-old girl is sitting alone on a mat, tidying up a heap of clothes in front of her and then folding them all over again.

Evi is one of the many people who are suffering from depression following the tsunami that ravaging Banda Aceh on Dec. 26.

When somebody asks her a question, the dark-skinned girl will only laugh. Even if she replies, the words she mutters are unintelligible, only to be followed by smiles. Evi is now on her own, with no news about her family since the disaster.

Tunggul Hutapea, a physician from Deli Hospital in Medan, North Sumatra, said Evi was suffering from severe depression and she had to receive more intensive care in a mental hospital.

Along with hundreds of other refugees from tsunami-stricken Aceh, Evi is being housed in a former sawmill storehouse measuring 200 meters by 400 meters on Jl. Binjai, Medan, an evacuation center set up by the Aceh Sepakat (Aceh in Concord) community on Jan. 1.

This center provides a 50 meter by 200 meter room where refugees rest and sleep on mats, two separately placed 21-inch TV sets, and another room of the same size for kitchens and tarpaulin covered latrines.

The laughter of children aged from one to 10 enlivened the otherwise dismal atmosphere at the refugee camp on Friday morning. Unable to do anything more, the children are too young to drift into the gloom of those who have lost their spouses and loved ones.

Malik, for instance, was playing badminton with Iwan using a makeshift racket, laughing heartily once in a while. "Om ... om (uncle), take our picture, please," they shouted to be photographed as visitors arrived.

Meanwhile, on the piles of clothes contributed by donors, two little girls, Ririn and Inai, were trying some dresses on and giggling as they found them too loose.

"Ha..look, Ririn's like Santa Claus..," cried Inai as she saw Ririn wearing a santa cap.

The joy of these children consoled bereaved families and at the same time reminded them of their own relatives killed or missing in the calamity.

Ali Umar, 41, a refugee from Meulaboh who lost his family, said "I long to watch my kids playing and my wife preparing dinner."

This yearning brought him back to his home village in Ujung Karang, Meulaboh, West Aceh. "I want to search for them. I hope they are still alive," said Ali in a tone that was unconvincing.

A fisherman with five fishing boats washed away by the tsunami, he is now thinking of starting a new life.

"I can't always remain in this camp. I must return to start my life anew. I have to work for a living and I just hope some of my relatives survived the ordeal," he added, already resigning about whatever happened to his family.

Erniwati, 34, a former resident of Merduati subdistrict, Banda Aceh, also has a strong desire to go back home with her daughter, Rini Agustin, 13, while her husband and parents are missing.

"I'll return to my birthplace though my family members may have died. I'll go back to Banda Aceh when everything is normal," she said.

Like Ali and Erniwati, Syaiful, 28, and Badaruddin, 29, too, are among Acehnese evacuees who wish to go home despite the quake and tsunami trauma. Badaruddin even left his job as a security officer in Malaysia to find 20 of his relatives lost in the disaster.

The Aceh Sepakat center has registered over a thousand refugees from various towns in Aceh housed in eight locations. According to Aceh Sepakat community chief Fauzi Usman, a third of the total have returned to Aceh.

"They could not bear staying too long in the barracks. Their urge to seek loved ones was too strong to ignore," he said.

Fauzi said the refugees' longing to find their relatives and rebuild Aceh was only human. Not only the tsunami survivors, but even the Acehnese people now working abroad also wish to reconstruct their devastated birthplace.

"The Acehnese have their own tradition and culture, characterized by a very strong collective spirit and solidarity. It's not easy to forget their land even though three generations have been obliterated by the disaster," he noted.

According to him, Aceh Sepakat as a community representative of the entire ethnic groups and culture in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam will suggest a solution to the government for the restoration of Aceh without having to abandon customs and traditions.

"Rebuilding Aceh should be done while retaining its unique culture. The government should not be too hasty in its reconstruction," he warned.