Govt to house tsunami orphans
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The government plans to set up some 50 orphanages, which could accommodate up to 50,000 children orphaned by the Dec. 26 tsunamis, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said here on Saturday.
Kalla said that the government was obligated to develop the orphanages as, according to the country's Constitution, the state has a responsibility to care for orphans.
"It's a long-term plan, but we'll start from now. We need 50 orphanages that could accommodate 50,000 orphans. It's a huge number, but it's certain that the government will develop the centers with the help of various elements of society," he said during a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of an orphanage compound here.
The Rp 4 billion (US$434.78 million) project will be developed on a 3-hectare plot of land. It is a joint project between the government and private station Trans TV.
The project is expected to be completed within the next four months and will include eight dormitories, two areas for dining and cooking, a multipurpose building, a playground, a football field, a basketball field and a mosque. The orphanage center is designed to accommodate up to 1,000 tsunami orphans from Aceh and North Sumatra.
Kalla, who is also chairman of the National Disaster Management and Refugee Coordination Board (Bakornas PBP), said that the tsunami death toll in Aceh and North Sumatra had reached over 150,000 people.
"As to the exact number of victims, only God knows," he said, "we can only estimate."
Elsewhere, he said the planned orphanages would provide an environment that would help the tsunami orphans recover from their ordeal.
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, who also attended the ceremony, said that the planned orphanages would mostly be developed in Aceh, which bore the brunt of the disaster.
Meanwhile, North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin said that the number of displaced Acehnese people in the province totaled some 19,601, of which 4,108 are children under the age of 17.
"Some 1,985 child refugees are staying in Medan. These children will be given priority for places in the new orphanage," he said.
However, not all children are happy about the prospect of being placed in an orphanage.
"I don't want to stay in the orphanage. I want to be with my mother in Aceh. I can't be without her," Uswatun Mastiyah, a 14- year old Acehnese girl, told The Jakarta Post.
Uswatun and her mother arrived in Medan in early January following the disaster. She said that her stepfather and an elder brother have been missing since Dec. 26.