Journal page: One day in Aceh

Journal page: One day in Aceh

I usually woke up at 8 a.m. and went to the press center to
check the daily schedule of briefings and press conferences,
usually held by United Nations officials or disaster mitigation
team chief Alwi Shihab.

Then I'd go out to refugee camps to find soft stories --
human-interest stories -- and go back to the press center in
between to cover the press conferences of the day.

It was challenging to visit different refugee camps because
the refugees were from different areas, which affected their
accounts of survival, depending on how far they were from the
coast, how many people had lived in their town.

It was heartbreaking when I saw these survivors jostle and
fight for food and secondhand clothing, which they said were
limited and inadequate.

Emerging to a glaring, full noon, it was time to go back to
the press center to write stories and race against time, always
fearing that the Internet connection would come crashing down.

And after everything was done, only then did I remember to
eat. Most times, I only ate once a day because you always had to
rush and it was difficult to find food. You had to travel quite
far -- about a 30- to 45-minute trip by car -- to find a decent
enough place with fresh food.

Then out of the blue, you'd find that your body was worn out
and could barely do anything more -- but bathe, of course. But
that was only if you still had energy to draw water from a well
and figure out how to use it effectively.

Good night.
--Tony Hotland