Mercy Corps. get refugees going

Mercy Corps. get refugees going

Tony Hotland
The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

While many survivors in the tsunami-battered province of Nanggroe
Aceh Darussalam are either sleeping inside makeshift shelters or
waiting for others' mercy for their daily needs, a handful of
others are practicing the maxim "no pain no gain" by working with
Mercy Corps.

U.S.-based Mercy Corps., an international relief and
development organization, is paying these people Rp 35,000 (some
US$3.90) a day to clear thick mud and debris from roads and
schools through a cash-for-work program.

"We provide all of the tools and equipment to carry out the
work. This way, we expect to get the economy going again after
what happened and help restore the city as well. They can earn
money to buy things since markets are already functioning," Mercy
Corps.' director of Sumatra operations Diane Johnson said on
Wednesday.

Currently operating in some 35 countries, Mercy Corps. deals
mostly with efforts to assist people affected by poverty and
conflict by helping them build secure, productive and just
communities.

In Indonesia, it has been operating and carrying out
humanitarian projects for more than six years before the Aceh
tragedy.

Since arriving in the province on Dec. 28, the organization
has recruited more than 1,000 refugees in the capital city of
Banda Aceh and 200 more in Meulaboh, while the program itself is
scheduled to last for three months.

"We've been taking in everybody who's interested to join. So
far, we've been able to help get the major roads and seven
schools cleaned. We hope we can clean the rest of the schools by
Dec. 26 when they are scheduled to reopen," Johnson said.

Such a program, she said, was what Mercy Corps. had been
proven to be the best at and had been conducted in previous
relief and recovery efforts across the globe.

Johnson explained that they managed to get to the refugees
through their food distribution program, which has reached more
than 50,000 people.

"In Banda Aceh, we have distributed one month's supply of
World Food Program rice, noodles and biscuits. We've also given
out kits of clothing, soap, cooking utensils and shelter
essentials to more than 10,000 families," she said.

She asserted that the organization sought to focus more on
recovery efforts rather than relief by identifying business
opportunities that could employ many people and preparing a
scheme of soft loans as well as business-financing projects in
the coming months.

"We've started by financing some people to launch a pallet-
making business and restarting a brick-making factory here. These
materials will be very essential once the reconstruction process
kicks off," said Johnson.

As for the distribution of soft loans and micro-credit, Mercy
would seek assistance and collaboration with local financial
institutions rather than establishing a new one.

The organization, she added, had also paid boat crews to move
and repair 79 fishing boats in Meulaboh. It also planned to
provide fishermen with nets and other fishing gear in a bid to
quickly rebuild the area's fishing business.

"And you know, the people there are surprisingly eager to get
back to fishing again, even after the tragedy," she asserted.