Ride to safety brings Aceh teenager to Jakarta
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The tall, thin 15-year-old boy sits slumped on a couch in a Jakarta living room, his eyes focused on the baby niece of the Acehnese architect who has taken him in.
"She reminds me of my eight-month-old brother. He is able to walk now," said Dedy last week. He has been living in Jakarta with the Zulfikar Wahab family for two weeks now, since one of the architect's relatives, Dr. Buchori, gave him a ride to safety on Dec. 26.
"Dedy is a good and brave boy. He was very lucky to find us," said Vira Milya, 21, one of the eleven people from Banda Aceh that Zulfikar has provided with refuge since a few days after the earthquake and tsunamis hit Aceh province.
On the day of the disaster, Dedy became separated from his father, a police officer, his mother, and two younger brothers, Alfian, 10, and the infant Rayhan.
As the wave approached their house near Ukelele beach, his mother ran back inside to get something.
After running for a while, Dedy, who was carrying the baby bag for his mother, turned his head to see if she and Rayhan had caught up with him yet. All he could see was a wall of water rushing at him. Even his father and Alfian, who had been right behind him, were suddenly nowhere in sight.
Dedy, whose home was close to the neighborhood where the Buchori family lived, came running up as they prepared to get into their car after panicked people had warned them that they should leave immediately. He asked if he could go with them and they took him along.
"In the early days of Dedy's time with us, he looked so gloomy. A lot of the time he cried, wondering where his family were. He kept praying for their safety," Vira said.
"Then 'uncle' Zulfikar took Dedy over to the RCTI TV station to report that Dedy was seeking his family. They put him on a live broadcast, and almost immediately one of his relatives in Aceh called and informed him that his father and brother Alfian were safe," Vira recalled.
"They said that his father was OK and being treated in Medan (North Sumatra) for a badly injured leg, and that Alfian is safe and living with relatives in Sumatra. Since then, Dedy smiles more and sometimes even laughs," Vira said.
"He even seems to enjoy staying here with us, because my little cousins are very fond of his accompany," Vira added, explaining that the group had flown to Jakarta on the Wednesday after the disaster.
In Jakarta, Dedy has found more than shelter. Zulfikar and his family are taking care of him and sending him to school while he remains in Jakarta. Dedy is already registered as an eighth grader at State Junior High School 250 in Jatibening, Bekasi, near Zulfikar's home.
Dedy's father has requested that Dedy stay with the Zulfikar family until he recovers enough to get back to work. He is also concerned that Dedy gets the support he needs to be able to acknowledge that his mother and baby brother have died. Relatives of Dedy's family in Aceh have confirmed that they are missing and presumed dead.
Dedy is one of 302 disaster survivors, mostly children, who have ended up in Jakarta. Of this number, 199 have been treated in hospitals and then released to relatives or friends living in the capital. Six have died from their injuries, and 97 remain in hospital.
Dedy is one of only two children who came to Jakarta through the help of strangers, according to the Aceh Representative Office in Jakarta.
Suryadarma, the general secretary of Taman Iskandar Muda, an NGO affiliated with the Aceh Community Group of Greater Jakarta, said that child survivors of the disaster that has claimed a total of 175,458 lives, require a safe place that will help them recover from their trauma. (001)