Rosni Idham: Poet between worlds

Rosni Idham: Poet between worlds

Robin Lim, Contributor/Ubud, Bali

The night of Oct. 7, 2005, Rosni Idham will be reading poetry at
the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) in Bali; almost 10
months ago, on the night of Dec. 26, 2004, she was feeding
tsunami survivors in Meulaboh, Aceh.

The floor of her house was wet from the dripping clothes of
survivors of the tsunami, yet she made space for as many of the
now homeless Acehnese as she could squeeze in.

She and her husband, Bismi, a kampong head in North Meulaboh,
were unsure of the extent of the damage from the morning's
earthquake and tsunami.

They were later to learn that at least 80 percent of Meulaboh
and its surrounding communities was wiped out. They were to
discover that the city received the brunt of the damage -- and of
how close they had been to the epicenter of the disaster that
spread death far and wide across the planet.

As with most Acehnese, Rosni had lost family and friends; many
of her loved ones were still missing, yet this poet activist
sprang into action.

When I met Rosni in Medan in this February, she was calm,
collected, smiled easily and spoke passionately about what we
would find once we reached the tsunami zone.

She was there organizing truckloads of food, which she drummed
up by appealing to ordinary citizens. This precious food would
make the dangerous trip over the mountains from one coast of
Sumatra to the other, through what was still conflict territory
at the time. It would travel precariously over bad roads, dodging
bandits and clearing military checkpoints.

I asked her why she, her family and friends were doing this,
when food was reportedly coming in from huge non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) like the United Nations World Food Program
(WFP), UNICEF, the Red Cross and many others. She answered
quietly, "It's not enough."

"Also," she said, "host families, who have taken in sometimes
20 or more homeless survivors, do not qualify for the relief
rice. They were poor and hungry before the tsunami; now they are
sharing -- and starving."

The next morning, I spoke with WFP organizers, and told them
what Rosni had said. They answered, "We were not aware of that
particular problem, but we will address it immediately."

One small, composed woman, speaking quietly, can make a huge
difference. In this case, her words saved lives. It is not
possible to count the number of lives Rosni, her family and her
friends at Ikatan Wanita Pengusaha Indonesia (IWAPI) saved over
the months since that fateful day.

Rosni is not just a mother, a community organizer, an advocate
of kindness and a devout Muslim; she is also an accomplished poet
whose words unite a community.

She is known for her courage, having been detained three times
by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and released. Asked if she was
hurt, terrified or traumatized by the experience, she shrugged,
"GAM was decent to me. They did not hurt me. Once they frightened
me, they asked for money but I didn't give it to them. I don't
really know why they chose me."

Each time I travel to Aceh to work in the Bumi Sehat Tsunami
Relief Clinic, Rosni helps me accomplish my highest goals for
sustainable relief. She was one of the first survivors in
Meulaboh who actually dared to make plans for livelihood
projects: She was looking toward a future few could imagine so
soon after the disaster.

When Yayasan Bumi Sehat holds capacity-building workshops for
midwives who survived the tsunami -- only 41 of 156 midwives in
Meulaboh are known to have survived -- Rosni's home is the venue.
It is her networking and hard labor that brings these workshops
together.

For months after the tsunami, the Idhams' home was stacked to
the ceiling with relief supplies. Without ado, she organized
women to pack 400 birth basins -- a baby bath filed with basic
birth and newborn supplies -- donated by Bumi Sehat and the
Indonesian Development, Education and Permaculture (IDEP)
organization from Ubud, and distribute these precious supplies to
pregnant women living in refugee camps and in temporary shelters
anywhere that was somewhat dry.

When other men and women were battling depression and other
effects of trauma, Rosni was organizing cash-for-work programs
and assisting foreign NGOs in networking with survivors.

All the while -- as the corpses of her neighbors, friends and
family were still being uncovered, and surrounded by the rubble
of what was once a city -- Rosni recorded what she felt, saw,
heard and smelled, in poetry.

Rosni is a strong, hopeful and compassionate voice of the
people of Aceh, and comes to the UWRF as the Wakil Bupati Aceh
Barat -- an unofficial representative of her people.

In the weeks leading up to the festival, Rosni can still be
found working in Aceh reconstruction, nine months after the
tsunami, applying her compassion to all matters, from the
financial to the emotional.

She can be found among community leaders, but mostly, she is
to be found in the camps, worrying over the supply of rice,
medicine and potable water, holding hands with the women and the
children of Aceh.

Robin Lim is a mother, midwife and writer based in Ubud, and
medical director of the Bumi Sehat Tsunami Relief Clinic in
Samatiga, Aceh.