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.