Sharing the pain
Sharing the pain
What should we do to help a friend in need who is now facing a
great tragedy; one who has helped us much and in a sincere way
when we faced a similar problem? What should we offer to this
much richer and much more advanced friend? A friend who has
nearly everything with him?
That is perhaps the feeling of many Indonesians, especially
the victims of the tsunami and earthquakes in Aceh province and
Nias island, in North Sumatra, when they saw the harrowing
reports about the hurricane disaster in the southern United
States on their televisions.
The frustration of the people in New Orleans with the federal
government and its slow arrival of emergency assistance was also
shared by the victims of the tsunami here, although actually the
U.S. government is supposed to be more prepared than the
Indonesian government, because unlike the tsunami, the arrival of
Hurricane Katrina had been predicted long before. The magnitude
of the natural disaster however was much worse than the U.S.
government anticipated.
The sympathy of victims of the last year's tsunami disaster
to the victims of the Hurriance Katrina in New Orleans and their
gratitude for the massive humanitarian aid given by the U.S. to
them were best reflected by the remarks of two Acehnese people.
The televised images of water flooding New Orleans prompted
painful memories for the Acehnese people, many of them still
living in displaced shelters or tents. About 130,000 people were
killed in the tsunami on Dec. 26.
The Associated Press' Chris Brummitt reported last week from
Banda Aceh, how Raju Danny, who lost his wife to the raging
tsunami torrent, and said "I felt tears welling up when I saw
that so many people had died."
"I would like to help, but all I have is my prayers," the
waiter said during a break from serving rice and fried chicken to
customers in a seaside area of Banda Aceh.
A student, according to Brummitt, recalled the massive
humanitarian effort undertaken by the U.S. military following the
disaster. Within days, U.S. choppers were dropping off water and
emergency supplies to stranded villagers and collecting injured
survivors.
"America helped us a lot, and they were genuine too," said
Reza Saputra, a 19-year-old student. "One of their helicopters
even crashed here."
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday has expressed
his condolences and sympathy to the U.S. President George W.
Bush. With Indonesia still struggling to completely come out of
the 1997 financial crisis, of course there is little the
President can offer to President Bush except sympathy from our
nation toward the suffering of Americans in New Orleans.
Among friends who came to offer sympathy and help, Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice especially praised Sri Lanka who
donated US$25,000 although the country also is still battling to
recover from the tsunami.
"It is very valuable for people being able to give to each
other and to be able to do so without a sense of means," Rice
commented on Sri Lanka's help, as quoted by the Associated Press.
An American citizen sent an email to this newspaper, telling
Indonesians it is their turn now to return the U.S. massive
assistance to Indonesia. We, Indonesians, will always feel
gratitude for the help of the U.S. government, and its citizens
to the victims of the tsunami in Aceh and Nias. The Americans do
not need our physical or financial contribution because they can
solve it themselves. But sincere attention from friends is very
helpful for them in their recovery process from the impact of the
hurriance disaster.
We want to repeat what Acehnese Raju Danny said, to the
hurricane victims in the New Orleans.
"We would like to help, but all we have is our prayers." May
God help the Americans in facing this disaster.
And we call on President Susilo to learn from Sri Lanka's good
example. It is not a matter of the amount of the assistance, but
the sincerity and care among friends. Although the amount of our
assistance is very small, the Americans will remember it as a
symbol of our sympathy for them.