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.