Starting new life with cash for work

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Under the scorching sun, hundreds of Lamtengoh and Lamtutue villagers in Banda Aceh busily farm, hoeing the land and planting corn or clusters of bushes.

This picture postcard scene of traditional pastoral activity belies the fact that the residents of these two villages used to mostly earn a living from the sea before the Dec. 26 tsunami.

"We haven't switched professions, we're just farming to get our lives back on track before we get back to the sea," Lamteungoh village head Burhanuddin told The Jakarta Post.

The villages in the Peukan Bada district were among the worst hit by the tsunami. From the villages' 1,350 residents, only 244 people, mostly aged between 15 and 25 years old, survived.

For some days now, the residents have been part of the cash- for-work program -- cleaning up the villages and working in the plantation fields. They are no longer left doing nothing in their makeshift shelters for displaced people.

For the job, each of them receives Rp 30,000 (US$3.33) a day from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The foreign term "cash for work" is now popular among the fishermen.

"We're getting paid to clean up and farm in the villages, and it is actually for our own advantage," Burhanuddin said.

He referred to the program as like a car and passengers, where in this case, the residents served as the cars and the drivers, while the USAID were the passengers.

"The USAID listens to our wishes," he said.

The program also paid villagers to make fishing nets and set up village meeting halls.

"Even the women are also involved in the cash-for-work programs by cooking us meals," said Muhammad, a 34-year-old Lamteungoh villager who survived the disaster.

For the residents, Rp 30,000 has become an important sum after the disaster swept away most of their belongings.

The program has been introduced in 53 villages throughout the province in the Aceh Besar, Banda Aceh, and Aceh Pidie regions, and villagers say it is helping them begin new lives. One example, a widower from the Neuhen village, in Aceh Besar, says he used the money he earned from the program to pay for a wedding dowry.

USAID communication and outreach division official Betina Moreira said the cash-for-work program was intended to help the residents earn an income at the time when they had no jobs.

"Cash for work will give them a temporary income. And the residents are encouraged to take part in setting up priority activities to be used in the program," Moreira said.

Residents in Lhoong district in Aceh Besar had most of their plantation land devastated by the tsunami. There, the program paid villagers to clear the land.

"This (program) is profitable. The residents are advantaged in two ways. They're getting paid for their work and they can use the clean paddy fields again," Moreira said.