Survivors take brave, first step toward new life (Part II)

Survivors take brave, first step toward new life (Part II)

Chisato Hara
The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

The shelter settlement is located on the far end of Tingkeum
next to a small stream and along the village's main road. A wide
gravel pathway lined with potted plants leads up to the numbered
shelters, and on each door is a pink placard indicating the head
of household and their dependents who will live there. Roped,
coconut-log "fences" painted white mark the boundary of the
settlement, as well as cordon off the three village graveyards in
the area.

There is a well in a rear corner of the settlement; on the
opposite end are two "open-bottom" septic tanks buried in the
ground and sealed with concrete -- one for "grey" water, such as
dish- and laundry water, the other for "black" water, or sewage.

While bed mattresses were not part of the original shelter
contract, IOM Banda Aceh received approval for their procurement
from its Jakarta headquarters, purchased and delivered them
within 24 hours after the families identified the need.

Even as the families move in, dozens of construction workers
in IOM T-shirts, hardhats and rubber boots -- all recruited
locally -- are busy building across the road. There, foundations
for an additional 32 units have been excavated, another site for
55 units is being marked and laid out, and concrete panels and
cement tiles are stacked. Another site slightly apart from the
main settlement has been located for the remaining 11 units, so
that all 107 IDP families in Tingkeum will be accommodated.

"It is essential that we maintain the cohesiveness of previous
communities," said IOM Indonesia Mission head Stephen Cook during
the symbolic handover ceremony that afternoon.

The families are visibly more relaxed as they sit together
under a marquee erected for the event, and their faces emit a
quiet radiance. The women have donned clean, white head-scarves
for the occasion, and several IDP boys are playing in the
vicinity with village children.

"I'm happy. Everyone is happy. My wife is happy," said Yatim,
who is wearing a fresh shirt. Eddy seconds him: "We are happy
beyond belief."

Cut Ayah is sitting with Rafdi, and his face is lit up by a
smile. "We lost everything ... now I can be proud (as the head of
a household). I have a house again, a place for my family to stay
together. It is very important that we stay together, and now we
can."

"I am so happy. We are all so happy. We have homes again. We
are so grateful to the IOM, the regency head, the district head,
the provincial government, the people of Tingkeum, the donors and
everyone else who made this possible," said Ira after moving,
then became uncharacteristically solemn.

"I don't mean to sound ungrateful in any way, but we still
need jobs. We can't keep receiving donations for the rest of our
lives. We can't continue to live on rations ... we want our
children to have better lives than us. We want to live in
dignity," she said, then burst into tears.

Two days later, the families have settled down somewhat in
their new homes.

Samsinar, 41, lost her husband, a child and her only
grandchild, and is living in a shelter with four surviving
children and son-in-law Bahrum, whose younger brother is married
to a Tingkeum villager. She has covered the concrete floor tiles
with a vinyl sheet in a gay, green pattern, and has set up her
kitchen with racks provided by Bahrum's in-laws in Tingkeum.
Bahrum has found construction work in Banda Aceh and brings home
salvaged wood and other recyclable material when he can.

"Today, someone gave us an old wardrobe they'd thrown out, so
this place will look more like home." Just as Samsinar finishes
speaking, a small rickety truck backs up outside with the
wardrobe, and Bahrum hops down with fellow workers to unload it.
"Come, come! I'll put on some tea."

Villager Salbia is visiting a shelter where her younger sister
Fatimah's husband, 45-year-old Samsuddin, his mother Khatijah and
eight nieces and nephews -- the youngest of whom is two
years -- live. Fatimah, 35, and her eldest daughter Safrida, 19,
were lost. Samsuddin, a farmer, is out working a field in
Lhoknga, the same job he had before, and won't return until late
in the evening.

One of Salbia's nephews, 17-year-old Julaidi, is one-half of a
twin with niece Julaida. He has made some friends in the village,
and is beaming: He must share a room with several siblings, but
he is happy because he can sleep in a room again.

"We can remain a family," Salbia said. "But there's not enough
water, no electricity. The children can't study at night ... if
we only had a street lamp out front, it would make a difference."

The units are wired for electricity, but sourcing power is
another matter -- not all houses in Tingkeum have electricity and
who would pay the bills?

Certainly, conditions are not perfect, and the most common
worry in the settlement is that there is not enough water. Due to
the unusually high clay content of the soil, the well does not
fill with water fast enough to keep up with the consumption rate
of 75 people.

IOM water/sanitation engineer Rob Garlick has identified a
location for a second well, and his team will break ground on it
after the weekend. In the meantime, many residents are bathing at
the house of a village relative and have set out plastic pails
and buckets to collect rainwater -- just in case.

The high clay content also presents another challenge: the
possibility of a slow ground absorption rate of residual liquid
from the septic system. In anticipation, Garlick and his team are
completing a back-up filtering mechanism to aid absorption -- a
gravel pit designed to catch excess residual water from the grey
water tank through a perforated pipe grid. As a further
precaution, a second back-up system is being installed -- a run-
off pipe from the gravel pit to the stream.

"It's a learning process ... and every site is different,"
said Garlick. The IOM has 708 other units in various stages of
planning and development in Aceh Besar, and a total commitment of
11,000 units across the province.

As Cut Ayah said of his new house, "It is a start. A step at a
time."

Meanwhile, Ira has placed woven mats on the floor, set up the
kitchen and hung makeshift curtains in the windows, but she is a
little out of sorts today -- Fayyath is being naughty and won't
take his nap, she is trying to give Tasya her bath, and she wants
to fold and store a pile of clothes that has arrived. Ma'ruf is
out looking for work.

"Water is a problem," she sighed, a sleepy Tasya in her
arms."We just have to be patient a little while longer." Then she
added, "Please, come in. Won't you have some tea?"