Three miracles and a capsized aid boat

Catherine Wheeler, Contributor, Ubud

Sumatra's tsunami, earthquakes and restless volcanoes have been a danger not only to the island's beleaguered inhabitants, but to the brave volunteers who do aid work there.

On April 11, an aid ship went down off Nias Island, Sumatra. This is its story.

Bali-based Yayasan IDEP planned a delivery of emergency and reconstruction aid on Endless Sun, a private cargo boat. It had taken several weeks to refit the vessel and load it with supplies in Jakarta.

The vessel was fully loaded with aid supplies, kitchen equipment, reconstruction materials and tools, three motor bikes for delivering goods on shore, and children's school supplies.

Just as the boat was preparing to set sail for Aceh, a devastating earthquake hit the island of Nias. Endless Sun was diverted to deliver aid there, carrying rice, two generators, a motorbike and a replacement SSB radio set for volunteers in Nias, in addition to its existing cargo.

Aboard the ship was a crew of 15 from Java, Rama Surya, an Indonesian volunteer, and three foreign volunteers, including Gary Turner and Stefan Zwada, who had already served two aid missions in Sumatra, and team leader James Bean.

Endless Sun had just finished offloading a shipment of emergency rice aid from the World Food Program to the village of Afulu on the afternoon of April 11. The day was hot and clear, with enormous swells rolling in from the open ocean.

At the shoreline, huge expanses of coral had been thrust up from under the sea by the earthquake, bleaching in the sun. Knowing the seabed would also be treacherous, the crew steered slowly and carefully as they made their way out of the inlet bound for Meulaboh.

At about 3 p.m., Endless Sun suddenly struck an uncharted reef. Broken glass and equipment flew around the deck as the vessel quickly heeled heavily to starboard and lost its ability to steer. Although the men could see the USS Mercy on the horizon, it was using a different radio system and the Endless Sun's distress calls were unheard.

Pounded between two reefs by the swells, it was quickly clear that the ship would not survive. There was no time to save papers, passports or money; within a few minutes of striking the reef, the wooden vessel began to break up. Wearing life jackets and little else, the crew and volunteers abandoned ship.

They were about 700 meters from the nearest shore. Some swam, others were picked up by a local fishing boat and several made their way ashore on the ship's life raft. All 20 men survived without serious injury, landing singly or in groups on the banks of exposed coral that blocked the beach.

"The swells were huge and some of the crew couldn't swim," Gary recalls. "It was a miracle that no one was killed."

The next miracle unfolded in the next few hours. As heavy seas pounded the newly refurbished Endless Sun to pieces, the hull released its cargo. About 80 percent of the aid on board washed ashore. Carefully wrapped and sealed by volunteers in Jakarta, most of it was salvaged by the coastal community.

The emergency aid was delivered after all, if somewhat informally.

The shipwrecked men, shocked and sunburned, picked their way barefoot in small groups over a kilometer of exposed coral until they were able to meet up and ensure that no one was missing. But the ordeal was not over.

There were no communications in the town. The team leader and an Indonesian volunteer hired two local men with motorbikes to take them across Nias to Gunung Sitole for help, a grueling journey along ruined roads and collapsed bridges. The rest of the group slept on a floor in the village. There were two strong earthquakes that night.

The next day they left the village and walked barefoot three km to a helipad, where they were eventually evacuated to Gunung Sitole and still later to Sibolga. Then there was a crazy drive to Medan through Sumatra's steep mountains, and a final adventure of talking their way onto flights to Jakarta and Bali without shoes or shirts.

During the afternoon of April 12, IDEP issued a press release and update with all the information it had been able to gather from cell phone calls. Then the third miracle happened.

Within days, donors pledged more than enough money to replace virtually all of IDEP's aid supplies that had been on the boat. About US$40,000 was donated, over half by Rip Curl Australia and its staff.

"Robert Wilson of Rip Curl Australia has been wonderful," declared Petra Schneider, executive director of IDEP. "The company assisted IDEP in the very early days of the emergency when it was the key donor to Sumber Rejeki, our first emergency aid ship.

Again, Robert was first to come to the table when help was needed after Endless Sun was lost. Rip Curl has consistently been a tremendously generous and responsive donor."

By April 19, IDEP was purchasing aid in Medan. On April 21, just 10 days after the aid ship sank off Nias, the supplies were on their way to a community near Meulaboh, Samatiga, where IDEP has established one of its recovery projects, including a clinic, since early February.

The men are safely home now, but the energy of the shipwreck is still with them. They feel shaky. They have bad dreams. And yet they want to go back and finish the job they started. "I don't think there's single one of us who wouldn't go back to Aceh tomorrow," says Stefan. "There's still so much to be done."

Perhaps that is the fourth miracle.