Tsunami baby turns one, but no party

Tsunami baby turns one, but no party

A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Muhammad Rizal, who goes by the nickname Muhammad Tsunami, slept
through most of his first birthday in his cradle in a small room
of the temporary barracks in Lambaro Siron area, Aceh Besar
regency, Aceh.

The room -- filled with various household items, clothes and
kitchen utensils -- is shared by seven people; Rizal's four
siblings and parents. Rizal and his family have lived in the
barracks for nine months, a small step up from the tent camp they
lived in for the first few months of 2005.

"It's much better living here in the (3m X 3m room in the)
barracks, at least we are out of the rain," Nadiah, Rizal's
mother, told The Jakarta Post.

Monday was actually Rizal's birthday but there was no sign of
birthday celebrations or parties anywhere in the barracks, which
house dozens of families. He was not given cake nor presents.
His family and new neighbors were all going about their own
business and none seemed to realize it was Muhammad Tsunami's
birthday.

While children in Jakarta celebrate birthdays in upmarket
hotels, at special McDonald's playroom areas with friends and
relatives or at American chain ice cream and cake shops, Rizal
spent his birthday just like any other day in the life of the
residents of these government-built barracks. The only person
giving him attention on Monday morning was his mother, 40-year-
old Nadiah.

"Celebrating a birthday? I have no money. Celebrating
birthdays is uncommon for poor people like us," Nadiah explained.

Rizal is an ordinary Acehnese child with curly hair. But, what
makes him special was that he was born on Dec. 26, 2004 -- the
day of one of the world's worst natural disasters ever, which
claimed the lives of at least 130,000 people in Aceh alone.

Nadiah, who used to live in the Lambadheuk area, recalled how
she started feeling labor pains at home on the morning of that
fateful day and suddenly heard neighbors shouting about a giant
wave that had slammed into the coastal area near their village
and was quickly moving inland.

Swiftly, Nadiah and the family left the house along with other
neighbors, and scurried for higher ground to avoid the wall of
water. From a distance, they saw that their house had been
destroyed.

"We had no cars or motorcycles. I pushed myself to walk at a
consistent pace up to the hills. It was tough because I was in
labor, but I had to do it to survive," she recalled.

Not knowing how high the tidal wave would get, the family and
their neighbors continued up the hills in the Alue Klueng area
into the afternoon, but Nadiah finally had to urge the group to
stop because her contractions were growing too strong. With no
houses near, Nadiah had to settle for the shelter provided by a
shade tree and gave birth to Rizal.

Nadiah was lucky because one of the neighbors in the group had
some experience with assisting births. Rizal's father Rajali, and
some of the others, helped by putting up some temporary curtains
for privacy.

The process, albeit lengthy, was successful. Nadiah finally
gave birth to her baby at 8 p.m, just a few hours after the
tsunami destroyed her house and swept tens of thousands of people
away. The family spent the next few days at a house in the area
and then moved into a tent camp provided by the government for
tsunami survivors.

The child was initially named Muhammad Tsunami, but after
advice from neighbors, Nadiah changed the name.

"Muhammad Tsunami is such a bad name. If you are stuck with
that name, the child could be haunted by bad luck in the future,"
said the neighbors.

Nadiah, whose husband was a small-time fisherman before the
tsunami and now works in a recovery project, said she hoped
little Rizal could contribute to the community.

"I hope he can contribute something to our community,
something useful for the people and the nation. Maybe he could be
a teacher or a doctor? I don't know," said Nadiah.