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.