Warm Turkish bread for the Acehnese

Nani Afrida The Jakarta Post/Banda Aceh

Muhammad smiled brightly, showing off a plastic bag with 10 warm flat breads in his hand as if they were precious stones.

Every afternoon, the 45-year-old resident of Kuta Alam district has a new routine -- queuing up in front of a Turkish organization's office in Lhueng Bata, Banda Aceh to get a share of the warm bread.

"I love its taste, especially when eaten with hot coffee," he told The Jakarta Post.

The queue at the office starts at 4 p.m. and lasts until 6 p.m. every day. Everyone waiting in line, both grownups and children, get the bread.

The 15-cm flat bread is the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality's unique way of assisting the Acehnese after the quake-triggered tsunami rocked Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam on Dec. 26 last year.

Every day, 10,000 flat breads are prepared and handed out to the tsunami refugees, orphans and residents.

The bread-making activity started on Jan. 28 this year, with the machine brought directly from Turkey. At first, they were using ingredients brought in from Turkey, but then replaced them with local materials, like flour and sugar from Banda Aceh or Medan.

"We usually make salty bread, but because the Acehnese like it sweet, we add a little bit of sugar, said Syaref Aktaz, a member of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.

He said the bread was prepared because in Turkey, the bread is a staple, just like rice is here, as well as to bring the Turkish culture closer to the Acehnese.

The bread-making, he said, is conducted in an eight-by-four square-meter room and involves 12 workers and two chefs. The 12 workers are local residents who were the tsunami victims, while the chefs are Turkish.

"The 12 workers work here part time," Syaref said.

Apart from distributing warm bread every afternoon, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality also distributes hundreds of flat breads to several shelters for displaced persons in Aceh Besar and Banda Aceh where the free bread is a hot item among the refugees.

"We can take as much as we like but only once a day," a refugee in Nusa village, Lhok Nga district in Aceh Besar regency told the Post.

The Turkish organization also provided a street-sweeping machine as well as containers and a lawn mower.

Besides the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, six other Turkish organizations -- including Deniz Fenery Aid and Solidarity Association, International Brotherhood and Solidarity Association (IBS), and Turkish Red Crescent Association -- are assisting Aceh after the tsunami.

Deniz Fenery Aid and Solidarity and IBS have constructed 800 houses in Lamno. The houses for the tsunami victims are scheduled to be officiated this April.

Syaref said that Turkey could understand the Acehnese people's suffering, since it was struck by a massive earthquake in 1999 which claimed at least 20,000 lives.

"We can empathize with how the Acehnese feel, that's why we try to help with all our hearts," he said.