Bi-Monthly Summery

Our brick kiln rehabilitation in Neuheun village is going ahead well. Already 25 factories have begun production of bricks with the other 17 busy with the repair and reconstruction of their kilns.


Mmm... fresh from the oven :-)

The warehouse for storing construction materials in Neuheun for the housing repairs was completed. Materials for the repair work have been obtained and the repair work will begin today. The repair of 12 houses will cost $19,750 and the construction of 35 houses will cost $155,000. This project is being funded by GTZ of Germany.

We have signed an MoU with the Jakarta International School (JIS) for the construction of a primary school for 100 children in Peukan Bada village, 5 kms. northwest of Banda Aceh city. JIS has committed $50,000. We plan to start this project on July 1st. A partner of JIS, Schlumberger Co. is tentatively committing $75,000 for our project, which we have to confirm in the coming weeks.

Our sewing project for 30 women in Bada and Raider camps starts today! The total cost of this AMURTEL project is $7600.

The construction for the Kindergarten in Bada is also moving ahead with the ground-breaking ceremony being done this Friday!

AMURTEL completed the renovation of the Raider Kindergarten and a primary school in Suremo village benefiting a total of 218 children at a total cost of $7900.


Education Officals hold meeting with our staff at our office

In Meulaboh, we received 21 hand tractors from the FAO for our organic farming project in 11 villages valued at $31,000. AMURT has contributed $3800 for a Cash for Work program for 60 farmers who are clearing the land in their village for the commencement of community gardens. AMURT has rented an office in Meulaboh and has signed an MoU with a national NGO, Sunspirit for Justice and Peace who are our co-partners. We are still looking for other donors for this large project.

Our music concert on the six month anniversary of the tsunami, June 26, is going ahead with funding from Save the Children!

Dada Shiilabhadrananda, Banda Aceh

Bi-Monthly Summery

Our work is fully in the rehabilitation phase now, five months after the tsunami/earthquake. There are many ups and downs in carrying out our work as the reality of government bureaucracy and ineptness and a general lack of coordination of this massive relief effort make every day unpredictable and planning for the long term quite a challenge. By His Grace, our projects are inching towards completion.

We completed the clean up of Durung village in which 96 villagers participated over a 15 day period with the funds ($5500) being provided by UNICEF. The cash for work program resulted in the entire village being cleared of debris and rubble caused by the tsunami.


Villagers during cleanup

We completed a distribution of 55 tons of supplementary food items valued at $39,000 to 6500 IDP's (Indonesian Displaced Persons) in 12 distribution points at 8 villages with food provided by the German Embassy.

We are well into the rehabilitation of the 42 damaged brick factories in Neuheun village. The brick owners received the necessary funds now to rebuild their kilns or to repair the ones that were damaged. The 14 other owners who required cash grants to re-start their factories have also received those grants and will begin production of bricks this week.

Our engineers have completed the assessment of the 12 damaged houses that we will repair in Neuheun village in a project that is also funded by GTZ of Germany. We hope to begin the repairs this week once the first installment of funds is released.

AMURTEL has acquired 30 sewing machines with which to begin the implementation of a livelihood project for women seamstresses in two spontaneous camps called Bada and Raider. Each woman will be required to make 20 school uniforms (for which they will be paid a nominal fee as part of a cash for work program) after which the sewing machines become theirs permanently. Already AMURTEL has an order of 1200 school uniforms as many children require uniforms for the start of the new school year in July.

AMURTEL have already begun the renovation of two kindergartens in Raider and Seremo camps to benefit 146 children (?). Although the budget is a modest $6300 it seems that the renovations will exceed that amount. It is expected to complete the renovation by next week after which Didi will begin to furnish the two kindergartens.

AMURTEL also distributed school materials and recreation kits donated by UNICEF to three camps for 223 children. In Bada village as Didi was doing the distribution the Director of UNCEF Ibu Sayo Aiki was passing by! She was pleased to see UNICEF materials being put to good use for the children!

Our organic farming project in Meulaboh, West Aceh is still seeking donors. We submitted our project proposal to UNICEF and the Spanish Red Cross and await their response.

Our three other large projects, namely housing construction and repair in two other villages and the rehabilitation of 85 brick factories are in need of funds.

Dada Shiilabhadrananda, Banda Aceh

Pak Safrir's Story

When we visited Samatiga District yesterday in West Aceh, we met the son of the village chief of Suak Seuke village, Safrir Mahdi. Pak Mahdi is 29 years old and he has been coordinating the recovery effort for the 175 surviving families in his village. His village lies close to the sea. He told us his harrowing tale when the tsunami struck on the morning of the 26th. Fifteen minutes that he will never forget.

We were sitting on the broken column of the 1857 mosque where Pak Mahdi was praying along with five other women when the wave roared in. The wave was so high that Mahdi could not see the 5 meter high coconut trees nearby. The column broke and he got swept away. The five other women were lost forever. It was then that he lost consciousness. When he came to several minutes later, he found himself some 100 meters away desperately holding on to a broken podium from the destroyed mosque along with 7 elderly women. Two of them were then swept away by the storming current. Luckily for Mahdi and the other women they latched onto a huge rumbia tree that was floating by and managed to ride out the fury of the wave that died down soon thereafter.

Thankful to be alive though he lost his mother in the tsunami wave, Mahdi is dedicated to re-building his large village. From what we could see no building in the vast area that we surveyed (the entire village is 3 km. wide and 6 kms. long) was standing except for one mosque. That mosque was saved by the trunk of a huge coconut tree that broke the wave as it rolled through that part of the village.

Mahdi told us of a story that when the villagers were assisting in removing rubble for the reconstruction of a large bridge that passed through their village they found some skulls. By the time the excavation was over 110 skeletons were discovered! It is certain that similar tales will surface in the months ahead as more heavy rubble is unearthed and removed.

Dada Shiilabhadrananda, Banda Aceh