Monthly Update

AMURT and AMURTEL continue their reconstruction efforts in Aceh with some good recent developments.

Our Music concert on the six month anniversary of the earthquake/tsunami on June 26 was a grand success. The concert attended by about 1000 people was covered by National TV and newspaper. It was sponsored by Save the Children. National performer Noogie incorporated the stories of the children who told their touching experiences of the tsunami tragedy.

Some brick owners in Neuheun have already begun production of their bricks, while other owners are reconstructing their destroyed factories. The project is due to complete by mid-September. The brick owners have formed a coop due to the constant meetings with AMURT. The head of the coop said that before AMURT came everybody worked on their own. Now they work together.

Also in Neuheun 12 houses designated for repair are almost completed. GTZ and AMURT held a meeting of the 35 villagers who will receive a new house. The house model of GTZ was shown and the first five beneficiaries were identified. Construction is due to begin within four weeks. Also GTZ our main donor informed us that they wish to construct 800 houses using their model, so it is likely that we will be able to complete the other two village housing projects that we had planned for since last March.

The AMURTEL kindergarten in Bada village is already 50% completed. The contractor is working hard to complete the project within one month as we await more funding from the donor in Medan. Didi Hema also installed playground and furniture for the renovated kindergarten in Raider barrack.

Meanwhile AMURTEL’s sewing project for 30 women continues to run smoothly as the women complete their 20 school uniform quota in time for the opening of the school year next week. The women are working in the renovated kindergarten of Raider and Didi is thinking to continue the project in the same barrack and form an Integrated Women’s Center. After the completion of the school uniforms the sewing machines become theirs.

Although our Primary School project with Jakarta International School (JIS) could not materialize, they have decided to fund our kindergarten construction in Ujong Batee at a cost of $25,000. The kindergarten will benefit 45 children. JIS is also sponsoring a music education program for 80 children in 4 barracks at a cost of $3,200. The beneficiaries will learn both traditional and contemporary musical instruments under the guidance of four trainers. The two month program has scope for continuing after the first phase.

Meanwhile the Head of the German NGO Kinder Not Hilfe visited the Special Needs School for Mentally Challenged Children and a kindergarten in Jantho, Aceh with a view to providing funding to AMURT for the construction of a hostel for the first school and a kindergarten for the second.

The German Army has approached AMURT with an offer to fund the construction of a home for orphan children as they have 57,000 Euro that they would like to spend for children tsunami victims and were impressed with AMURT’s work so far.
The German Red Cross also approached AMURT with funds to build community centres in any village that requires them. We are looking into these possibilities as well.

Dada Shiilabhadrananda, Banda Aceh

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

WEEKLY SUMMARY

Aceh Relief Update No. 11: May 6, 2005:

Field Operations:

The cleanup of the 42 destroyed brick factories was completed last week in Neuheun with funds donated by GTZ of Germany. Construction of the new kilns and repair of the damaged ones has already begun.



We have started constructing a small storage centre to store the tools and building materials needed for the repair and construction of the 45 houses in Neuheun village another project sponsored by GTZ at a cost of $160,000. A mason and two civil engineers have been hired for the repair and the supervision of the construction work respectively.

AMURTEL have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with an international organization called IACO for the construction of one kindergarten and one primary school in Kaju village. AMURTEL has put in $20,000 and IACO will put in another $70,000 for the construction of the two schools. AMURTEL team members are still going to Neuheun, TVRI and Lampisan resettlement camps to conduct English classes, play groups and exercise classes for the children.



Didi Ananda Devanistha sent $13,900 for the construction of an AMURTEL kindergarten in Bada village for 80 children. The remaining $10,000 will come from AMURT's general funds.

AMURT has begun the cleanup of Durung village involving 70 villagers in a Cash for Work Program. The $5,500 project is sponsored by UNICEF and is expected to be completed in two weeks.

AMURT has joined up with a national NGO called Sunspirit in an organic farming livelihood project involving 629 families in Aceh Barat (West Aceh) District. The ambitious project includes cash for work, training in organic farming, production of organic fertilizers and creation of water catchments areas in eleven villages in three sub-districts that were affected by the Dec. 26th earthquake/tsunami. AMURT has already distributed kitchen kits to 145 families in the area and Sunspirit has been providing Cash for Work funds for the past one month in four of the targeted villages.

Twenty sewing machines have been donated to AMURTEL for a women's
livelihood project in Bada village. AMURTEL is trying to acquire funds for another 200 sewing machines for women who wish to restart their livelihoods and support their families.

The AMURT Primary School in Klieng Mueria awaits promised funding from the Jakarta International School and Saddleback Church (USA). Members of Saddleback will visit us by May 22nd to check on how far our plans for construction have progressed.

Dada Shiilabhadrananda, Banda Aceh