Aug 21, 2006

“This Is What We Have Been Dreaming For…”

Moving into a new house beside a calm flowing river and surrounded by lush greenery would be a dream come true for any of us. However, this was certainly not so for Darusman, a carpenter from Tekal Pasir in Singkil, Aceh.

Twenty months ago when the giant earthquake that triggered the Asian Tsunami struck, the lives of the 45-old and the other 100 over inhabitants in the Indonesian village literally sunk to a low. The land where their settlement stood suddenly became submerged 1.2m below the Simpang Kanan River and rendered their homes uninhabitable. Forced to re-locate, the entire village had since built for themselves a row of makeshift wooden houses at a site one kilometre away from the original place.

Nevertheless, the people continued to endure a nightmarish existence. The land that they now occupy is not only ill-suited for subsistence farming, but is also threatened by chest-level flooding during the monsoon season. More importantly, the fishing community had no means of secure livelihood for a long period after almost all of their fishing boats were swept away during the disaster.

This dire state, however, finally came to a turning point. On 13 August 2006, CRS delivered 30 engine-powered fishing boats to the fishermen of Tekal Pasir through our “Singkil Restoration of Livelihood Project”. This project is conducted in close partnership with the Singapore Red Cross Society and Yayasan Pelayanan Kasih Oikumene, a local Christian foundation. A simple ceremony to mark the handover of the brand new crafts to the people was witnessed by Tommy, a member of the local Singkil parliament, as well as representatives from CRS and the Yayasan. With the new fishing boats, the families in Tekal Pasir would now be able to regain their source of income and self-reliance. And when they finally re-settle at a suitable permanent location, it will be done with renewed confidence and not apprehension. Casting his gaze on the Simpang Kanan River where the flashy blue-and-red boats and the future laid, Darusman’s sun-tanned face beamed with pride, particularly as he was personally involved in building the boats using his carpentry skills. “Our people can now start a living by catching fish again”, he said. “This is what we have been dreaming for a long time since the tsunami.”

CRS plans to build a total of 123 boats to benefit four villages through the Singkil Restoration of Livelihood Project. Although the project is 90% funded by the Singapore Red Cross Society through the Asian Tidal Wave Fund, CRS needs to raise the remaining sum of $11,090.

May 06, 2006

PULAU BANYAK PROJECT UPDATE

Johnston Ho has recently come back from Pulau Banyak. He spent 5 days (28 April – 2 May 2006) overseeing the project and officiating at the boat handover ceremony. Johnston also reviewed the Pulau Banyak project accounts and sourced for quotations for the ice making machine. To date, CRS has delivered a total 135 boats to the Pulau Banyak islanders. The balance 15 boats will be delivered on 15 May 2006. Our request to Red Cross (Tidal Wave Fund) to buy a 3 ton ice making machine for the islanders has been approved.

Feb 10, 2006

UPDATE ON CRS PULAU BANYAK PROJECT 10 FEBRUARY 2006

Nov 30, 2005

Update on Teacher’s Training Program at Sidikalang, Nias

Pauline Kwan and Elizabeth Williams have just returned from their trip to Sidikalang, Nias, Indonesia. From 14 Nov to 20 Nov 2005, they shared their experience in early childhood education with 60 kindergarten teachers. Some of the topics covered were: Valuing children How children learn The art of story telling Making visual aids Managing and planning an event Classroom discipline Lesson and Curriculum planning Many of the teachers (3/4 females and 1/4 males) are already teaching in kindergartens and village schools but all of them have never received training. Many of the topics covered during the training were new to them. They particularly enjoyed the workshop sessions. Templates and materials were provided to help them make flipcharts and the various types of puppets. On the last day, they put their newly acquired knowledge to good use. Six hundred children (~2 to 10 years old) were invited for a party. They sang children's songs, played games, watched a puppet show followed by a stage drama. They also had light snacks before they went home.

The group enjoyed themselves throughout and plan to return next year.

Two other volunteers, Pauline Kwan and another teacher, Elizabeth Willliam, will be in Sidikalang, around the same time and will be busy training locals to teach at the local school as part of our community outreach.

Oct 10 , 2005

Facts about Pulau Banyak, Aceh

People, Place & Culture

The first people to settle on Tuangku island were from Simeulue. Nowadays the population is mixed with people from Minangkabau (Padang), Nias und recently Acehnese. The local languages are "Haloban" (related to the language in Simeulue), "Singkil", a dialect from Padang and Nias (language). Desa (village) P. Balai became the district capital in 1941.
(Source: http://www.polak.mynetcologne.de/reisen/indones/sumnord2.htm#Banyak)

Pulau Banyak is a district of South Aceh regency. The area has as many as 99 islands. The population is 4,200 and the majority live in Pulau Balai, the district capital. Besides Pulau Balai, the five other villages are Pulau Baguk, Haloban, Asantola, Teluk Nibung and Ujung Sialit. The languages used are the Haloban language, the Padang dialect and Nias language. The inhabitants’ main source of livelihood is fishing and a small fraction are processors of copra. The community is relatively open to the increased arrival of foreign tourists, because the latter do not stay in their villages long enough to be viewed as influencing the local culture.
(Source: http://www.hamline.edu/apakabar/basisdata/1995/06/08/0015.html, dated 1995)

Ujung Sialit in 2003
No. of families - 143
No. of houses - 142
(Source:http://www.pu.go.id/Ditjen_mukim/Backlog/nad_acehsingkil1.pdf)

Weather (Sibolga)

Health Information
Embarkation SINGAPORE (SG) /Destination INDONESIA (ID)
Yellow Fever vaccination not required; Malaria prophylaxis recommended.
(Source: Timaticweb.com)


Related Articles
Nias Earthquake Produce 4 Meters High Tsunami in South Aceh
http://www.indonesia-relief.org/mod.php?mod=publisher&op=viewarticle&cid=24&artid=500
Tuesday, 29-March-2005

Banda Aceh, detikcom – Late Monday earthquake has produced tsunami waves that hit coastal area in along south coast of Aceh. The areas hit by the tsunami, according to Chief of Aceh Military Command Mayor General Endang Suwarya on Tuesday are Simeulue district, Singkil district, and Pulau Banyak sub-district.

Of the three, Pulau Banyak (Banyak Island) is the nearest area from the epicenter. Banyak Island, located far way from Sumatra Island in the Indian Ocean, consist of some small islands and belong to Singkil district. On the previous tsunami, didn’t hit hard Singkil district.

Simeuleu district is also located at Indian Ocean but it is a much larger island and has made Pulau Banyak as ‘bumper’ of tsunami produced by earthquake near the Nias Islands. Simeuleu had been damaged seriously by December tsunami.

Siemeulue and Singkil belong to Aceh province, while Nias Island belong to North Sumatra province. Coastal city of Teluk Dalam in Nias is well known as international surfing destination.

The General has no report on casualties on the three areas yet. ‘’What we already know is, as reported by head of the district, there is 3-4 meters wave hit the coastal area,’’ said Suwarya.

Singkil resident has also reported that tsunami hit the coastal area. ‘’It is up to 4 meters high. Tsunami destroy a lot of building here,’’ Yuli Hardin told Detikcom. But he is very sure there is no casualty because resident from Singkil sub-district (have same name as its district) ran away to higher ground at Rimo sub-district after the earthquake. Until 11.30 on Tuesday, they keep staying there.

Source: Indonesia-Relief.org
Date: 30 Mar 2005
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/KHII-6AZ2Q2?OpenDocument
Sumatra earthquake caused Pulau Banyak surface down 1 meter

Jakarta, Indonesia-Relief – Despite its position as the nearest island to late Monday Sumatra earthquake epicenter, Pulau Banyak (Banyak Island) did not badly damaged as predicted. After visiting the island, acting Governor of Aceh Azwar Abubakar said no body injured or death because of the quake. But the island surface seems lowered down up to 1 meter and much of its coastal area became drowned by the seas water.

"In contrast to Pulau Banyak, coastal area in Pulau Simeulue seems rise up to 1 meter," Abubakar said in live interview with Metro TV half an hour ago, after one hour earlier came back from visiting the island. Some parts of Sinabang port badly destroyed. The airport could not be used for aircraft landing.

He also said that number of death casualties in the island that has devastated by last December tsunami, recorded at just 19 people. Bakornas PBP, national disaster agency, also announced total casualties as of Wednesday morning are 333 people death and 44 injured.

Survivors in Simeulue Islands make shelter across the street toward higher land. They build temporary shelter using plastic sheeting. They didn’t want to stay at home or any other building with solid and hard roof, or with stones wall, feared of ongoing aftershock and new earthquake. For the same reasons, injured people in hospital has asked doctors and nurses to bring them out to hospital yard and stay at tents.

In Pulau Banyak, people are in need of rice and other additional food because of their food stock drowned since Tuesday. The governor promised to bring rice tomorrow morning from Singkil and will decide another effort after coordination meeting tonight.

He also mentioned that route from Medan to Meulaboh disconnected because some bridges destroyed in Singkil district. He also asked Pertamina to supply solar from Medan to enable local boat to send food supplies to Pulau Simeulue and Pulau Banyak.