Meulaboh struggles to get back on its feet.

Article Extracted from:The Straits Times (Singapore)
Tuesday, August 1, 2006
Ong Soh Chin

MEULABOH, ACEH - AS I train my camera at a row of dilapidated houses, an aid worker says: 'Don't take pictures of the villagers.' They are angry because so many people have come to take pictures of them and nobody seems to have really done anything, she adds. We are in Meulaboh, an isolated coastal town in West Sumatra which was closest to the epicentre of the earthquake of Dec 26, 2004. The resulting tsunami, which devastated communities across the Indian Ocean from South-east Asia to East Africa, flattened the coastline and much of Meulaboh itself. It is estimated that a quarter of the 40,000 people in the town perished. At first glance, it is puzzling why the townsfolk would feel such frustration. After all, there is a marked improvement in the town - colourful houses stand where once there was nothing, shops are open for business and children are going to school. But look a little closer and a different picture emerges. Sanitation is still a problem, and the people here still rely mainly on donated bottled water for drinking. The upheaval of the tsunami, which covered the town with sand, mud and general debris, has made large tracts of land untenable for farming. The sunken coastline has also made Meulaboh prone to flooding, and pools of brown, stagnant water can be found everywhere.

Mr Edward Langton, 48, the Meulaboh liaison official for Singapore help agency Mercy Relief, estimates that out of the 200 aid organisations which descended on the town after the tsunami, about 50 are left, mostly local or national bodies. Singapore, which was instrumental in early relief efforts, has remained steadfast in its support. In April, the Singapore Government donated a pier to replace the wrecked jetty and is helping to build a road connecting Meulaboh to the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. Aid groups like Mercy Relief and the Singapore Red Cross are also involved in rehabilitation efforts, as are private companies like Neptune Orient Lines (NOL). Last week, as part of its Tsunami Relief Community Relations initiative, NOL donated a US$150,000 (S$236,000) fishing vessel to the Koperasi Bina Nelayan, a fishermen's group. The vessel can take four crew members and six fishermen and carry four tonnes of cargo. This means that, unlike the fishermen's traditional small boats, it can venture further out to sea and stay out for longer - a vital requirement, as most of the marine life along the immediate coast no longer exists. NOL deputy vice-president Cedric Foo said at the launch: 'We felt the best way we could contribute to this place, a coastal port, is to provide people with the tools to re-establish their livelihoods.' NOL spent a further US$15,000 on a two-week training stint in Surabaya for four crew members on how to maintain and operate the modern vessel. The training programme also included a session in traditional boat building using modern technology, for two trainees. The idea is to teach them so they can go back to teach others. It has also contributed four refurbished containers, two of which are being used as kindergartens and two as offices for Geubri Na, a women's self-help group spearheaded by the Medan-based non-governmental organisation, Kelompok Peruantan dan Pendidikan Lingkungan (KPPL).

Formed in 2002 as an environmental organisation by a small group of 20-somethings, KPPL had a baptism of fire when the tsunami hit. Ms Melfa Samosir, one of its founding members, moved to Meulaboh a month after the disaster and has not left. Together with three colleagues, she has been teaching 17 groups of farmers in eight villages in the Nagan Raya area how to practise organic farming. The farmers are required to put some of the earnings from their harvest into a fund to ensure the project's continuity. Most of the farmers are women, and while they may have been sceptical about organic farming in the beginning, positive results have won them over. Today, about 80 per cent of the farmers practise organic farming and pest control - growing lemongrass as a natural repellent, for example. 'We also help them to find trading partners so they can sell what they grow,' said Ms Melfa, a slight woman, who is recovering from a bout of typhoid. She does not know how long she will stay in Meulaboh, but is determined to stick around for as long as she is needed.

Mercy Relief's Mr Langton has nothing but praise for KPPL, which has only 20 members doing work in various parts of Aceh. 'Imagine,' he said, 'in a society where seniority is respected, these
kids from outside Aceh managed to persuade the headman of the village to get his people out in the fields and following their lead. It's amazing.'

The Irishman misses his wife Jamiah and their three children back in Singapore. He has been in Meulaboh since January last year and makes monthly visits home. But he also has a brood of 'adopted' children in Meulaboh - the 283 kids at Babussalam, a school-cum-orphanage which also takes in destitute children. Babussalam, divided into two sections - one for boys and the other for girls - went undetected for months after the tsunami hit.

Mr Frederick Foo, 48, Mercy Relief's executive director, says: 'When we found them, the children were fending for themselves and living in derelict chicken coops which were filthy and unfit for dwelling.' Today, with funds from the Jurong Country Club and the Chicago Graduate Business School, the girls' wing is being rebuilt. But more funds are needed - Mr Langton's estimate is about $700,000 - to finish the work, as well as to build up the boys' wing. In a town where the construction trade is booming, Mercy Relief has bought two machines which the boys use to manufacture bricks for Babussalam's reconstruction, as well as for sale.

As with the Nagan Raya farmers, the idea is to create livelihood programmes, so that the people can continue to earn a living long after the aid workers have left. But while the initial phase of disaster relief is over, the rehabilitation is only just beginning, and it is being carried out by far fewer organisations than in the initial weeks after the disaster.

Says Mr Langton: 'It's now that people need help the most. We've still got people living here in conditions in which, in Singapore, if you were to put a cat or a dog in them, you would be arrested.'