While sitting in the airport waiting for my flight back home, I’m kind of starting to recapitulate on the last couple of weeks, what I did, what I have seen, the people I meet, the organizations there, the history and the stories of the place...
I haven’t done disaster and emergency relief work before, it has been more development and strengthening (to avoid disaster at least in the fisheries sector?), anyway... point is that I have not been in a disaster area before...
The 1st impression was rough... in various aspects... the initial was the feeling of overkill in terms of assistance... I wasn’t aware that there were soooooo many NGOs, UN agencies, bilateral agencies, and so on... from the World Food Programme, via the red crosses of 20 countries to the “firemen without borders” (yes... for real)... Apparently since the Ethiopia crisis of the 80’s there wasn’t a reaction of this scale in ages...
Why? A few factors I guess... the tsunami was at xmas, it was on TV... people saw the waves coming, people dying... it happened in a predominantly Muslim region in an age of guilt over the “war on terror”, and so on... but overall... perhaps simply because the scale of devastation is just incredible...
Not going to repeat the news... but imagine villages where the rate of mortality was 90%... if you where lucky to survive... then from every 20 people you relate to... only one more still alive... the overall sense of loss must be indescribable... let say you lost you family or your house or both... at least there would be references to help you move... your neighbourhood, your corner, your friends, your music, you café shop... but imagine if where your life was... now there is NOTHING... I really mean that... perhaps only the concrete floors of what was once your world...
All other things and people disappeared in 10 minutes...
An estimated of over 80,000 people died with the first 3-4 waves... another 40,000 in the days after from all possible causes... Big fishing boats on roofs... bridges whose concrete “handrails” where torn off, leaving only the bare steel, trucks been tossed around like toys, a huge merchant barge in the middle of a neighbourhood 1.5 km from the coast... 500 kg rocks in the middle of a classroom... There are thousands of orphans, they were held on a hill outside town were parents would go and look for lost children... many of them waited there for weeks until hope just could not sustain anymore... everyone I meet has lost someone...
A year later there are still people living in tents and trying to rebuild their life with the help of the foreign invasion... Banda Aceh as a city is never going to be the same, apart from the tsunami destruction, the city is literally invaded by aid organizations and westerners...
I guess before I keep blurbing about this, is fair to explain that Aceh is a very particular place, a Muslim stronghold with a very long story of independence and resilience...
Since the thirteenth century AD, if not before, Islam is key to this place, Aceh became a main launching point for Southeast Asian Muslim pilgrims to Mecca, mingling together cultural influences from India, Persia, Arabia, and Malaya, as well as becoming a center for Islamic learning during the Acehnese ‘golden age’ under the rule of Sultan Iskandar Muda (1607-1636).
It remained a fiercely independent Sultanate for almost 500 years, and Dutch colonial control was extended to Aceh only after a miserable war beginning in 1873 and lasting 40 years. The Dutch never actually ‘pacified’ Aceh, fighting almost continuously for 69 years until they withdrew in 1942, claiming a total of at least 40,000 troops (more Dutch soldiers died here then during WW2!); the more than 100,000 Acehnese killed in these colonial wars were considered Holy War martyrs. In the local museum is a picture of a village ransacked by the Dutch and you see a whole pile of bodies and soldiers posturing with a boy they kept alive for some reason...
Then they had the Japanese occupation (1942 to 1945), which was even more brutal and still hinders the work of the Japanese NGOs here, and when Indonesia declared it’s independence on August 17, 1945, Aceh became the first Indonesian region that was independent de facto. But then they kept fighting for political autonomy for a few years more, and General Suharto came to factual power in 1966, and started channeling the local oil and gas revenues to Jakarta.
So enters the Acehnese National Liberation Front (ASNLF), better known as GAM, (whose leader Tengku Hasan M. di Tiro, was formerly a strong supporter of the Indonesian nationalist idea and Indonesian Ambassador to the UN during the 1950s), and the fighting went on between the Indonesian Central Government and GAM. Only until pushed by the disastrous consequences of the tsunami, the Indonesian Government and GAM signed a peace agreement on August 15, 2005. Over the last 20 years to come here you needed a “special permit” which was very complicated to get.
Given this background, when you live and work in Aceh, you’re dealing with a society where war has hardly had any break over the last 6 generations. The fact is, Acehnese people were traumatized long before the Tsunami happened.
With this background... let me give you an example... imagine a non descriptive little provincial capital in your country with a history of independence and relatively isolated ... for NZ let say Whakatane... and imagine that in 2003 the number of Indonesian living there was 60, then there is freak event of nature that wipes out ½ of the city, a year later you have 2000 Indonesians roaming the city in the biggest 4WD and cars you can imagine, paying ridiculous amounts for rentals, covering the city with satellite dishes, wandering around with Islamic gear and all women wearing headscarves...
Hopefully you get the point... the place is completely upside down... and then besides having to deal with trauma, completely “non muslim” strangers... the place still full of surreal images such as this huge barge that floated all the way from the harbour and now is in the middle of a neighbourhood 3 km from its original emplacement (and is no way it would ever come back!)
But in spite of that... I was received with smiles in 90% of the place I went... and that is mostly because the type of people who come and do this type of work... for example: Erica a cool lady I meet has a maintained a blogg about living in Aceh... she has been there since December and has good insights.
There are some people working there that I have absolutely nothing in common with, (as in every environment) but then a serious chunk of them are very courageous and plainly good hearted... their “office” is in Sudan massacres, Pakistani earthquakes, Bolivian landslides, name it... very cool people putting their life aside for what they love doing.... for the few rewards their job gives...
But as well very genuine and lonely people... this job is a relations killer... long absences never helped... and on top of that you are emotionally drained by the constant suffering around you... I never seen such a cool bunch of people... so lonely... is very touching... don't get me wrong, you start conversation on very usual things... but then when you get to the personal parts... they are normally overload... your love (if you have one), your friends are all very far... this job is couple killer... and the situation is most difficult for woman... they are so good at the job, very committed and professional... more than most men in my opinion... but seems that solitude is the price to pay for being and independent and driven woman... very unfair...
And then forming a relationship with other people like you is unfortunately really difficult... they are mobilized to different places constantly... so you found someone who understand you... but then you walk different ways... I felt constantly to give people big hugs... all that makes me value my family and relationship with Vibeke even more... man I love her... she is the best.
What was I doing?... I was asked by a project of the German Development Agency (GTZ) to help with the definition of a strategy and areas of work for the reactivation of the fisheries and aquaculture sector, while trying to avoid former fuckups under a “rebuild better” principle... and when you think that 80% of the fishing fleet was destroyed, 60% of the shrimp farms are useless and worst of all, 50% of the fisherman are dead... there is quite a lot to be done... they liked what I did, which was very rewarding, and they want me back as they would be working there until end 2007.
Anyway... hopefully I did not depress and bored you... and if I did... well sorry... you should not have read it until the end... I may be writing this more for me, in order to digest the last couple of weeks, than for any other reason...
Enjoy what have and keep what you think are your problems in a real perspective...
