A. Lehr
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Dear Friends
Sorry this is so long, but going to Banda Aceh was
important for many of us interested in helping.
Thank you to all of you who helped contribute
generously to our trip. Everything went extremely
well considering ,and together we made a significant
difference in peoples lives. We will also be sending
more water purifiers, so let us know if you want to
help. The following is my experiences and insights of
this difficult journey To Banda Aceh.
Amana and I were planning a trip to Bali , Indonesia
and of course with the nature of events surrounding
the Tsunami our plans were altered forever. Since
Amana speaks Indonesian, we decided to send a call out
to all of our friends and make a personal contribution
to the people of Indonesia. Almost magically, around
$10,000 was immediately contributed. We collected a
large suitcase full of medical supplies(lots of
antibiotics) and purchased 8 of the finest Swiss made
Katadyn water purifiers on the market. Within days we
were off to Bali where there was little time for
rest!!. After a quick survey of the local
Poskos (places collecting contributions) and speaking
with several people coordinating efforts, we went to
Geruda Airlines travel agents, the airline of
Indonesia. We made several requests about our
Soon-to-be mission and they simply picked up the phone
and called Jakarta. We were then told that the
airport just opened this day and there was only one
flight per day. We could leave from Jakarta early the
next morning and the rest of the flights were already
fully booked.. So we bought a tent, food and
flashlights as there wasn't any other places to stay.
After crossing Java and spending a brief night in
airport hotel, we were up a 4 am and on our way across
Sumatra, one of the larger islands in Indonesia. We
briefly stopped in Medan, where all the foreign
supplies were coming in, and then took-off toward the
most northern tip to Banda Aceh.
The airlines didn't charge extra although we were way
overloaded, and "doors" started opening for us almost
as if there was a force guiding and protecting us. On
the plane that morning were troops of social workers
from all over the world, such as the UN, Unesco,
Unicef, Doctors without Walls, Oxfam, U.S. Aid,
Merlin(medical emergency relief) and many
others. An Indonesian man sitting next to us on the
flight was on his way to take over the air traffic
control position as the current one had lost his whole
family. The airport was overwhelmed and 10 flights a
day had become 100 per day bringing in supplies from
the world. On the flight, we met Dr. Cary
(drcary@drcary.org) and after hearing about his work we
decided to deliver our goods directly to doctors and
nurses of Merlin's relief efforts. It was obvious to
us that they had spent time helping people all over
the world.
Flying into Banda Aceh was nerve-racking in
anticipation of what we might see. We noticed hundreds
of colorful tents around the airport and you could
easily tell a major relief effort was in affect. A US
Marine helicopter flew over our heads as we were
walking on the tarmack and it felt really good to be
an American at that moment. In the airport, there were
many missing person signs similar to 911 an we
began to feel the anguish of the people.. Being one of
the first to arrive, we were faced with the difficult
task of moving around without the aid of any
organization. Luckily we spoke Indonesian, and
therefore many serendipitous things happened and we
were able move through the city without any problems.
After hiring a taxi for the day, US $30, (taxi drivers
in the next few weeks were going to be rich) we left
the airport and delivered our water purifiers and
medicines to MERLIN (medical emergency relief)
Afterwards, we began our shocking tour of the area
around Banda Aceh. First we visited several Poskos
that were receiving aid and housing the 100,000
homeless. The people were wonderfully friendly and
couldn't believe we had come all this way to help
them!(praises a social worker must get all the time).
We visited a tennis court in the back of a wealthy
person's home that was now a camp for so many, and
they lovingly invited us to stay with them. We soon
purchased the necessary face masks and traveled
directly into the city. This part of my sharing, I
have no words for! What I saw was indescribable.
There was almost nothing left of an entire city, and
the smell of death and the destruction we witnessed
was beyond overwhelming. I kept telling myself that I
couldn't believe what I was seeing. It felt surreal,
way worse than any disaster movie ever. There was a
strong military presence as all the streets were being
patrolled 24 hours a day. Many of the foreign workers
had come from Afghanistan and later Iraq, so they were
used to this. There were relief trucks everywhere
with bright signs of who they represented such as the
UN. On one beach, everything was completely gone
except for a large white Mosque that was mercifully
left standing as if to say our faith is stronger than
nature. We met many dedicated people such as Danish
television reporter Mette Fugl who had taken a 24 hour
bus ride through the jungle to get here before the
airport had opened. She said "I have been all over
the world, including Iraq, and this is far worse...I
have never seen anything like it..I still can't
believe it" (mfu@dr.dk). We moved through the entire
city, and decided to pass walking on the beach as
bodies were still floating up regularly.
A few miracle stories we heard on the hopeful side,
such as, they just found a small boy that climbed a
coconut tree to escape the water and he was still
alive after 10 days stuck up in the top of the tree.
Another is a woman and her child were being pulled out
to sea when a large snake, the size of a palm tree,
was swimming for the shore. She grabbed on for her
life and the snake saved them both. Another man was
found alive under rubble here after 10 days.
Another version of what happened here is that after
the terrible quake that leveled many buildings, they
had a typhoon and major wind and rain. This was
followed by the two great waves that were reportedly
as high as 9 meters (27 feet). They reportedly went as
far as 10 km inland which swept just about
everything out to sea.
Late in the afternoon back at the airport, we looked
for a place to pitch our tent. The skies opened up
and we experienced first hand the strength of SumatraÕs
monsoon rainy season. Way too strong and wet for us, so
we looked around and found a temporary clinic near the
airport. Luckily we received permission to spend the
night there. We soon found out that this was the
headquarters of the entire staff of the Indonesian
ministry of Health, Water Sanitation and Disease
Control (D.Luthfi...(6221)-4200944 office phone number
or email ...joko_i@litbang.depkes.go.id) and we
immediately felt connected to these people. We plan
on sending water purifiers directly to them when we
return home this week. They were all sleeping on the
marble floor and we were invited to join them,
although as is Muslim custom, Amana would be sleeping
in another room with the women. Just before nightfall,
the rain stopped and we walked along the airport and
talked with the local people. One man had lost 18 of
his family members, can you imagine??!!! Several people
asked for just basic medicine like neosporin and where
are the doctors? One family had been given a case of
soap and asked us what it was for?, not being able to
read English!!.
After an evening meeting by all the ministers, we
tried sleeping directly on marble which was difficult.
I did manage to fall asleep until 5am when there were
many screams. We were having a 6.2 aftershock and we
all ran out of the building into the hot night air.
Thirty minutes later there was another one. Many of
the ministers, who were beautiful caring and loving
people, were now leaving to be taken down their coast
by the US Helicopters. This was the first time the
indigenous people living in villages down the coast
would have any outside contact. I just laid back down
on the marble when there was an explosion and everyone
ran out again as one of the helicopters had just
crashed. Smoke was rising up just as the morning
light appeared, and everyone was afraid for the
ministers. We soon learned they weren't on the this
helicopter and 10 marines were injured but no one
seriously hurt (a Blessing)!
For years now, Westerners weren't allowed here in
Banda Aceh as the GAM, the rebel insurgents, had been
fighting for independence. With this immense
reconstruction project beginning, the Gam have been
quiet, although they stole a truck full of food while
we were there. We finally got to the airport on this
event-filled morning, and four hours early. The plane
was way oversold, and there was already a line. We met
and discussed our impressions with Zaki Chebab the
Political Editor of Lebanese
Television (Zakichehab@aol.com) who had been here for
over a week. He travels to all places like this
globally and explained clearly how most of the Aid
pledged will never get here as the rich Western
countries and the Eastern Countries have great
difficulty trusting each other. He sadly shared that
"logistics keeps most of the pledges from ever
reaching the people". He asked Colin Powell at the
press conference in Jakarta "Are you offering aid to
this Muslim country from your heart or for political
reasons?"
In conclusion, there is a definite air of hope as
several thousand relief workers are working 24 hours a
day on a monumental task. They have plenty of food in
our opinion, but lack shelter, clean water or
filtration systems. Everyone we talked to said good
things about America, and we have an approved image
here in Indonesia. Our taxi driver even had a US Flag
on the inside ceiling of his truck. We flew back to
Medan and discussed the situation with UN Security
Coordinator Reg Mills(reg.mills@UNDP.org) who clearly
was aware of the difficulty having American and
Australian troops here in the middle of
tension-filled Sumatra. Since we left they have
closed Banda Aceh to all foreigners except ones
registered as organized workers and they also gave the
all militaries until March 26 to leave. Our journey
hadn't ended yet, as Flying Back to Bali the pilot
aborted the landing as a windswept rain storm
blocked our return and as we circled the airport the
rain stopped so we could land. And about 5:30 am the
next morning Amana woke me up, as there was an
extremely low tide, and wanted to know if there was a
tsunami coming?
Paul
email from Bali