Tsunami Project Update
Tsunami Report - April 2006
School Opening
The hope of the students finally came true. Their school building which was lost in the tsunami was rebuilt for them. We completed the 6 classrooms, office, and house for the single teachers in only 3 months. Apart from adding a fence to keep the goats, water buffalos and ducks from wandering through the school yard, the building is complete. Now the 227 students enrolled in the elementary school are able to attend classes again in their own village.
On April 20, there was a handover ceremony which was attended by the village chief, Muslim leader, T. the District head of the Department of Education, the sub-district chief, the police and military leaders as well. We were thankful that without any planning on our part, the ceremony also included a visit by World Relief who funded the reconstruction project.
The government leaders gave the perfunctory speeches thanking us for rebuilding the school. They mentioned that not all organizations were following through on their promises. One NGO in the area had promised to rebuild 9 schools but until now there has been no sign that they would follow through on that. The district head of the Department of Education encouraged us to continue to be involved in building up the education system in the area. Indeed there are many needs and many opportunities for us.
World Relief’s country director, in his remarks, mentioned that a building does not equate to education. Serious attention must be paid to the quality of education for our young generation. Children are the leaders of the future for Indonesia. Consequently the entire community is responsible and must participate in giving them a good education.The highlight of the program was the song presented by the 5th and 6th grade students. Their song expressed the joy they felt as a result of having a new school building for them to continue their education. Since the tsunami, they have been sitting on the floor during school and each classroom was shared by two classes.
The students sang:We the students of this school Suffered a severe tragedy
We beg for your compassion
To lessen our painWe have been learning our lessons
Sitting on the ground beneath a tent
We have been taught by our teachers
The sun caused such stiflingly heat
Have compassion on us who are suffering
Now we are so happy
Our joy is overflowing
We have a beautiful new school
Thanks to this (name deleted) organization
And the help from the donors
Boats
We have now completed all boats that we committed ourselves to build apart from 6 small canoe-type boats. The boats have been distributed to those who lost their boats in the tsunami.
One of the recipients of the boats that we made is Mr. M. He lives in the region of Samaria. M. is around 50 years old and has 9 children. Two of his children are women and are married. When the Tsunami happened, he was out at sea in his friend’s boat. While they returned to the shore, they were shocked to see the condition of their village. They lost everything. M. realized that a wave from the sea destroyed everything along the coast. His family and most of the people from his village survived the Tsunami. They had run up a nearby hill.
After that horrifying day, M. struggled to earn money to meet his family’s needs. His boat, which was on the beach, was destroyed in the tsunami. The food aid that he received from some organizations helped but was not enough for all the mouths in his family. To earn money, he borrowed a boat from another person. This meant, however, that he would have to split his catch with the boat’s owner in addition to buying the fuel for the boat. Consequently he could only bring home about $2.50 for every full day of fishing. This still was not enough to cover the family’s needs.
After waiting for 6 months, he finally received his boat from us. M. says that this has helped him so much. He no longer needs to borrow other boats and therefore can bring home more money for his family.
As the increasing fuel costs have affected people around the world, so too these fishermen are feeling the crunch. Many have reduced their operating hours because of the high fuel costs. Sometimes the fishermen lose money because they did not catch enough to pay for their operating expenses. Our hope is that 
these fishermen will realize that the true solution to the problems that they face will only be found in the Lord. They must put their trust in the Master Fisherman who will guide their lives through all the storms.
Shelter
We are nearing the completion of the shelter projects. The last few houses around the school need to be built. We have completed 12 homes behind the school and have another 36 homes to do in front of the school. It is great to see people cleaning up and moving into their houses.
We need to finish around 40 other houses that we stopped construction on due to some land issues. The villagers told us to build on someone else’s property. In the end the villagers bought the land. Now that the issue is resolved and the construction can continue in May.
Shrimp Ponds
Work on the 160 hectares of shrimp ponds in 
Samaria is moving forward well. We have sent a backhoe over into the ponds. This involved crossing a river at low tide. The backhoe floats on a log raft to keep from sinking into the mud. Many challenges are overcome by the ingenuity of the villagers! It is truly amazing. The backhoe is plugging the sea walls to keep the tide from flooding the ponds. After this, it will begin to reconstruct the individual pond walls and irrigation channels.
In Bethel, the community’s ponds are ready to be stocked. This will be some of the first community ponds in Aceh to be restored to operation. The shrimp will be placed in the ponds in the middle of May. We pray that the Lord will keep disease from their ponds and that they can have a full harvest.
