... Nurmiliani was pregnant with Awil when the tsunami hit on December 26, 2004. She, her husband and their then 4-year old son saw the enormous black waves breaking over the tops of the tall coconut trees in the distance, and ran for their lives...
The thought of her unborn child kept her feet moving long after she was exhausted. They were able to reach higher ground, but the husband's family was lost, their village destroyed, the site of their former home still underwater.
Awil grins and chews on his fingers and has no idea that his family is facing such difficult times. His father has no job, and the family has no money as yet to rebuild. For a couple of months, they all lived in a flimsy tent by a busy road. With heavy rains and high winds, Nurmiliani was terrified that baby Awil would not survive. But at that point, Federal Way based aid agency World Vision stepped in to provide sturdy transitional housing for families all across the region. Awil now lives among other families from his original village, and though the economic future is uncertain, there is comradery and support and a sense of community for his start in the world.
World Vision has concentrated on the lives of children in Banda Aceh, offering special "Child Friendly Centers" where children can play and create artwork and recover from the trauma of such a massive natural catastrophe....
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3 comments:
My sister-in-law and her husband have been in Thailand since September, and will be until the end of January. They did expect it to be much different from their last visit there almost five years ago- but they were not prepared for what they found.
My brother-in-law (a writer) was able to describe to us the overwhelming feelings he had while taking my 3yo nephew for a walk on a beautiful beach- and then coming accross a pile of flip-flops of all different sizes, that the waves had brought in. Most of them were very small.
The idea that all of these months later the sea is still bringing debris up onto the beach is just so heartbreaking- but does slap you in the face with the fact that the area cannot be forgotten- their recovery and healing has barely begun.
I can't imagine what a centre for children- where they can just be children- must mean to that community.
coffeemamma,
If your sister-in-law and her husband want to get the word out on something, I'd be glad to do what little I can from here.
Kathryn, that is a very generous offer. I'll pass it along to them, but their emails are sporadic right now (not too many cyber cafés on tropical islands ;-)- maybe when they get back they will be able to let me know what stories need to be told.
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