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Journal from the Ground
by Kelly Craft and Kari Krakow
8:00AM- Saiful's village that was
hit by the tsunami. |
8:00AM- Saiful walking in front of
his house. |
9am. We started our day with another
tour. Saiful took us to his village and showed us his home. In person,
the vastness of the destruction is much more overwhelming. As far as you
can see, there is only wreckage. Saiful shared what happened to his
family and his village during the tsunami. He told us that when he first
visited, there were corpses everywhere and he led a group effort to take
care of the dead. Saiful was able to secure Red Cross assistance because
of the initiative of the group. What we find so amazing is the
resiliency of the Achenese people. We see so many groups working to
clear up rubble and begin the very long process of rebuilding.
Students in the Phi Beta school were registering
for classes. |
We spent the afternoon at Phi Beta school working on our journal.
While we were there, students were registering for classes. Others were
cleaning and preparing the building for reopening. We will also be
meeting volunteers from PCC to sort and organize the school supplies and
prepare them for distribution.
Saiful took us to visit Dian’s mother. She gave us a tour of a
kindergarten and pre-kindergarten classroom. We also saw the playground
in the middle, where Saiful told us that Bila and Saifan spent many
wonderful hours playing. It was so interesting for us to look at the
very child-centered environment. This afternoon we attended an
organizational meeting at Phi Beta School. Members from PCC (people’s
crisis center), Friendship Humanity, Phi Beta School, and some Acehnese
students from a university in Japan were in attendance.
Saiful led
discussions about the emergency schools, a community library
project, and developing boarding schools for tsunami victims. |
Teachers from Phi Beta School sorted supplies donated by the Ithaca community. |
We sorted supplies with teachers from Phi Beta School and Kelly gave
instructions on how to play some of the donated games.
In the evening we attended a performance provided
by the Seulawah Art Studio. The purpose of the event was to
provide an artistic outlet for the children in the IDP camps.
The Art Studio members volunteered their time to work with local
high school students in groups with the children from the camps.
One part of the evening was a moving reenactment of the
earthquake and tsunami. |
We stayed at the Phi Beta school for the rest of the night.
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