Arrive in Medan, Indonesia. Titim very kindly and graciously met us at the airport. She is an ARF volunteer in Medan, studied nutrition in school, and works for a shipping company. Guided us to domestic terminal, kept us company for a while before we checked in and boarded last flight (of five!) to Banda Aceh.

Arrived in Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport of Banda Aceh. The airport is a small building, and baggage arrived on a single conveyor belt. We were met by Cut Famelia, a very kind and solicitous young woman who works at Aceh Institute and is a volunteer at Phi Beta Learning Center. The ride from the airport to Phi Beta was lovely. The green is vivid and lush, the road was flat, but hills surrounded us in the distance. The scenery on the ride reminded me of movies I’ve seen about Vietnam, but with a pinch of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, thrown in there. There were lots of narrow roads, bustling stalls and shops on either side, and lots of people walking about.

We stopped for six bottles of water on the way to the hotel. (It is a bit hot and humid!) We rested at the hotel for two hours. Famelia picked us up at the hotel and we were only underway for about three or four minutes when we were pulled over by police. Our driver, Jol, showed the police his documents. One of the documents was a copy rather than an original and he had to follow police to their various vehicles behind us to make his case while he tried to call his boss on his cell phone. Plenty of other people were also being pulled over. A fine was paid. One of the most noticeable impressions was all the women riding on motorbikes and motor scooters. Most of the women had their heads covered, but there were plenty in (tight!) jeans. Young couples rode with babies and their children on motorbikes. We rushed off to our appointment.

Photo: Lisa Loomis and Famelia outside Phi Beta Learning Center

Arrived at Phi Beta Learning Center. Almost immediately as you walk in is the center’s library. The library is several floor to ceiling shelves of books placed in a u-shape. It was clear the center was busy and well utilized with students walking in and out. We met several of the staff, including Muhyiddin who is the Education Director of Phi Beta. We met Dr. Nora Mohammed Adzahan, a December 2006 graduate in Food Technology from Cornell University, Ithaca, currently residing in KL, Malaysia where she teaches Food Technology at UPM (University Putra Malaysia). She is also visiting Banda Aceh for the first time. Ega is a teacher at Phi Beta and a volunteer of the mobile library. She introduced Nora, who then stood in the library next to Muhyiddin before the donation ceremony began. Nora made a donation of books to the Phi Beta Learning Center while three young children sat close to them and didn’t even look up from their books during the formalities! Nora was not able to bring all the books she had collected in Malaysia because of weight restrictions on the airplane. She hopes to do this next time.

Photo: Cut Famelia, Mardiana (Director of Phi Beta), and Trisna Novie Lasmita (Phi Beta teacher, and Finance Officer of Phi Beta)

Photo: Children reading during book donation ceremony

Photo: Dr. Nora Mohammed Adzahan presenting Muhyiddin with the book donation

We toured Phi Beta Learning Center. Phi Beta is a facility that offers extra classes for students in a variety of the core subjects. It services a wide range of ages, the objective being to assist students in learning and eventually passing university entrance exams. We saw some of the water damage, the lines on the walls which marked how high the water had come during the tsunami. Many books were destroyed by the water, and all the computer equipment in the lab was destroyed as well. Since then, much has been replaced. Phi Beta has two branches in Banda Aceh, the other one was more seriously affected by the tsunami. We were told how the staff, paid volunteers, and government workers cleaned up the building in the aftermath. Saw the computer lab with the new equipment and people working on it. We walked into the courtyard around which are classrooms. In the middle of the courtyard there is a raised platform for prayers which is also used for school purposes. We saw some damage in the courtyard, particularly a tree that had been felled by the Tsunami. It was white and dry, lying against the wall on one side.

One of the people we met was Munawar, a former student of Saiful Mahdi’s who is now studying for his Master’s degree in Malaysia, although he is on summer vacation for two months in Banda Aceh. He described the importance of education to the Acehnese and the renewed commitment to this goal after the tsunami. In pre-tsunami times government schools were often burned, both by the government (who didn’t want the Acehnese to have facilities) and GAM who considered the schools government symbols. Munawar spoke of the post-Tsunami opening of Aceh as the opening of minds and how critical this is to Acehnese society. Everyone we met was so friendly and solicitous, and proud to show us their work. While conversations were going on, students were studying hard in their classrooms. There were lots of girls among them.

Before leaving, Muhyiddin procured the ARF cell phone for us. We slowly made our way back to Jol and the car. Famelia dropped us back at the hotel where we collapsed.