Church World Service Still Helping Tsunami Survivors Nearly One Year On

Nearly one year on, Church World Service is still helping the people of Indonesia’s Aceh province rebuild their lives and livelihoods with new livestock and vaccination supplies.

|PIC1|The Church World Service has helped many survivors rebuild old businesses or start news ones afresh through their programmes which teach breeders more about animal husbandry and key sanitation procedures, particularly important in the face of the new bird flu threat.

Another example of success is a furniture business group in Aceh’s Sibreh Keumude II sub-district which is now fulfilling its first order of window frames after being helped back into business with new machines and tools supplied by CWS.

The CWS’ Aceh team has also enlisted local carpenters to build windows and doors, and local people and future owners are working on the construction of the new houses, in an effort to increase the generation of local income.

“It is easy to build houses if you’re not considering the local participation. We could just let contractors build. But I worry if we do so, the continuation and sense of belonging will be different,” said Indra, Church World Service’s technical shelter officer stationed in Banda Aceh.

The CWS has also helped farming get back into full swing in the Aceh province, with one farming group in Gunung Sitoli, already beginning cultivation of a wide range of vegetable crops, and another farming cooperative of around 20 people well underway.

Two-day training programmes for area farming groups on vegetable planting techniques, use of organic fertilisers, and organic pesticide production are being run by the CWS in order to create sustainable agriculture in the region.

“The tsunami tragedy has made us start from scratch in many ways so we’re using the opportunity to help people recreate their lives and livelihoods in a more productive and environmentally and economically sustainable way,” said CWS Indonesia director Maurice Bloem.

|TOP|According Bloem, the farming programme was conducted in coordination with a local vocational school of agriculture and provided the participated farming groups with crop seeds and basic farming tools.

Bloem also reported on the ongoing recovery of the fishing trade, fundamental to Aceh’s recovery, after so many fishing boats were lost in the Tsunami.

“We are collaborating with a local non-governmental organisation in the Deyah Raya Syia Kuala sub-district of Banda Aceh, Lingkungan Hidup (Social Economy and Environment Institution),” reported Bloem.

“Together we’re implementing a one-year livelihood recovery programme that will bring 20 fishing boats to 40 fishermen in the district, allowing them to return to their trade,” he said.

The CWS has announced plans to construct ten village halls in Aceh’s Lhoong sub-district in collaboration with locals.