More Aceh Links

        Aceh Timur

I quote from these sources a lot so maybe you would like to visit the sites or see the entire documents, which cover the topics of reconstruction fund corruption, rainforest destruction, and the treatment of Acehnese by the Indonesian government pre- and post-conflict.  They’re issues that I’d love to discuss in our planned documentary . . . but first, I suppose we should get through the elections.

http://infid.org/pdfdo/1373564525.pdf

Profiting From Peace: The Political Economy of Aceh’s Post-Helsinki Reconstruction

INFID (International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development), 2007

http://acehnet.tripod.com/begin.htm

Aceh for beginners (1999): an overview of the history of the Sultanate through World War II and the formation of the free Aceh Movement

http://www.ti.or.id/

Transparency International Indonesia (Bahasa)

http://www.ti.or.id/en/index.php/profile (English)

http://extsearch.worldbank.org/servlet/SiteSearchServlet?ed=rrudb&q=Aceh

doing business in Aceh (World Bank)

http://www.redd-monitor.org/2011/08/09/ecological-armageddon-abc-news-documentary-about-aprils-operations-in-sumatra/

REDD Monitor

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2012/12/26/indonesia-reconstruction-chapter-ends-eight-years-after-the-tsunami

The World Bank singing its own praises of the multi-donor fund’s administration

http://ancorage-net.org/content/documents/pdp06-04.pdf

Clean or Corrupt: Tsunami Aid in Aceh (ANU Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government)

http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/asa210072013en.pdf

Time to Face the Past: Justice for Past Abuses in Indonesia’s Aceh Province

Amnesty International, 2013

Our Work in Aceh is Featured on Voice of America

Here is a story that Voice of America (VOA) did recently that as a colleague wrote me, “does an excellent job of highlighting in depth what is going on in Aceh in a way that an outsider can understand. It is a big picture story that demonstrates the importance of the work that Building Bridges to the Future is doing and positions BBF at the forefront of helping conflict victims in Aceh.” The reporter, Brian Padden, with whom we’ve been working for several months, did a great job highlighting our Goat and ABC (education) programs as critical elements to the long term recovery of the region.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZeLAU1OarQ

August 15th marks the fourth anniversary of peace in Indonesia's Aceh province. The tsunami that decimated the region in 2004, killing nearly 170,000 people, and the immense international relief effort that followed, helped end a 30-year separatist war. The former leaders of the Free Aceh Movement renounced their fight for independence in exchange for leadership roles and a degree of autonomy in Aceh Province. As VOA's Brian Padden reports from Banda Aceh, while peace prevails, it is still fragile.

Things are heating up . . .

On September 9th the head of the US-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce sent me two extremely disturbing articles regarding the decision by the Acehnese legislature to implement a harsher type of Sharia law, with physical penalties up to an including death for offenses such as adultery, relationships between unmarried couples, homosexuality, operating beauty salons, gambling, etc. [Students demand harsher sharia law implementation, Hotli Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh; The Jakarta Globe; Aceh Prepares To See Stonings, Lashings as Law, Nurdin Hasan & Dessy Sagita]. He went on to say “I am asking my Acehnese members about this. They want me to attend a meeting in Aceh next year to promote investment but I doubt I can be of much help if the Acehnese want to become a Taliban outpost.”

I sent this article to a group of daily contacts including Aguswandi, the author of the article in my last post, with a note expressing concern about not only the violation of human rights that could occur, but the reluctance on the part of outside investors to bring much-needed economic development to the province in light of these new developments.. (One article stated that many Acehnese, including students, were actually in favor of the new legislation.)

Aguswandi was first to reply.

This is so outrageous. we should stop this 'acehnistan' project by conservative Islam. this law is an insult on Acehnese tradition, history and Islam itself. conservative Islam is hijacking the peace in Aceh to push their own agenda. actually the problem is not them, but us who do very little to stop this.

Then I received this from the Pak Nur Djuli, head of BRA, which is the agency designated to assist ex-combatants.

For your information, the Governor has REFUSED to sign the Kanimef and has asked mendagri to veto it, and about a hundred people mostly women demonstrated at Dpra and were hackledo by men in white and turbans. These are activists from lina, Kontras, Lbh, flowers.Shadia made a statement to serambi saying it is against mou but not published. You know what yarmen's stand is on this aguswandi. Where are Aguswandi's PRA people? It is easy to write smart articles to a convinced gallery. I want to know where is the old Aguswandi I used to admire! The one who stood up against the military at the peak of the conflict? Sara, don't just bark at the wrong tree against us acehnese, try to voice your complain against Jakarta and not just by emails, use your congressmen in washington. But of course you are not going to do that, indonesia has just become your country's hero número UNO for killing nordin top.

A little background: Aguswandi, the author of the article in my last post, was a student leader during the conflict. He also was a human rights activist. He was not in GAM (the resistance movement) but rather in the student organization. He lived in exile in England for about 5 years, and has also worked at BRA.
Pak Nur Djuli is 60-something and was in exile in Malaysia and Singapore for many years. He remained close to the GAM governing body during that time. He was made Head of BRA a few years ago due to pressure by well-connected individuals abroad. He is also the person who asked JMD to begin projects in Sawang, which we did, when no one else was willing to take the risk. Prior to this letter I believed we were on good terms and I have no idea what I did to piss him off; nothing I said reflected anything but admiration for the Acehese whom we serve.

I felt better, however, after receiving this from a valued staff member at our headquarters in Banda:

Sara:
I can't believe Pak Nur would send his reply to everyone on this list, criticizing you and Aguswandi in front of everyone. It is very rude.
We've been helping Acehnese people getting back on their own feet with livelihood and education. We're not voicing our opinion, we’re just doing our job directly at the grass root level, risking our lives going to most dangerous places in Aceh (which even Nur Djuli or any ex GAM commander would never go after the mou), and you've used your personal resources because you really care about the Acehnese people.
I'm upset that Nur Djuli would say such harsh things to you in public emails. I don’t understand where Pak Nur stands in all this, or what he has done for his own people.
If I were you I would tell him what you've been giving to Acehnese people, being away from your family in NY, going to the Aceh jungle, almost being kidnapped twice, you've done your part in the development of Aceh, it's time for him to do something with the new law, since nothing good has come out from his BRA agency yet.

You gotta love her.

During all this, I/we received another note from Nur:
I agree with you on this Sara. I am not really concerned about foreign investments, but of our own understanding of the Syariah law. These parliamentarians are of the old regime, they are on the way out and they are rushing to put everything in place before they left end of this month. If you remember, GAM was against the imposition of the Syariah Law in Aceh as interpreted by GusDur. Now it has been solidified complete with its own bureaucracy and the Syariah Police unit. This is not what Islam is all about.

Aguswandi said we should stop this acehnistan, ok, how my friend? I think beyond coining smart terminology it is rather difficult to do anything about it when we are across the Globe from Aceh, isn't it? You are very right when you say the problem is us who do very little to stop this. During the conflict the Gusdur's imposed Shariah did not work, you know why? Because GAM prevented it, remember the time when GAM forbid Laskar Jihad which is a branch of Jemaah Islamiah from setting up an office in Banda Aceh?? GAM even told them to leave Aceh or else. Even when they tried to make a speech at the Grand Mosque, GAM, not wanting violence in a house of God, just told the mosque authorities to prevent the use of the microphones, forcing them to shift to a small mosque in the outskirt of the town, following which they declared war on GAM and because they said GAM was anti-Islamic. In the new parliament GAM/PW will be the majority, but if the law was already there, it would be very difficult for them to repeal, as that would give those who branded GAM as anti-Islam would have more weapons to prove their point.

Yes Sarah, I am worried. But then again, we Acehnese have somehow always found ways to solve our problems, eventually.... God willing we shall overcome this one too. Those of you who are afraid of getting whipped, well my advice is, don't do it, or just skip Aceh from your agenda. What else could we Acehnese say? If you want to attach strings to your assistance/investment, that's your right, what else you want us to do/say?

BTW. With a stroke of a pen, the President of the Republic CAN overrule any Aceh Kanun! Yes, some democracy huh, but would he? I doubt it, he doesn't want to be branded anti-Islam either ... that's politics for you my friend. He had already refused to veto the Quran reading test rule to be a candidate of the last two elections in Aceh. So why just condemn and threaten not to be friendly with us tiny Acehnese who can even give you visa on arrival, when the real culprits are actually across the Sunda Straits? Aah, but they are very good at anti terrorism, so let's not bother them, right? What's a little matter of human rights? Even Uncle Sam is not too concerned about that.

Yaah, human rights, what indeed we have achieved in the matter so far? Back to Aguswandi, because this is your favorite subject, today Munir's wife and your old friends in Kontras are holding a protest meeting in Rodia Cafe, and this evening they are holding a rally protesting the various attempts to drown the case for good. Why in Aceh? My guess is that because only Acehnese are still concerned about it and consider it is a great honour to have Suciwati visiting Aceh. Her late husband had done very much for Aceh, we owed him a lot and we are not forgetting.

AND meanwhile, Permadi, a shaman member of Parliament in Jakarta has called for war against Malaysia for stealing a Indonesian dance in an TV program produced by the Singapore Discovery Channel ...AND in the streets of Jakarta hundreds of demonstrators armed with sharpened bamboo (bambu runcing) are blocking roads looking for Malaysians, causing a 5 hour traffic jam, forcing Malaysian government to issue a travel warning to its students ...

Gee whiz ... here I am worrying about getting whipped for illicit sex when the whole country is being whipped by some unknown lunar virus ...

HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE !
Peace !
Nur

How many ways can you put your life and values in danger before it is too much?? At what point do you take a stand?? I am sorry for the people of Aceh but not enough to condone this type of behavior. I am so upset. There are over 4 million Acehnese and 100 of them demonstrated. Shame on them. Our agency only looks at this from the humanitarian side, not the political one. Nur should remember that we went into Sawang at his suggestion when no one else did, and as of October we will have been there for two years with 8 projects. We are trying to help Aceh, not destroy it. They are doing it on their own.
I have been embarrassed by my country for 9 years. I do not condone what it does. If Jakarta made them have sharia law than why haven't they gotten rid of it in the 4 years since the Memorandum of Agreement?? Jakarta didn't force the new laws on Aceh, their own people did it.

My reply was short.
If the students are involved it will happen. When Governor Irwandi spoke at the Yale Club on Oct. 26th 2007 in New York he made it very, very clear that being a Sharia state had been forced on Aceh by Gus Dur and Jakarta. I doubt that very much now, since the trend is leaning towards more punishment and a stricter Sharia State.

On September 11 Nur had more to say.

Dear Sara, the women here are furious, but no important NGOs are helping them, fearful of being branded anti-Islam. Shadia and Yanti when attending a forum organized by PEMDA (Aceh Government) as representatives of LINA they clashed immediately with MPs from PKS Mps. Yanti, a very petite woman, stood on a chair to be seen and heard, the MP told her to shut up and read a few verses of the Quran. You think dozens of other people attending,including many major NGO reps would stand up? Shadia let go a barrage of statements declaring the laws against MoU ... nobody supported her. Now LINA is no longer invited anywhere, even the EU and USAID people are keeping a distance from it. MPs from this PKS and PPP openly stated that they should rush with these laws (6 in all) because "if not they will never pass it when we are gone. This will be our legacy ..." They KNOW, PA will not introduce that kind of laws, but will not stand up to oppose it.

What I hate about this discussion is the threat of not investing. Come on, who is the biggest investor in Saudi Arabia? You think oil companies like Exxon would be fearful of some turbaned people and not try to get petroleum exploitation in East Aceh, they are pushing hard for it, but still blocked by the Governor and Bupati, for environmental reasons. There are dozens of big investors in many fields of industries waiting to come in, what hold them?, I can assure you not Syariah, but the lack of electric power!

I am amazed at the nerve of some people at appropriating blame, of condemning the victims. Look at Afhanistan. Who brought in Hamid Karzai who now signed the law that allow a husband to starve his wife for refusing him sex? Who created the Talibans? The so-called fundamentalists were living in their remote mountains in Pakistan and Afghanistan, who brought them into the open to terrorize the world?

It is easy to blame us for not doing anything. I don't appreciate smart asses nicknaming Aceh as Acehnistan or such other derogative terms. Aceh has just come out of 3o years of living in a slaughter house, thousands are still without jobs, uneducated. So the smart ones should not just look down on their own people from the high ivory towers.

I will be in Aceh in about a week. I’ll be there for a month, visiting our programs, trying to make some sense of this and see how we can work and implement programs in this situation. In some ways Nur is right. If we’re administering humanitarian aid, then the only requirement of our recipients should be that they need it. But if some of our aid is designed to promote those very practices that could now be looked upon as “unfriendly” to current law, such as women’s empowerment, widow/at-risk male mentoring programs, etc. what exactly are we supposed to do or think?

Stop the cruel sharia `qanun' in Aceh

Aguswandi , Cambridge Sat, 09/19/2009 12:02 PM Headlines

The sharia qanun passed by the Aceh parliament this week is no less dangerous to Indonesia than the recent terrorist attacks in the capital Jakarta. The qanun will allow for adulterers to be stoned to death, and will put Indonesia on a slippery slope, threatening the rights of its people and risking its proud standing as an international beacon of moderate Islam.
Where the July bombings helped unite Muslims across the country in outrage at the barbarism and inhumanity of radical Islamists, most startlingly, the stoning bill has elicited little public condemnation. Only a handful of human rights groups have voiced their concerns at a law that grossly abuses the rights of Acehnese.
In fact, if the latest qanun is implemented, it will be time to stop referring to Indonesia as an example of civilized and moderate Islam. It will be time to start referring to Indonesia as the new Pakistan of Southeast Asia. Well Indonesia is not yet Pakistan, but it will not be too long before it becomes one. If politicians continue to accommodate hard-liners, allowing this type of conservative sharia to flourish, Indonesia is only a step away from being added the list of Islamic pariah countries that treat their citizens inhumanely. It will only be a few more years before Banda Aceh is the next Peshawar and East Java is the next Swat Valley. In fact, Indonesia may become worse than Pakistan, because even there people are not stoned to death.
There is still time to stop the folly. The central and provincial governments need to strongly object to and forbid the enactment of the law. This must be done soon, though. Even if the governor does not sign off on the qanun, the law will automatically take effect 30 days after its approval by parliament. If this is the case, the government should obstruct this barbaric law by not allocating any budget to the sharia institutions. In fact, Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, who is opposed to sharia law, should consider scrapping the Sharia Affairs Office and the Sharia Police that were created in the province by the old corrupt governor, Abdullah Puteh.
There are a few political options to consider. Because the law was passed by outgoing members of parliament in Aceh, the new legislators can still revoke the law. Aceh's new parliament can make two arguments under the Helsinki MOU, which determined power arrangements in Aceh: First, the old parliament has no right to issue any new law; and second, all Aceh laws must follow internationally agreed-upon human rights standards. Because stoning people to death is in direct contravention of human rights, the law is invalid and therefore should be canceled.
Third, and as a last resort, Jakarta has the power to overturn any local regulations that go against the Constitution and national laws. The central government has the right, if not duty, to block this law that is not in the line with the Constitution, which promises to protect human dignity across Indonesia.
Laws can only be changed though with public support. Sharia proponents who are willing to push the country to this intolerable limit have been met unchallenged by their moderate opponents, who, fearful of a backlash, are slow to speak out. Indeed, the actual problem of Islamic conservativism is not the conservatives, but the moderates who are too cautious in their opposition.
In Aceh, where the law was introduced, the only group actively voicing their opinions are, unfortunately, not those who oppose, but those who support the qanun. They are the students and legislator associated with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Islamist Party that is in a coalition with the incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.
Despite the rhetoric of the PKS nationally that it is a moderate Islamist group, they are the ones pushing for quick and further implementation of sharia in Aceh. This type of qanun benefits neither Yudhoyono's reputation nor the people in Aceh. It is time for the central government to speak out against this law, even though it would mean facing proponents of sharia in Aceh who are part of the party that supported Yudho-yono in the presidential race.
In fact, this is also a good opportunity to turn upside down the whole process of enacting sharia law in Aceh and Indonesia. The government should strangle the sharia institutions and discourse. It is time for moderate Muslims to say no to the newest sharia in Aceh and any future sharia that insults Islam, Indonesia and the present moderate tradition.

The writer is a fellow at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

Thanks so much Aguswandi , for not only forwarding me this but for writing it. It is 100% right. I do believe though that all the moderate voices, who are unwilling to speak and who seem willing to allow this gross public display of total disregard for people’s lives, will not do one thing to change this. That goes for the President , the Governor on down to the littlest man and woman. No one wants to be branded anti-Islamic so they would rather be seen as pro-barbaric. It is so sad and just breaks my heart. I know how you must be hurting for your province which you love and have fought for.I leave for Aceh on Monday night and am just hoping that there will be no stonings while I am there. Take care and keep up the good fight.
Fondly,
Sara

BBF and JMD in the News

An interesting pair of articles has come out this week, on August 11 and 13, by Brian Padden for Voice of America. Mr Padden was gathering information for stories on the distribution of aid for tsunami survivors versus individuals and families in conflict-affected areas. JMD staff spent over a week taking the Jakarta-based reporter to significant parts of Aceh, especially Aceh Jaya on the west coast, to see firsthand the combined effects of the tsunami and the protracted conflict. The first article, reprinted below, touches on some of the work Building Bridges to the Future has done in this area. We’re hoping, however, that Mr Padden takes advantage of the additional sources we had lined up for him, including female ex-combatants) and that subsequent stories paint a more complete picture of the smaller and hard-working NGO’s that have been offering aid in unpopular and hard-to-access areas, where larger agencies fear to tread (or spend time and money).

Fragile Four-Year Peace Prevails in Indonesia's Aceh Province – VOA 11 Aug 09
August 15 marks the fourth anniversary of peace in Aceh province in Indonesia. The tsunami that decimated the region in 2004, killing nearly 170,000 people, and the immense international relief effort that followed helped end a 30-year separatist war. The former leaders the Free Aceh Movement renounced their fight for independence in exchange for leadership roles and a degree of autonomy in Aceh. While peace prevails, it is still fragile.

Aceh's economy
Music and dance performances helped bring out large crowds to the Aceh International Expo. This is in part a celebration of Aceh's growing economic power as an exporter of rice, coffee, oil and natural gas. It is also a testament to the peace that has prevailed in the four years since the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, and the Indonesian government signed a peace settlement in Helsinki, Finland. Chairul Nispa runs a Toyota dealership. He says since the Helsinki agreement, business is getting better, especially in the automotive business. Instead of outsiders brought in by the Jakarta government, former Acehnese rebels are now in charge of the local government and local police are now in charge of security. General Amiruddin Usman, the Aceh security coordinator for the Indonesian government, says the military has for the most part moved to bases outside the region. He says the key to the success of the peace agreement has been the military's restraint in not engaging the former insurgents. Under the peace deal, the local government gets 70 percent of the revenue from Aceh's huge gas and oil reserves. The Jakarta government gets the rest.

Lack of trust hinders peace
But analyst Teuku Kamaruzzaman says the peace remains fragile because neither side trusts the other. He says it is not clear how the percentage of gas and oil revenue is determined. The central and local governments are still arguing over who will be the independent arbiter. Human rights activists also protest the failure to create the truth and reconciliation commission that the peace agreement calls for. Hendra Budian with the Aceh Judicial Monitoring Institute says while it may be uncomfortable to those in power, it is necessary to account for war crimes and abuses that occurred during the decades of conflict. "We cannot forget that. This is also for history," said Budian. "Otherwise it can repeat again. Why? Because there is no instrument to cut the cycle of the violence." Crime remains a problem in region, because many ex-insurgents have not received the training or support to lead peaceful, productive lives. At an open-air restaurant in the rural district of Pidie Jaya, some villagers say the economic benefits of peace have not filtered down to them.

Unemployment, a threat to peace
One villager says it is hard to find jobs, mainly because of the lack of capital. Hendra Budian says in place of the struggle for independence, unemployment and poverty are now the greatest threats to peace. "We finished the vertical conflict in between Aceh and Jakarta," continued Budian. "If we cannot solve this problem we will move to another conflict which is what we call a horizontal conflict, Aceh and Aceh." A group called Building Bridges To The Future has funded projects to help conflict victims in Pidie Jaya. It organized adult education classes. A student says in the past during the conflict, she could not go to school. There was no school. The organization also provided 30 goats and training to others. The group now has 80 goats and earns about $40 a day selling milk. Selling a goat can raise more than $150. The group's members are digging a new well to irrigate their farms and improve crop production. To insure a lasting peace, Budian says the local government must take over and expand education and development opportunities for all the people of Aceh.
--Brian Padden
Padden report - Download (MP3) Padden report - Listen (MP3)

Aceh Timur's Rohingya Refugees in the News

The following news clips are from an informational email news service called the Serambi Daily Summary, in which important articles from the country that are especially pertinent to Aceh are translated into English and distributed to interested organizations working in the area. The editors note that “unless marked otherwise, all summaries are extracted from the Serambi Indonesia which is our prime source. The following publications are also monitored: Harian Aceh, Rakyat Aceh, Metro Aceh, Waspada, Analisa, Pro Haba, Aceh Independen, Modus Aceh, Kontras and Tempo."

Monday 16 March 09
The Government are Requested to Involve UNHCR to Handle the Rohingya
Banda Aceh – The Indonesian Government is requested to invite UNHCR’s involvement in the handling the Rohingya boatpeople stranded in Aceh several months ago. “We hope that the government will involve UNHCR because the government of Sabang is unable to continuously assist them, especially their logistic needs,” said the Mayor of Sabang, Munawarliza Zainal in Banda Aceh, Tuesday (17/03). When Myanmar’s Prime Minister, General Thein Sein, visited Indonesia, Myanmar’s agreed to accept these boatpeople back to Myanmar only if they could prove that they are indeed Myanmarese. In this regard, the Government of Indonesia agreed to extend their stay as refugees in Indonesia until a final solution is found. Responding to this agreement, the Mayor of Sabang stated that if the Central Government instructed Pemko Sabang (the local government) to utilize the district budget, the Pemko will be able to so. “However, we have not gotten any instruction to use the district budget from the central government; therefore we presently can only assist humanitarianly,” Munawarliza added. According to Munawarliza, the 193 Rohingyas, now camped in Sabang, are being assisted by some NGOS and other parties, yet the logistic stock is very limited.

And an update in the 3/26 summary:

Again, Muslim Aid Assists the Rohingya Refugees
Banda Aceh – For the second time, Muslim Aid Indonesia have assisted the Rohingya refugees in their camp in Idi, Aceh Timur. This time, Muslim Aid distributed food and medicine and it will build three toilets at the camp site. Special Program Officer of Muslim Aid Indonesia, Abdul Hamid, in his press release to Serambi on Thursday, said that food and medicine packages were directly distributed to the refugees, who are now at the office of Camat of Idi Rayeuk, on Thursday (26/03). Meanwhile, the toilets are under construction and will be ready in three days.

My notes: At this time IOM and UNHCR are helping the Sabang camp but as of today (3/27) they are not involved with the Idi camp. Also: the latrines are nearly complete, thanks to the folks at Muslim Aid. They truly are wonderful!!!

Letter to the UN Office of the Recovery Coordinator for Aceh and Nias

Dear M:

I am sorry that we did not chat about what was going on in Aceh Timur but I am leaving today for the States and thought you would catch me before I left. l will not be back for 2-3 weeks.

Let me first tell you that there is a coordination meeting with local NGO's and government agencies that are involved in the camp at this time. The meeting is at 10AM at Ruang Serba Guna, Idi Rayeak. We have been working with Assistant 1 and the local NGO FPRM in arranging this meeting. We do hope that you will attend. It will bring you up to date on what is happening and the players involved. I am sure an invitation has been given to UNORC in Aceh Timur. We hope to have a needs assessment ready for the meeting but it has been [a difficult process.]

There are 198 men in the camp at this time. We have been able to raise $20,000 for food for this month and another $20,000 for next month. So we feel that the food situation is under control. We also have NGO's that are donating more food. We also have a donation of latrines. This is quite important because the sanitation is really not very good at the camp and this situation could breed disease. We also have 3 months of medical care that is being donated along with para-medical personnel and hardware. This will start on the 1st or 2nd of April. We are bringing a psychologist, who is volunteering her time, with us to do mental health assessments for the refugees.

After talking with the Bupati and Assistant 1 this week we all feel that we need to move the camp. The district has land which they will donate but we are in desperate need of barracks or some type of housing. The tents that are being used now are over crowded and inadequate. We also need an interpreter to be in a better position to talk to the refugees about their needs. We are not trying to get information from them since we have no idea how to process refugees and are only filling in till IOM and UNHCR take over the camp.

We have made arrangements, which have been given government consent, to get the names and numbers of refugees to pass on to a group who work with the Rohingyas worldwide and are based in Thailand. They will inform family members that the refugee is alive and well but not divulge the location at this time.

Our office looks forward to speaking to you and hopefully to coordinate all our efforts together. We are working with quite a few NGO's and foreign governments and their agencies on getting more donations. We will keep you apprised if there is any new development.

Best Regards,
Sara

Hello from Aceh!

Welcome to the blog of Building Bridges to the Future Foundation. Actually, this is more of my personal blog, because I felt that in addition to our websites and our Facebook and Twitter pages, (which will be set up shortly by more tech-savvy minds than mine), there needed to be a less formal, more personal accounting of what is happening in Aceh, where I’ve worked (and much of the time lived) since right after the tsunami in 2005. I have to confess that all this internet-based communication is quite new to me, but I’ve always been able to write letters back home to my family, consultants, and people who I’ve asked to assist me with our work in Aceh, so we all decided that a blog would be a great way to keep everyone up to date. If you’re a relative or friend, you can rest assured that Grammy’s still kicking. If you’re someone interested in humanitarian relief efforts in Aceh but don’t know where to begin to look for info, this might be the place to start. If you’re a multinational corporation or large donor, you might grow to rather adore us and decide to fund one or more of our programs.

I have to say that much of what I’ll be writing here (as opposed to what’s on our web page, newsletters, etc) is purely SUBJECTIVE, though I’m going to try and be as diplomatic as I can be here, even if I may be tearing my hair out in frustration from time to time.

This has all been a marvelous journey for me. I came to humanitarian relief via the scenic route, you might say. I’d been an investment banker all of my adult life, and had been stationed in Jakarta (the capital of Indonesia ) since 1991. Immediately after the 2004 Tsunami hit Aceh, leaving nearly 80% of the province devastated, I traveled there with a friend who was involved in building houses in villages on the east coast that had been partly destroyed. I figured, since I’m living in this country I want to see for myself the extent of the disaster that has affected it. I wanted to see the west coast, which had been the most heavily damaged, so we travelled to the village of Rumpet, in the sub-district of Lamno , which because of its topography had been hit on three sides. What I found there absolutely broke my heart. There was nothing. People were wandering AROUND through rubble, like zombies. And yet, survivors had this spirit in them still, this desire to move forward . . .and to help others, which was more moving to me than anything else. It’s this deep sense of concern for others that I witnessed time and again over the past 4 years, most recently in the village of Idi, in eastern Aceh where 198 Rohingyan refugees landed on the coast, fleeing conditions in Myanmar . This incident is one of the reasons I feel I need to keep a public daily journal of what is going on in Aceh. The people in this area are some of the poorest in the country, and while for weeks no large aid organization was forthcoming with any type of assistance for the refugees, who were starving and injured, the Achenese in this village opened their hearts and homes, giving what little they had to complete strangers, just because they needed it. Every day since then the community delivers fresh fish to the camp so the refugees have fish.

One of the first things I did back in 2005 in Rumpet was ask local leaders what people needed. Housing, they said. People needed housing. There had only been 300 houses built in that area—by the Turkish government—since the tsunami had hit. So with my own funds I hired two local men, who would become the first two members of my “team,” and together until December of 2005 we built enough houses so that the people of Rumpet were among the first in Aceh to be back in their homes. Through 2007 we finished projects that larger NGO’s left due to safety and other concerns, reclaimed crop fields, provided livestock and building materials to a number of community members, and gradually our little group grew and became a cohesive unit and positive force in the area of sustainable livelihoods in Aceh.

I’ve gotten to know some wonderful people in the development field here. When I was just a “rookie,” I received lots of information, and some good advice, which was to become a registered 501 c 3 organization so that I could apply to various governments and assistance bodes for funding instead of just, well, using my own.

So Building Bridges to the Future Foundation was born, based in New York, but with most of the activity taking place in the tough parts of Aceh (which we got a reputation for being able to serve when no one else would).

I became President of the Foundation, got an house/office in Banda, the capital city, and set up an office there. My little group of talented but not-too-organized staff became even more talented, and very organized, and we formed an Indonesian registered NGO, called Yayasan Jimbatan Masa Depan (JMD), to be the counterpart to Building Bridges to the Future.

Our progress and programs are laid out in lots of loving and professional detail on the websites (http://www.buildingbridgestothefuturefoundation.org/ and http://www.jmd.org.id/).

But for the purposes of this blog, I want to start in the present. And the present is a mad whirl of activity, let me tell you. We’re up in Aceh Timur (east Aceh) where there is a double humanitarian crisis. While JMD has managed to wrestle some small amounts of aid from the world community (with help from many stalwart and small NGO’s on the ground there), the situation is pretty dire. After all, as anyone working with refugees knows, eventually they have to have somewhere to go—a permanent home, a livelihood, a community. At the same time, the Achenese themselves in this area are on the brink of starvation. As a matter of fact, we were developing programming for this area when the Rohingya landed on the beach in battered boats, towed ashore by Acehnese fishermen.

So this blog will hopefully be a daily or every other day update of what I’m doing, what my team is doing, what our good friends in Aceh are doing . . . and I’ll try to get a handle on this blogging thing and give you links and reading and maps and photos so that you know this place and care for it as much as I do. I’m in Aceh now but I’m on an extended visa and they’ll be booting me out on Sunday, but I’ll be back there in three weeks.

But lots can happen even from 6,000 miles away, and now that this is set up, I hope I will be adding to it regularly.