Sumatra Blog

Today is my last day in the “Big Brother” house here in Padang as my plane back home to Norway leaves at 8 o’clock tomorrow morning. I can’t believe that I’ve been here for three weeks already … or that I haven’t been here for three months. Strangely enough I have both those feelings at the same time.

I know I have been talking quite a bit about losing a grip on time. But it’s really a strange feeling. Each day is so long and extreme that it gets hard to remember the day before. In that respect it feels like I’ve been in Indonesia forever. The constant combination of too much work, too little sleep, and a complete lack of privacy ensure that I experience an enormous amount of both exciting and not-so-exciting things every day.

In a way, this feels like home now. My colleagues here in Padang have been my entire life the last three weeks. We’ve been together 24/7 and know so much about each other by now; we’re almost family.

On the other hand, it’s going to be fantastic to get back to my actual home. I just can’t stop dreaming about that real shower I’ll be having, hot water pouring endlessly over my head. The opportunity to rinse the shampoo out of my hair for the first time in three weeks. Clean clothes. Oh, this might very well be the best shower of my life!

Tomorrow, when I start my long journey home to that shower, exactly one month will have passed since the earthquake hit West Sumatra. So far, Save the Children has provided more than 98,000 people – including almost 50,000 children – with critical shelter and relief supplies. This means that Save the Children has mounted the largest relief effort of any international non-governmental organization in response to the quake. This means we’re two-thirds on our way to our goal to reach 150,000 people, including 75,000 children with essential relief. That’s great and most certainly makes up for the 80-90 hours long work weeks!

Thinking back, 12-year-old Popot might be the person I’ve met here who has made the biggest impression on me. I’ve told you about her before, her house was completely destroyed during the earthquake. I met Popot in one of the 80 school tents that Save the Children has erected so far. I noticed her because she was the girl with the broadest smile and the biggest laugh. She looked genuinely happy to be in school with her friends.

I will never forget Popot’s big smile!

Padang, October 24 2009:

Today is a slightly sad day as monitoring and evaluation specialist Hana is leaving the house and the West Sumatra earthquake response. This sounds like a part of a “Big Brother” show on TV. Actually, that is not so far from the point, as you do get a special atmosphere when you put about 15 people – most of whom have never met before – into the same house and keep them there close to 24 hours a day for weeks on end. Even though I haven’t known the others for more than two weeks, we all know each other extremely well by now. Thankfully, we are not locked up inside our office/home as in “Big Brother,” but my point remains the same: If I add the hours I’ve been alone since my arrival, I’m quite sure you easily can count them on one hand. So I am sad too wave goodbye to Hana. We have shared bedroom and desk in the office for what feels like forever.

However, yesterday I did get out of the office, as I told you about. For the first time I had an interpreter with me into the field. She was a young woman who is just finishing her final English exams at the University of Padang. Before we left the Save the Children office, she was really exited. She hadn’t been to the hardest affected areas around yet, and was very concerned about all the damaged houses we were about to see.

“When the earthquake hit, I was at the second floor of a house. Everything was shaking for at least four minutes. It was impossible to stand upright; I fell to the floor and hurt my leg. I was really scared and thought I was going to die,” she told me.

The first week after the earthquake, she was terrified that another earthquake would occur.

“I was really traumatized the first week after the earthquake. It made me really scared and sad to hear about the people lying trapped within the ruins. Now I’m feeling better,” she explained.

As the car drove us closer and closer to the hardest-hit areas the interpreter got more and more quiet. She kept staring out of the window at all the homes that have been shattered to pieces. Then we reached the first school, the one I told you about yesterday. Here the children were singing and playing. We were met with big smiles and laughter. On the next two schools we visited, we met more smiling, curious children.

“On the way up here to Padang Sago I was really bracing myself for what I would see. The damaged homes and schools are a really sad sight. But what’s so great is to see the children smiling, laughing and running about. I thought they would all be traumatized and that we would see a lot of sad faces and blank stares. This shows me how important it is that the children get back to school as soon as possible after a natural disaster like the earthquake. Save the Children’s temporary schools really make a difference,” the interpreter said when we were on our way back to Padang.

Padang, October 23 2009:

It’s the middle of the night and finally I’ve found the time to write another blog entry. I have been flat out making a huge spreadsheet in order to report to the UN exactly what we have distributed to which village at what time. This could have been easy if Indonesian villages had one, straightforward name. But they don’t. I know everything about this, now. So I spent most of yesterday trying to identify what the UN call the villages on our distribution list. This required finding the correct 10-digit number for each village. One number wrong, and the whole system would fall apart … Luckily, I made it in the end! Unfortunately this statistics need updating every day. But I won’t worry about that until tomorrow

Today has been a much better day! I got up at 5 this morning to travel all the way to the sub-district Padang Sago. There, I visited a village in the hills called Limo Hindu (village number 1306620002 on the UN list, where it goes under the name of Nagari Batu Kalang. Yes, I do know why the names are completely different, but trust me, you don’t want to know!)

Just ten meters from the school, the earthquake caused a massive landslide that almost washed away the whole school. Instead, the building lost a back wall and was zigzagged by big cracks. Now it is far too dangerous to use.

Most families in the village also lost their home and most of their belongings in the natural disaster. This was quite a dramatic experience for the children. There headmaster worries that the children are traumatized. That is why he was so grateful for Save the Children erecting two school tents and one child-friendly space at a safer spot at the other side of Limo Hindu. Here the children can play and learn in safe surroundings under supervision of trained adults. This helps the children to deal with dramatic experiences from the earthquake and re-establish a very important sense of normality in their lives.

In school I met 12-year-old Popot. Her house was completely destroyed during the earthquake. Luckily, both her parents and her five siblings didn’t get hurt in the natural disaster. But in the beginning, Popot was very afraid to loose eyesight of her family. She didn’t dare to go to school, as she feared another earthquake would strike any time. Now, three weeks later after attending Save the Children’s temporary school, she is smiling and playing along with her classmates. The children sing “Old MacDonald had a farm” in Indonesian, and Popot is clearly enjoying herself playing maracas.

“Now I feel safe here,” she says.

In total, 34,080 earthquake-hit children like Popot will get the possibility to go to a temporary Save the Children school within long. So far our education staff has erected 74 school tents in the worst affected areas. They will reach the target of 200 school tents soon. This will indeed make a difference for a lot of children.

Padang, October 21 2009:

Another day writing reports has just passed. Today Hana and I went to meet some people in the UN organization OCHA based here in Padang. That’s short for Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. I will not bore you with all the details on our discussion about reporting templates … However, I will tell you a bit about the drive across town to get to the OCHA office.

As any Indonesian town with a population of about 900,000 people, Padang has a very busy, chaotic traffic style. Cars overtake even though there is other traffic coming in the opposite direction at the same time. A family of five can easily squeeze together on the same moped. Roundabouts seem to be decorations in the middle of the road rather than useful tools to direct the traffic, as cars and motorbikes tend to drive where they like regardless of the roundabouts. There’s no problem with overtaking on the inside of other cars. Add a fair bit of honking and flashers constantly being used to signal “Here I come – You move!” instead of changes in direction – and you will get an idea of what I mean. In general, you could say that main rule of traffic seems to be: Drive where you like and try to get there first.

All this is OK, as the Save the Children drivers know their job very well. The problem is all the children who beg for money on the sides of the roads. This can be extremely dangerous as the traffic is heavy and the driving erratic. To help solving this problem, Save the Children is broadcasting a message five times a day for five days on six local radio stations. The broadcasts focus on ensuring the safety of children. It is calling on families and communities not to allow children to beg on the streets as it is putting them at risk, as well as hampering the relief efforts.

Today, we saw only two children begging on our drive to the meeting and back home again. Hopefully, this means that the broadcasts have been successful.

Padang, October 20 2009:

Yesterday there were two aftershocks in Padang quite late in the evening. Some of us were having dinner in a restaurant and didn’t feel anything. Our colleagues who remained at the Save the Children house, however, could feel the earthquakes quite clearly. They immediately followed the earthquake procedure our security manager had us practise last week. Everyone congregated at the meeting point in the courtyard after the tremors had stopped, according to plan.

Today has been a very, very long day indeed, as it is the day of the situation report. The point with these reports is to collect all the facts and numbers describing how the emergency response is developing. I have spent most of the day pestering my colleagues trying to collect all sorts of statistics from them, crunching numbers and filling in all the details for today’s report.

Sometimes, I must admit this paperwork feels a little tiring and boring. It is much more rewarding to be out in the field, meeting people, see how they’re coping and how Save the Children is helping. However, an amazing amount of very important work is hidden within this rigid report. For instance, yesterday alone, our teams distributed emergency relief to 1,583 families. This means that 7,915 people – of whom 4,749 are children – got shelter and essential household and hygiene items from Save the Children. In one day all these people got a safer and cleaner environment to live in.

If you add all the numbers together, just as I have done today, you will find that Save the Children up until yesterday has reached the grand total of 51,975 of the hardest-hit earthquake survivors in West Sumatra; 31,185 of them are children. This actually makes me quite proud.

Then I think of the girl I met amidst the ruins of her school. During the earthquake, she lost both her home and most of her school. Now she has shelter, the necessary non-food items and a temporary school to attend. And 51,974 other people just like this girl have received similar aid from my hardworking colleagues in less than three weeks since the natural disaster struck. Suddenly all those numbers in my report aren’t so boring anymore!

Padang, October 19:

I did end up with a lazy, pleasant day at the beach yesterday. It was really nice to relax and not just think about work and stare into the computer screen for a change.

Today has been another long day at the office. Luckily, by now another improvement has made life even easier in our house – I got my own wooden desk. Now I don’t have to sit cramped around some frail, wobbly plastic table to do my writing any more. Brilliant! And all of a sudden, two sofas, a comfortable armchair and a table appeared downstairs in our house. Previously, people have always been sitting on the floor in this room with their laptop in their laps. Now we have somewhere nice to sit while eating. So far, I’ve had all my meals next to my computer while working …

As mentioned before, the rainy season has just started. Violent rain surprised us at the beach yesterday. Every day now, at least one large cloudburst makes everything soaking wet. This is obviously bad news for the estimated 250,000 homeless people, many of whom now live in tents outside the ruins of their homes.

Furthermore, the pouring rain makes the mosquitoes thrive. During the week I’ve been here in Indonesia, each day brings more mosquitoes to our house/office. Obviously, we can protect ourselves from these mosquitoes quite easily, as we have access to mosquito nets over our beds, repellent and mosquito coils. Some of us even have malaria tablets. On the other hand, the children and their families who were hit hardest by the earthquake lost their homes and most of their belongings. They are much more vulnerable to the diseases the mosquitoes potentially could bring. Besides malaria, the risk for dengue fever and chikungunya fever is quite high – and growing as the rain keeps pouring down.

This is why Save the Children provides mosquito nets alongside all the other essential relief items contained in our kits. We plan to reach 150,000 people – among them 90,000 children – with shelter, household and hygiene kits. These kits also include plastic sheeting, a cook stove, pots, pans, cutlery, soap, toothbrush, detergent and other hygiene items. All this is essential in order for the earthquake victims to restore dignity and privacy, reduce health risks and protect disaster affected populations.

Padang, October 15: Out and about on field trip

There seems to be some improvement to our room every day. The night I arrived, the beds were brand new. Prior to that, people had been sleeping on the floor and everyone was SO happy to finally sleep in a bed again. When I went to bed yesterday, I suddenly had a mosquito net over my bed as well as a sheet and a pillow case. Fantastic, this should keep me safe from malaria!

Speaking of safe, this morning we had an earthquake drill in the office. Everyone dived under their desks and covered their heads or held on to a doorframe just like we’ve been thought. Then we walked the tsunami escape route up to the nearest large hill. That’s correct procedure – whenever there’s an earthquake, there’s a real possibility that it will be followed by a tsunami. And as the office is close to the beach, apparently, we have to run for the hills when the next quake hits.

Then I started a very long roundtrip to see how Save the Children actually works to help the affected children and their families. As we left the city of Padang, I saw more and more completely destroyed houses. Outside the ruins, families where huddled together in tents in different colours – depending on which agency that donated the tents. It didn’t look too nice, especially as the rain poured down as I’ve hardly ever seen it before. Pretty soon the roads where changed into rivers.

When it rains like this, everything gets completely soaked, said one man that lost his home and all his possessions in the earthquake. Now he shares a big tent without a floor with 15 other people.

On the positive side, it was good to see so many people and communities working really hard to rebuild their houses. Everywhere people did their very best to make the best out of the difficult situation. Truly inspiring!

Another really positive experience was visiting the first temporary school Save the Children has erected. A big, white tent with windows and airing panel stood next to the damaged school in the little village Durian Jantung. The school day had unfortunately ended when I visited, but a peek through one of the windows showed me an orderly classroom with whiteboard and desks neatly placed in a row.

Outside the school tent I met ten year old Rio. He had finished his first day at the tent school and was quite exited about being able to return to school.

Also, I was quite impressed by the discipline that ruled the warehouses where Save the Children keeps all their plastic sheeting, school tents, tents for child friendly spaces, household kits, hygiene kits, school kits, game kits and all the other stuff just waiting for being distributed where it is most needed.

Now, the time is close to midnight and I’m soon heading off to bed even though I actually ought to work a lot longer. I need to get an early start tomorrow, as there is a plane loaded with tarpaulins arriving at the airport here in Padang at 8 o’clock. That is, if the plane is on time… Still, we need to be ready to empty the plane as soon as it gets here.

Padang, October 14

I’ve just seen Indonesian city of Padang in bright daylight for the first time. Two weeks ago, this area of Western Sumatra was shattered by a severe earthquake measuring 7,6 on the Richter scale. Apart from the fact that there are cars from humanitarian agencies all over town, Padang seems at first glimpse like any other busy Indonesian city with a population of around 900 000. Even though I know that 135,299 houses have been severely damaged in the earthquake, there are not many visible damages right here – around the temporary Save the Children office, that is. Here I have just joined colleagues from all over the world and an impressive gang of national staff. They are all working around the clock trying their best to help the most affected children and their families.

I arrived yesterday evening after a long, exhausting 24 hour flight Oslo-Bangkok-Kuala Lumpur-Padang. Then I just got to say hello to everybody before eating some dinner leftovers and going off to bed. The team seems great. And that’s good as we’re pretty much living on top of each other here at the office. I share a big, clean room with three other women. We are the lucky ones, as we have our own bathroom. What a luxury! There’s no running water in the house, though, but I’ve already learned how to shower with a bucket and how to flush the toilet by pouring in water in just the right way.

Except a quick drive to the nearest shop to get a supply of Coke and snacks, I’ve spent the whole day within the office. However, I hope to get out in the field meeting children tomorrow.

Yesterday Save the Children opened the first temporary school consisting of three tents in this area. We also established the first Child Friendly Space. There children can play and learn in safe surroundings under supervision of trained adults. This helps the children to deal with dramatic experiences from the earthquake and re-establish a very important sense of normality in their lives. I truly hope I can visit either the school or the Child Friendly Space tomorrow!

Allison Zelkowitz
Program Manager, Save the Children in Indonesia

8 October

I think I may actually get a full night’s sleep tonight – for some reason this makes me feel guilty. My colleague is snoring on the small sofa outside my room. He’s fully dressed, and there’s an empty bed just five feet away, so I don’t think he meant to fall asleep there. Everyone is exhausted – the aid workers, the government officials, the journalists, and especially the families whose houses have crumbled. And it’s only been a week.

Today I and three team members moved from our first base camp north of Padang to a small village in the mountains near Lake Mininjau. Save the Children is working to expand our emergency relief program quickly, so that we can help as many people as we can when they need it most. Our goal is to reach 150,000 people affected by the earthquake with humanitarian aid, as well as provide child protection and education programs.

But one of the hardest things about this job is that it never feels like enough. There are always more communities who want our support, more people who need food and shelter, and more children who require care and protection. Here in this tiny village, where only a handful of houses still stand, this is incredibly apparent. So I try to focus on the small achievements – tonight, 347 families will stay drier under the tarps we gave them. For now, that is enough.

****************

Four more Save the Children staff arrived at our field office this afternoon in Pariaman district. I’m so glad they’re here! We’re now 16 people strong, allowing us to send more distribution teams to villages in need of help. Today one team focused on assessing new villages, and another team continued to distribute shelter materials, hygiene kits and household supplies – we’ve reached over 11,000 people, including about 6,600 children, in the last four days.

My team has travelled back toward Lake Maninjau, near some of the worst destruction, in search of a house and a warehouse to rent, so we can establish a new field office and reach children and families more quickly.

Nearly every road in this area is lined with people asking for donations. The worst part about this is that many of them are children. Not only are they at risk of getting hit by passing cars and motorbikes, but they’re also learning that asking for handouts is normal and necessary. And yet, what options do poor families and communities have? With their houses in ruins, and livelihoods lost, how else are they supposed to cope? Some people are picking up the pieces – they’re clearing away the rubble, arranging all their belongings under carefully hung tarps, and building tent communities with neighbours. But others seem to be just . . . waiting. Today I saw an old man sitting on a bench, staring at the road, surrounded by nothing but the debris of his small home. How long will he be able to wait?

Looking for a place to set up operations and sleep is no easy task. We asked community leaders if there were any safe homes that were owned by families who weren’t already sheltering their neighbours and who wouldn’t mind giving us a few rooms and some floor space. As it began to get dark and we started to lose hope, one community leader suggested a local benefactor who had a house off the main road, about a mile up into the hills. It turned out to be a lovely two-story home, well built with little damage. It even has western “sit down” toilets! (This is incredible in such a rural area.) We’re planning to move in tomorrow.

By the time we began the two-hour journey home, it was pitch black. We crawled slowly down the rough road and passed a group of about 20 people gathered together in a large field. They were preparing to sleep there, out in the open, with no shelter at all. I wondered if they’d been living there all week. I wished desperately that I’d thought to store some tarps and plastic sheeting in the trunk. But there was nothing I could do, except bring them some tomorrow.

7 October

It is still early

This morning I led a five person team of Save the Children staff and volunteers to assess an area near Lake Maninjau. At first, near the main road, the damage didn't seem that serious. But once we started heading toward the interior, up into the hills, we were alarmed by what we saw: skeletons of houses, splits in the road, and metal roofs which lay flat on the ground, surrounded by bricks and rubble. Most of the homes that were still standing suffered irreparable damage, with huge cracks crisscrossing the walls. Yet many were still occupied. People seem to have salvaged what belongings they could and moved them to areas that still provided some shelter. We passed two men sitting at a table in what must have been the dining room - now that the exterior wall had collapsed, it looked more like a patio. A number of homes were propped up by wooden posts, presumably to provide support and keep the structure intact. If another earthquake occurs, I don't think these will do much good.

During this morning's journey, our car was passed by a funeral procession. Six men carried a draped body; they were followed by at least a hundred people. The crowd was winding their way slowly up the road towards us, so we stopped the car and waited until they passed. As we watched the group walk by, I was struck by how immaculately dressed they all appeared. Some probably borrowed clothing from friends or relatives. But many must have unearthed theirs from the debris, then washed and (somehow) pressed them. I find that rather noble.

By early afternoon our team finished a quick survey of the area. We selected a village that had, until recently, been cut off by landslides.

Now one road was clear. We worked with community leaders to arrange the distributions, and overall, they were successful - today Save the Children provided 810 families, or over 4,000 people, with hygiene kits and tarpaulins. But the day was not without its trials - managing crowds under any circumstances is a challenge, but especially so when people are recovering from loss or trauma, and are desperate for help.

Sometimes I felt more like a school principal than an aid worker, settling disputes, keeping the lines moving, and making sure goods made it to their rightful owners.

Yet, there are moments that make the stress and long hours worthwhile.

Today one young mother came up to me, cradling a baby in a sling around her chest, and carrying the tarps and hygiene kit she'd just received on top of her head. She carefully extracted her right hand, offered it to me, and said "Terima kasih" - thank you. In Indonesian, this is literally translated as "receive love." I think the feeling was mutual.

5 October

It’s hard to believe I’ve only been here four days – it feels like weeks! Our team is working very long hours, both here in the field and in our coordination centers. I don’t think twice about calling or texting my team members at midnight, because I know they’ll be up for at least two more hours. The urgency of this situation keeps us going. Hundreds of thousands of people – including children – are still trying to meet their basic needs. Today I spoke to a number of women who are gathering rain water in order to bathe and wash their clothes. Save the Children is continuing to provide shelter materials, and I saw people rigging the tarps as soon as they left the distribution post. In nearly every village, community members take turns standing by the main road, flagging down passing cars and gathering donations. Most use these funds immediately to buy food to cook communal meals. We’ve reached an estimated 4,600 people in the last two days, including more than 2,700 children, with family hygiene kits, household supplies, and shelter materials. But there are so many more that need help.

Tomorrow we’re traveling to more remote villages northwest of here, near Lake Maninjau. Our team leader toured the area this afternoon – in some communities, every house has collapsed. We’ll do a rapid assessment of the area tomorrow morning and start distributing supplies tomorrow afternoon.
Today, at one of the distribution sites, I spoke to a 54-year-old woman whose mother was killed in the earthquake. I didn’t expect this – there were fewer casualties in rural areas because most homes are only one story high, and people have time to escape. When she told me her story her eyes started welling up, and although I tried to suppress them, mine did as well. In the four years that I’ve been working in development and humanitarian agencies, this is the first time I’ve cried.