Aceh Journal: Freunden und Familie

Happy Thanksgiving to you Americans!
I'm not quite sure if this is a western holiday or just an American holiday.
So Who else celebrate Thanksgiving besides American?


Nothing makes me happier last week than a cd from Bandung.
Not a single thing but that cd.
I's like a billion dollars price!
U noe what's insied that cd?
My family's photographs!!! Mostly my nieces', though! :)
I cried watching the pictures slide, realizing that I have missed so much.
I realized that I hate it a lot being far away from my family.
I hate it a lot missing everything going on in Bandung.
Especially after yesterday my mom said that my uncle is dying. He had a very bad complication concerning kidney cancer, etc. etc. until lungs problem. Doctors predicted he only has 2 more months.

Last Wednesday my manager told me to attend a civil society conference for two days until Thursday.
The whole two days cheered me up a bit, but also sadden me.
Happy because I made some new friends, and met my old friends.
Sad because the whole conference made me realize how I miss all those trainings.
I really miss all those trainings!
The freedom, the nature, being able to meet new people, being able to go from place to place, spending nights in tents (or in hotels sometimes :p)

Anyway, am very happy to be able to meet new people.
Greetings to you: Martina, Mirak, Ashir, Arif and Kultida.
Kultida ... I was pretty sure you said your name was Marina. Then I realized not, after seeing your business card.
And to Dylan, Daphne and Nick.
Hope y'all are back safe! :) and continue helping people wherever you are.

This whole time the world has been focusing the relief work in Aceh. Billions and billions of dollars were spent to rehab and reconstruct Aceh. Somehow I think we kinda "forget" about other countries that were hit by tsunami too, or like Pakistan who wah shaken by a big earthquake.
I mean, yea, compared to other countries, Aceh was the worst, but still we need to pay attention to other countries too.
Compared to Aceh who now has about 200 NGOs (locals and international), how many NGOs do other countries have?
Not trying to focus on the number of NGOs, but that's definitely a start.
The conference last week mentioned about how tsunami brought or opened a chance for peacemaking in Aceh. Then Mirak from Srilanka told us the story of what happened in Srilanka, how they are now back in the war condition. The relief work has not been finished, but people have gone back to war.
Then there was also a story from Thailand and India.
I'm just saying that we all have the same problem, whether it's in the same form or not, and we should all pray for our nation, the government, and also other countries around the world.

Last week came some government people from Jakarta, wanting to see what we have done so far in Aceh.
The office was pretty busy preparing things for their arrival (last Friday afternoon).
Making powerpoint presentations, reserving hotel rooms, and telling village people to prepare themselves for a visit last Saturday.

Last week I heard a pretty shocking news. My first niece needs an operation. Pretty bad I guess, considering that doctors encouraged my sister to have an operation.
Please pray for Kei (my niece), so that she can survive through the operation and recover soon.
I don't really know when she'll have the operation, but my sister said it might be early December.
I feel sorry for her, for having to go through an operation at such a young age (2.5 yrs).

This also happened last week. The IT dept decided to cut off most internet access in the office (but managers' and coordinators' computers). Don't really know why, but I heard something about them not wanting people to use internet in the wrong way, such as downloading mp3s, movies, etc.
So now I'm having quite a hard time going online in the office. Am trying to request for an access in my computer :)
Hope my manage approve this :)
And still no news about national staff or not. But I did get the news that my contract is going to be extended! :)

It's gonna be December 26 soon.
Christmas is coming, and that means 1st anniversary of tsunami is coming as well.
I'll write again with news of the celebrations.

cheers!
hye
November 30, 2005

photos: www.flickr.com/photos/hye
blog: hyemania.blogspot.com

Semalam

Semalam ada dirimu di mimpiku
Ada senyummu untukku
Ada tawa yang kita bagi bersama

Saat pagi datang dan mataku terbuka
Saat kesadaran datang menjemput
Ada sisa semalam yang kau tinggal
Ada luka di hati yang menganga

Luka yang kau tinggal
Akankah kau tutup kembali?
Akankah kau ganti menjadi senyum
saat kita berjumpa lagi?

Saat mata berhenti terpejam
Semalam ingin kuulang kembali

Raison d’être

My baby is my raison d’être

and every other thing else

my baby and i
we like exploring
crawling back and forth
from the kitchen to the front door
playing hide and seek
under the table and chairs
enjoying our morning till evening
laughing and singing
dozing in the afternoon
and sleeping away the night
as we wait for tomorrow to come
when we'll start all over again
and find something new each day

Aceh Journal #8

Happy Idul Fitri 1426 H
Minal Aidin Wal Faidzin, mohon maaf lahir dan batin

SO the world moslem community celebrated what they called as the victory day.
For the acehnese, or should I say for Indonesian in general, we celebrated it on Nov. 3 & 4. Why 2 days? Dun noe for sure, but I think -CMIIW- it's because the moslems have diferent versions of when to begin fasting (Ramadhan month)
How was the celebration then? I shouldn't say anything about this actually, since I didn't go anywhere to find out. Should've gone somewhere, visit people in their houses, but I didn't. That morning (Nov 3) I slept very late. At around 5.30 a.m. in the morning to be exact, after enjoying the Champions League match. So when my friends invited me to come along with them, I said no. Schade! I should've said yes ...
(now I regret it, due to the fact that I don't have any picture of the celebration :p). Thanks to serambinews.com I have 2 in 1 Idul Fitri pic (check it out in my flickr)

Anyway, my friend said that the streets were empty, but the celebration was fun. Acehnese rejoiced in the simplest version of the celebration, the first after the tsunami. *hmm ... just crossed my mind. I think the tsunami label will always be attached to aceh. until when? God knows! ---> agree?*

Anyway, 2 programs were finished before Idul Fitri. The first is meunasah cash-grants, the second is orphans cash-grants. Boy it was stressful when you have to finish 2 programs in the same week, and in the middle of it you have to go to Meulaboh. Had to hand the program over to my colleague, and in the meantime join the SR team in Meulaboh formulating SR log-frame.
Kinda relieved that they're all finished, including the log-frame.

O yea, I haven't said anything about Meulaboh, have I?
All this time Meulaboh is said to be the worst affected area, but now I have to say I disagree. Compared to Meulaboh, Banda Aceh suffered more, physically and mentally. Plus I still got the chance to eat pork there! hehehe ... :p
But seriously, I didn't see any damage greater than the ones I saw in Banda Aceh. A very small town, with probably several thousands of population left. Got some pictures of when I was there too. The last night the team was there, we went around the town, and enjoyed tens of durians. Well ... maybe not tens, but still a lot! :p
Check out the pics we took in Meulaboh in my flickr. I made kinda a story about the durian party pics :p

A friend of mine asked how the ministry is going here. Said that that will be a story long. Then I think about it, and realize that I don't have enough material to write a story about it. Why?
because I haven't done any ministry here. so what have I been doing?
working. Living my life like anyone else. Busy thinking of a way to make my life here better.
A colleague said something that stunned me last week. He asked some questions about christianity, and the life of christians. Suddenly he said,"guess you're not a fully devoted christian too, ei?" Didn't have anything to do with our conversation, but in my heart I know that somehow that's true.
Sorry, Jen, guess I couldn't keep my words.
But I can tell you that we still have Sunday services here, and there are lots of christian NGOs here, although we're not actually allowed to spread out the good news. So then, how do we spread the good news? We don't.
Guess we just work here and hope that people see Him in our life, through the work we do here. Sounds cliche, but that's all I can say, and that's what I know. I can't tell if any ministry is going on in the hinterland, but I can say that no NGOs will ever declare that they have done ministry in Aceh explicitly.
The future? I can't tell, let's just hope our existance here will bring a good impact.
Just keep praying, guys, keep praying ...

Speaking of the church ... I was disappointed with a person from my church here. They held a youth retreat last week (during the Idul Fitri holiday) and didn't allow me to go with them. I asked the guy organizing it, if I could go, and he said "no, it's only for the church's youth".
Bang! I felt like I was shot in the head. I mean I have come to the church for almost 6 months now, and they still see me as an total outsider?
I can't be a member of the church because I have become a member of my church in Bandung. I was very disappointed, but at the same time I understood the decision they made. So I missed the retreat. Sad day! :( I ended up watching dvds, tons of 'em :p

hmm ... another friend just told me a sad thing, but I think I'm okay. A little sad though. A bit disappointed that something has to end that way, but I think I'll get over it. I have suspected that something is wrong, though don't know for sure what it is. SO I'm in a bit of a low point right now, especially because I am missing my family a lot.
dying to see my newborn niece (5 mo. old actually :p)

Sad day! Any day soon the office will block internet access. They will only allow certain people to use the internet connection. So I was told in this week's staff meeting. They haven't decided it completely though ... so am praying that I will be lucky enough to get internet access. Otherwise ... hmm ... have to go to internet cafe.

Anyway, an organization called Wastuwidyawan is cooperating with NGos to form a village planning for every villages in Aceh. Will take a while, but we think that the plan will be good, considering that it will include every sectors we're working on in the village. Have seen one myself, and it's good enough to help us figure out what the village need, what they have already got and what they haven't, and stuffs. So, it's a good thing I guess.

In mid October my friends from Northwest Medical Teams (with the help from a local NGO) held a youth training. It's like a basic life skill training wrapped in a religious theme. Involved hundreds of young people. Hope they succeeded with the program and also with the follow up actions. Jia you!

btw, please pray for this.
Am planning to talk to my manager about my contract. was recruited as a local staff, but my probational time almost expire. If I survive, I'll be a permanent staff. Am hoping that I'll be considered as a national staff (national staffs get RnR n housing allowance) in the new contract. In order to which, I have to talk to my manager and the HR. Haven't found any good time where my manager's mood is good and he has less work to finish. Maybe next week ...
Has talked to the HR. She said I can be a national staff if she gets an approval letter from the Aceh director. So now I have to talk to two people: my manager and my director. Schade!

Mercy Corps is planning to make a film about dayahs (islamic school) this month. The people in charge of making this film has been assessing the dayahs they are going to shoot, and the children they are going to interview. Problem is that all dayahs are empty, in the meaning that there are no studies going on because of the Idul Fitri. When they first did the assessments, the head of the dayahs said OK, but some dayahs suddenly changed their mind a few days ago. So please pray for them and the film making. This will be a documentary film that will be shown to students in the US. So that they get a sense of what the children here experienced, of how they live after the tsunami, and what they are studying in the dayah. The film -of I'm not mistaken- will also be shown in museums. Good thing? Hope so!

what else? hmm ... think that's all for now.

check out the new uploaded pictures on www.flickr.com/photos/hye

Continue to pray for aceh and the work that is being done here ...
Good luck for you guys that are on the middle of mid-term tests!
God bless

Hye
November 09, 2005