February 05, 2005
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The message of the suffering and the loss in Aceh has been well spread around the world. What is not clear is that, what has been achieved so far and how much more there is to do and how long it will take.
We have just returned from a fact-finding visit to Indonesia, to meet the main groups helping the Acehinese and to research how best the EWTF can play a role in the medium and long term.
The reality in Aceh is that it will take years to recover the damage and loss. It will take months before any rebuilding can even commence. Why? Everything is gone. There are no buildings, no roads and no infrastructure left. Even the landscape has changed. Locals are not sure who owns which piece of land. In one village, out of 9,000 people only 20 remain alive. In others, the whole population has been wiped out. 50,000 children have lost their parents, more than 200,000 people are dead and the count goes on. Some areas have not been included in these statistics.
Fishing, the main local industry is destroyed. All the fishing boats are lost or destroyed. The surviving fishermen will need more than 5,000 boats to be able to start earning their livelihood again.
But what about the 50,000 orphaned children? Living in temporary shelters is not the solution. They need care and support. They need normalcy. Homes with surviving relatives are being sought. Others are being placed with “caretaker families”. The Indonesian government is committed to protecting the children from abuse of any kind, so for now, they will not allow adoption. But there is a huge need for understanding, counselling and recovery. Hundreds of orphanages and schools will need to be built, thousands of teachers and carers trained and employed.
We were brought to the office of the Vice President of Indonesia with the help of Rafiq Radinal, leading Indonesian rider and Chairman of the South East Asian World Cup League, for a meeting to see how best we could lend assistance and how they could help us to help the children.
So many projects to be undertaken and so much need to be built but first the government must draw up a new “master plan” for the whole area. Roads and town planning, clean water and sanitation are a monster task.
In the meantime the relief and rehabilitation work continues. The world has been generous and the country is grateful. There is enough money now to provide for food and temporary buildings: schools, medical facilities and accommodation. Real construction work can only start months down the road. That is where EWTF will come in. To rebuild, equip and support schools and orphanages. We CAN start in a month if we have the funding support of the world equestrian community.
EWTF also has had meetings with the UNICEF, Taman Iskandar Muda (TIM) and the Rahmania Foundation, two of the most respected NGOs in Aceh, which is now working on the very projects we want to link up with. EWTF has thoroughly checked the credentials of the NGOs and is satisfied to recommend them and their work to the Executive Council and our donors.
EWTF will, with the approval of the Executive Council, set up a trust account with Bank Niaga in Indonesia for depositing donations and it will be audited by one of the world’s leading auditing companies. All the funds deposited into EWTF may only be used for approved specific projects of TIM or UNICEF or a special government project carrying the title of EWTF.
Think of this. Over 1,000 schools need to be rebuilt. 500 new orphanages need to be created. 50,000 children need to be fed, cared for and educated for at least the next ten years. We can only do a little at the start, but we must begin now!
Please pledge today, as much as you can to help these children!
We need one million Euros to help start rebuilding the lives of the children.