Another Farewell
At last JEN’s projects are coming to an end in Indonesia. JEN completed 3 projects after the devastating earthquake in West Sumatera that occurred on September 30th 2009. The 4th project is continuing but will end soon. The people who were affected by the earthquake are regaining their original daily lives by now. Many NGOs had worked for the early recovery and community development projects, but the NGOs who worked for emergency phases are almost gone from the area.
People received toolkits that we were distributing, with which they removed the debris of their damaged houses, and began to rebuild their houses from scratch. We also implemented disaster prevention education, through which people become prepared to face possible future earthquakes. Latrines were constructed and hygiene workshops were held at local schools for students and teachers, all in order to improve schools and raise awareness of disaster prevention. .
It is always sad to leave a place after having spent many months there. You gradually grow attachment to the local residents and colleagues. That was what happened to me after completing the projects in Kashmir, Balochistan and NWFP. Now it is time to say goodbye to Indonesia. What’s relieving is to see the smiles of happiness on the faces of affected people, who received help from JEN. That is the goal of all our projects.
All the JEN expatriate staffs, local staffs and friends attended a farewell party and dinner last week in Padang. JEN local staffs sung Japanese song ‘’Kokoro-no Tomo (a Japanese song by Mayumi Itsuwa that is popular in Indonesia)’’ for the expatriate staff, which was very nice but sad.
In the end we all hope that people in West Sumatra are safe and secure from any future disaster and that they will restore their original lives quickly.
Project leader: Azmat Ali