Blogs from Sumatra, Indonesia, Asia - page 54

Last night was such an amazing night for me that it will be a little hard to explain. Suffice to say, I played a small part in inspiring a big event. I don't have much time to write because I leave for Vietnam in 2 hours and have to pack (meeting friends Deb and Dena there for a little R&R), so I'll just write-up what I said last night to kick off the event. Sanggar Cut Nyak Dhien is a traditional Acehnese dance group that has existed for more than 30 years and has been invited and performed all over the world. But then the tsunami happened and the group lost 8 of it's senior members. Their choreographer, Pak Ichsan, suffered a stroke. Since then, Sanggar Cut Nyak hasn't received any invitations to perform. Two months ... read more

“Where are you from?” “How old are you?” “Are you married” That is the exact order of questions when you meet an Acehnese person. The last question is the only one I have a slight problem with. It’s not asked in a sleezy, pickup kind of way, just part of normal conversation. They probably assume most people my age (33), would answer “Yes, I am married,” and the conversation would pleasantly carry on. But in my case, the answer is: “Not yet,” (a simple “No, I’m not married,” elicits strange and worried glances). Lucky for them, I don’t know enough vocabulary to explain that I don’t think the whole point of life has to be to get married and have children. But in Aceh, that seems to be exactly the point of life, and dating in ... read more

I've been feeling the distance lately. Not only am I twelve time zones apart from home, I am apparently living in a black hole. The phone network has become unbelievably more unreliable lately, so much so, that my work has installed CB radios in all our houses and cars for emergencies. In addition, as I discovered when trying to book a flight to Vietnam, it takes two days to get anywhere from here - one day (two flights) to get to a regional Indonesian airport, then another flight to get to an international airport where you'll be able to make connections to Earth. How do people survive like this?? Magically, even though you can't get a phone call through, you can often send/receive text messages on your mobile phone. They call that SMS here ("text messaging" ... read more

Yesterday I went to one of our "rebuilding livelihoods" projects to get a haircut. Before the tsunami, the hairdresser, Agus, ran a busy hairdressing salon out of her home. When she lost her home, she also lost her husband, son, parents and way of life. Now she is living in temporary shelter (barracks) and has just begun to cut hair again using a chair in a friend's salon. The organization I work for has given her money to buy some materials to get her business started again. Our staff reporter wanted to do a story on Agus and I was asked if I would go along to get a haircut. I willingly accepted because 1.) i wanted to get out from behind my desk and into "the field" to see some projects, 2.) i desperately needed ... read more

So, many have asked - "Erica, what exactly is your job?" Ah, good question. As you probably know, I work for an International NGO (Non-Government Organization). My job title is "Admin Systems Training Advisor" and it actually describes quite well what I do, but to most people it sounds complicated so I often say "Operations." You see, you can kind of break NGO work into two sectors 1.) OPERATIONS: administration, finance, and logistics (procurement & delivery of supplies) and 2.) PROGRAMS: direct services to our beneficiaries, for example, like our doctors who set up clinics and treat patients. I work on the Operations side of things. And here's exactly what I do: Admin In Aceh, my organization operates in 4 provinces employing 300 Indonesian (national) staff and 15 International (Expatriate) staff. That makes for a lot ... read more