Restoring Livelihood
for Tsunami-affected in Teunom
The Tsunami that hit South Asia in December
2004 was particularly devastating to the Teunom district of Aceh Jaya in North
Sumatra. Not only was this area in the epicenter of the storm, but it has for
decades been ravaged by civil war. The Free Aceh Movement (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka,
or Gam) is a group of militant separatists who have been fighting for Acehnese
sovereignty since their inception in 1976. Although they enjoyed much support
among the population, their struggle with the Indonesian government claimed
many civilian lives. A peace treaty was finally signed on August 15, 2005 by
Gam and the Indonesian government, at which point the people of Teunom had been
living in a low-level war zone for over 30 years. Although Gam has disbanded
its militant wing and is working towards peace in the region, the damage caused
by violence and unrest has made it difficult for Teunom to recover from the
Tsunami. Many of the people have never attended school as a result of the
constant conflict; some cannot write or even speak in the national language of
Indonesia. The people have become very dependent on foreign aid for their daily
needs and they do not have the resources and education to extricate themselves
from the cycle of poverty in which they are trapped.
ADRA’s goal in Teunom is to increase the
income and overall education of households affected by the tsunami, especially
those households that are headed by women, by the year 2011. ADRA will provide
vocational training, set up cow banks and chicken pass-on programs, and provide
small business loans. The vocational training will focus on animal husbandry,
as well as business management and marketing. Not only will the people of
Teunom learn how to care for cows and chickens which will be used in the
livestock sharing programs, but they will also learn how to produce bio-gas
from the animals’ waste which can be used to fuel cooking fires. In the cow
bank program families will care for a cow until the animal gives birth to a
female calf and will become the sole owner of the cow upon returning its calf
to the cow bank to be used by another family. Over time the ownership of the
cow will allow the family to develop a household herd. Cows can be a source of
organic fertilizer and bio-gas, dairy products such as milk and cheese, and can
be rented to till a farm. The chicken pass-on program works in much the same
way, with the client family passing on the animals offspring to another family
for the mutual benefit of the community. Not only do these programs provide
food security for these families, but they also provide them with economic
stability. ADRA also plans to provide small business loans to women in the
community who want to start up sewing businesses.
It is ADRA’s hope that these
programs will get Teunom back on its feet and put this troubled region on the
path to recovery.
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