Report from Indonesia

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I want to give you up-dated information based on reports from Banda Aceh and Medan.

1. Our team arrived in Banda Aceh this morning. They get an elementary school building 5 kilometres from Banda Aceh, beside al Fulgran Mosque, as a basis. Their main activities today are: survey and collect information in Banda Aceh and some villages near Banda Aceh, make contact with the Mosque authority, make coordination with the other crisis centre, and prepare the place for their service. Tonight they will make an assesment and we hope that they can decide a focus of our service (beside of course medical and food).
2. The city is incredibly damaged. One of our volunteer reported this afternoon: "Almost nothing and no one exist. Mud covering the street, probably covering dead bodies not yet evacuated. Not many people stay in the city. Some of them who remain are refugees or those who don't want to leave their homes". It is clear that it takes many years to rebuild the whole cities and villages and to heal the wounded souls of the victims. "Unimaginable and unforgettable", says the other volunteer.
3. The team will make a meeting with the staffs of Flower Aceh (Banda Aceh based NGO focused on childen and women issues) whose office was swept away by the tsunami. We hope that it can give us an entry point to the comprehensive recovery of Aceh.
4. In Aceh, we are not declaring ourselves as JPIC-OFM. We make a new networking named JARKAS (Jaringan Relawan Kemanusiaan untuk Aceh dan Sumatera Utara- Networking of Humanitarian Volunteers for Aceh and North Sumatera). Although JPIC-OFM plays a great role, we want to take the mission togahter with our Moslem brothers and sisters. In Jakarta, we continue to contact Nadrathul Ulama (the biggest moderate Moslem Organization in Indonesia) and make a closer relationship. We hope that together we can run a mid-term and long-term help for Aceh.
5. Tonight we will send logistic and medicines to Aceh by Garuda Plane.
6. In Medan Fr Save meet various NGOs and charity organizations, looking for a better coordination of the help. Tomorrow he will back to Jakarta.

That is some information from Jakarta. We hope that tomorrow we can find a better way to help the victims. Please pray for our volunteers both in Jakarta and in Banda Aceh.

Thank You for all your support.

Peace
Cypri