Indonesia - Aceh and the Tsunami Coast - Oct/Nov 2005

Hello one and all..... Or should I say Selamat malam, kawan-kawan! (MyIndonesian is coming back with a vengence too- just as well, as hardly anyspeak English).
I have at last arrived in Indonesia - Banda Aceh (last night). iT'S VERYHOT, AND rather unusual, with lots of buildings reduced to rubble and dustbecause of the recent earthquakes or the Tsunami and it's aftershocks. Andthis is in the main town as well, away from the coast. The devastation onthe coast stretched for hundreds of miles (yes, literally hundreds - biggerthan England), and it's pretty dire / desperate. I'm going to visit anumber of the programs over the weekend so will get a better idea of thingsthen.. I'll forward pics too. So much destruction and disease. Speaking tothe locals, and the staff that work for us, it seems that EVERYONE has lostimmediate family members. And in horrific circumstances, like they had tochose between saving a daughter or a mother etc. Heartbreaking! Listeningfirst hand to their accounts of it... it sounds pretty amazing that peoplesurvived at all.
The accomodation here is VERY basic indeed. No shower so I am washing froma barrel / large sink with a jug, and the toilet is manual flush (throwingwater down it, basically). I have seen a rat in our office today... thatwas nice. But other then mosquitoes that's about it on the bug front sofar. I'm well stocked up on bug spray / killer / nets / room aroma burners.
It's Ramadan so NOBODY eats or even sells / prepares food in the day so Ispent the first part of the morning starving and almost passing out andeventually eating crackers for breakfast. Very satisfying... I then hadhalf cooked supernoodle type things in a mug, which was probably the mostunappetising thing I've had this year! Hard noodles in a mug with oilyluke-warm water! Hmmmm, i hear you say....Guess how much, though? Go on.... guess how much I paid for my oilylukewarm undercooked pasta in a mug?£1000?£1000? I wasn't bloody feeding the 5000. (THey're all fasting!) 8p. 8pis what it cost.God. That's cheap!Yes...... it is!(Sorry.... imagine that was Catherine Tate. It might sound funnier. It'sfunny in my head anyway!) I think I is goin mad!!!
The people here are lovely so far. The SC houses and offices are prettycool / nice. Got aircon etc. which is a god send. It was over 30 degreesyesterday. We've got Save the Children vehicles (lots) and our driversdrive us everywhere. We're not allowed out alone for security reasons.They (military) know to leave us (INGOs like us, Oxfam, Care and UNICEF)alone with our oficial logos painted on the cars and the "no guns" symbolson the windscreens. It's all very weird, as we're issued with militarydiplomat passes and given security training etc. This is how I spent mymorning, going from one corrupt bureaucratic institution to another.
I took too many sleeping tablets on the plane so slept most of it. Thoughtit'd be a good idea to take another a couple of hours before reachingSingapore and so couldn't stay awake in Singapore, in Java (at Medan airportwhere I slept for 8 hours in the grubby domestic departure lounge on top ofmy bags) or when I got here. I have slept shitloads in the last 2 days(probably just as well after the last weekend). And now I am SICK! Yes,sick after 1 day here. I am coming down with a fever and they fear that itmight be malaria or dengue fever. There are a lot of cases of that goingaround right now, and I stupidly checked in my anti-malarials on the plane,so couldn't take them the day before I arrived. So fingers crossed!! That'sall I bloody need. Lying in a shabby bed in a rat-infested town all on myown, hallucinating with fever, and nobody to look after me with my nightterrors!! The tropical diseases doctor will come see me tomorrow. I think Iwill go home after this, before I collapse, and take some sleeping tabletsand sleep for 15 hours.... Hopefully by the time I wake up it will all beover! I don't think it's too serious, myself. I've got swollen glands tooso I think it's probably just that! I used to get that all the time.
Other than that, it's pretty cool. Lots of interesting things to work on /see / do. Save the Chuildren do a lot of good stuff over here, as do theother NGOs. There are shitloads of these blackened out new jeeps with NGOlogo's emblazened on them, which we are all driven artound in. So manyforeign development and relief workers. Although no healthy night scene /social activities as the province is DRY and a curfew is in place.... I wasin bed sleeping by 9pm last night. Good detox opportunity, I suppose.Although I heard from the others, a nice guy who I met at lunchtime fromUNICEF, that there is wine at their house so I'm going round there fordinner one night later in the week! That should be a treat after my days ofabstaining!
Anyway, this probably isn't making to much sense / bit jumbled, and my headis a bit screwed from the jetlag and the fever, so will go and try to getover this whatever it is. I'm sweating buckets sitting here with thisfever! Roll on the hallucinogenic / vivid dreams tonight!Yay!
Hope you're all well. Will email more news when I have it... Feel free toemail with goings on where you are when you have it....
Terima kasih!love to all,
Alex