meulaboh assessment trip - sept 05

Recently a team from Food for the Hungry and the City of Phoenix went to the tsunami-ravaged area of Meulaboh, Indonesia for an assessment trip of our progress in the area. In addition to the assessment, a retreat was conducted to provide trauma counseling and ESL skills for Meulaboh educators.

Following is a travelogue of the trip. The account was taken by Gordon James (NOTE: Gordon James is founder of Gordon C. James Public Relations. He was a White House staff member under President George H.W. Bush before founding the agency.




Nearly a year later, it’s easy for people in the U.S. to forget the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia. We’ve had our own natural disasters in hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

But Phoenix-based Food for the Hungry, an international relief organization, is in the business of not just remembering but restoring. I joined some of its experts for a trip to Meulaboh, Indonesia Sept. 16-24 to evaluate the relief efforts underway in Meulaboh, which the City of Phoenix has selected as the beneficiary of its help.

Team Phoenix also included:

• John Frick and Roseanne Marchese, Food for the Hungry
• Crisis counseling experts Thomas and Nicola Winkel
ESL teacher Meredith Lewis of the Alhambra School District
• Broadcaster Pat McMahon
• Videographer Rodney Rascona

Pat did live broadcasts and taped segments for his show on AZTV. Rodney recorded the group’s findings for a documentary about Food for the Hungry’s work and for a report to City of Phoenix officials.

This was my second trip to Southeast Asia following the tsunami. I accompanied presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton during their Maldives trip to raise awareness for the region’s plight.


Travels days and our first day in Medan Getting to Medan took 26 hours and five different airplanes; our travels began Friday morning and ended Sunday at Food for the Hungry’s guest house where we met Bethany Free, the organization’s country coordinator. The next day, the real work would begin during the retreat at Lake Toba.

Lake Toba is in the center of Sumatra, and it’s far cooler and less humid than Medan. A ferry took us to an island at the lake’s center to meet 13 teachers from Meulaboh who would soon arrive by floatplane. For most of them, it would be their first time flying. Their mission was to learn techniques to better help their students master English. Since we spent most of our day traveling, all we really had time for was a “get to know you‿ session.

Pat had his hands full today. He first interviewed the Winkels; it’s very rare and gratifying to see a couple so devoted to not just each other, but a common cause. They also did some trauma sessions in the morning. Meredith led an ESL session in the afternoon to give Indonesian teachers a few new tools. Pat also interviewed Emi, a high school teacher, who clung to a floating tree in the ocean for three days before the crew of a fishing boat rescued her. Today, she’s still recovering physically and mentally. After a busy day, we unwound with a talent show and a spirited performance of The Hokey Pokey.

Some people might be able to keep the tears out of their eyes while a parent tells about her four-year-old daughter slipping out of her grasp and disappears into the floodwaters. I’m not one of them. Painful as it sounds, recalling these experiences and making peace with them is how the Winkels help people heal.

We then headed for Meulaboh aboard a Mission Aviation Fellowship floatplane, turning several hours of bouncing over rough roads into a 40-minute flight.

My previous trip to Maldives did not prepare me for the devastation in Meulaboh. There is still standing water. People are still living in camps designed to last just six months. A mass grave brings home the loss of life. Nearly a third of Meulaboh’s residents died when the tsunami struck.

One thing struck me harder than the devastation: The continuing optimism of Meulaboh’s people.

The City of Phoenix, in its partnership with Food for the Hungry, has left its mark in many different parts of Meulaboh (sometimes literally, as the city’s firebird symbol is often seen throughout Meulaboh). One of its most important projects was replacing 100 becacks (pronounced B-chocks), which is a bicycle hooked to a cart similar to those that carry people around downtown Phoenix. It is the city’s form of public transportation.

One man, the first to hook a motorcycle up instead of a bicycle, has a sign on his cart thanking Food for the Hungry and Phoenix for its help. Before the tsunami, most of these 100 becack drivers rented. Now, they own their becacks and are small business owners.

That sums up so much of the Meulaboh experience: Destruction and sadness being pushed back by hope and new beginnings.

The Mission Aviation Fellowship flew us by helicopter to Calang, a small oceanside town that lost 5,000 of its 7,000 people to the tsunami.

Food for the Hungry’s Andy Newell is overseeing efforts to get flooded fields back into production and “Cash for Work‿ programs. He and his staff are providing seeds, tools, fertilizer and training in modern agricultural techniques. Fencing is also a major issue since wild boars often get into the crops.

Andy is also the only person I know who lives in a tree house. It was inspiring to see the good work being done to provide an agricultural infrastructure for the people of Calang and surrounding communities.

Today was a reunion. We visited teachers we met in Lake Toba. We revived our Hokey Pokey dance troupe and watched Thomas and Nicola at work with about 65 women.

We then flew to Medan, where we enjoyed flushing toilets, hot water and a room for each person. Tomorrow we start the long trip home.

I will not soon forget any of the people I met here, or their great spirit.

Even with great organizations such as Food for the Hungry, rebuilding Indonesia is going to take a long time. Councilwoman Peggy Bilsten and the City of Phoenix picked the right organization: They are the ultimate ambassadors and have earned respect and affection from the Indonesian people.

Though we have so many of our own to look after, we cannot forget our friends on the other side of the world. To the people of Meulaboh, Phoenix is a city of caring people that wants to help them rebuild, where good deeds don’t know international boundaries.

Let’s justify their faith by encouraging the City of Phoenix and Food for the Hungry to continue their great works.