UPDATE PULAU RAYA - MARCH 11TH

Well out at sea we could just make out Pulau Raya in the haze when something flashed several times then held steady as a bright point of light. As the distance closed we could make out the source of the light with binoculars. Zinc roofing was being fixed on one of 5 new timber frame houses. Delighted we went ashore to meet Pak Isa, the Kepala Desa and to inspect the work. Set back about 150m from the beach, the house frames are now about 50% roofed with the material & tools supplied by Sam Schultz last visit.

Pak Isa explained that the women were not prepared to come back to live in tents. “they are in Lam No in tents now with shops nearby and a school, why would they want to move back into tents on Pulau Raya”.

Our volunteers got busy on a number of projects on the island. Dr Dave, Una & Devi fired up a new chainsaw and started on the huge job of clearing the island’s only road. To the astonishment of Pak Isa and his family, Una took over from Dave to give him a rest. “We have never heard of a woman using a chainsaw, where does madam come from?” Canada of course! A big thanks to Canadian Aid. Dave and Una will be a hard act to follow.

Fishing over the past week has seen mixed results. “Our nets are coming up full of broken dead coral” explained Isa. The waters are still turbid when the swell picks up due to the amount of erosion taking place due to the island being 1.5m lower than before the quake. The combination of debris, broken coral and turbid water makes inshore fishing less productive than in before the tsunami but Isa said one of their larger boats caught over 50 kg of prime reef fish and sold them in Lam No at good prices. Pak Isa presented us with a gift of 2kg of whitebait, 1.5kg of prawns and a large mud crab netted the night before.

I introduced Chris Russell to Pak Isa and we surveyed water sources for a couple of hours. After deciding on the best spot to dig a well, a group of 4 islanders were selected to help. Short of interpreters, I left Chris to fend for himself armed only with his handful of Bali tourist phrases. “Bagus” & “tidak bagus” seem to get the job done and the well digging went very smoothly. After 2 days of digging and lining we have a well that is capable of producing more than 1.5 tons of clear fresh water per day at the current flow rate. A tank will be installed on the hill overlooking the camp and water pumped up daily. Can anyone supply us with Solar pumps? We will start with a petrol powered pump but the long term solution is to use the suns energy to pump water all day, then gravity feed to the camp and later to permanent homes that will be built higher up the slopes.

Devi Crockford, Laurie Long, Lian and Una spent their second day kicking off activities at LHO KRUET’s makeshift tent school. After spreading the word, 26 enthusiastic children turned up under the watchful eyes of curious parents. The pens and paper were an instant hit and pretty soon the kids were busy working on drawings of events around them. 9 year old Zainudin produced this impression of the world after the tsunami. Note the blue OB chopper and the white ELM beach landing boat both featured. Flying buses will be imprinted for ever in the minds of Aceh’s kids. The problem in LHO KRUET is that the helos with vehicles slung below always seem to be flying somewhere else! At 5pm school moved to the beach for a game of soccer that featured at least 8 balls and about 40 players. Pictures tomorrow.