Pacifican Chris Ranken's charity work with Electric Lamb has become more than a one-time effort

By Chris Hunter - Pacifica Tribune

It's been a year since the cataclysmic tsunami devastated an enormous region of the planet from Indonesia to India, killing nearly a quarter million people.
The outpouring of humanitarian good will generated by the catastrophe was one of the highlights of 2005, although clearly inspired by one of modern history's worst disasters.

Pacifica resident Chris Ranken was one of the many people who decided to pitch in and help. Unlike most of them, his charity action turned into an ongoing part of his life.

"I just wanted to go over there," says Ranken, who also serves as a Pacifica Planning Commissioner. "My first thought was to go to the Red Cross. But I read about the Electric Lamb in Newsweek. I decided I could have more of an impact with a smaller organization."

The Electric Lamb Mission is a unique humanitarian organization created by Rick Cameron and Jane Liddon to assist the people in Western Sumatra who were affected by the tsunami. Australians who managed a seagoing tourist ship named "Electric Lamb," the couple morphed into truly dedicated humanitarians, making a big difference in Sumatra during the freshman year of their organization.

"Chris Ranken contacted us a few days after the quake and was incredibly helpful with our efforts to network to spread the news about Aceh to a world looking the other way," says Cameron in a Tribune interview. "Chris is an ex-fireman and has a lot of emergency training and he quickly realized that he could not sit at home in the face of this unprecedented tragedy. He put his engineering practice and private life on hold, jumped on the first available flight and helped us mobilize our 800-ton mother ship, Batavia, in the dreadful days after the tsunami hit.

"We asked him to fly direct to Jakarta where we were loading the ship and then left him in charge of organizing the loading and security aboard while we rushed around town securing sponsors and aid supplies.

"He spoke no Indonesian and had zero experience with ships so we had no idea how he would cope. Chris remained unflappable and efficient in the midst of the most chaotic situation a volunteer could ever experience! He was amazing! We left him aboard for the first leg from Jakarta to Padang and by the time the ship arrived, he had the crew well in hand, a complete inventory and loading plan drawn up! Everything was stacked neatly and he knew exactly where to find all the thousands of items we had loaded in the frantic rush in Jakarta. He is one of the many unsung heroes of the Aceh relief effort."

Ranken was so successful in making himself useful to the Electric Lamb Mission, that he became part of the group. He now represents Cameron's efforts in California.

"He's just a great guy," says Ranken of his new colleague. "I can't think of enough things to say about him."

Ranken's involvement included loading supplies, voyaging up the Sumatran coast, delivering water purification systems and providing ground support whenever possible. He witnessed firsthand the unimaginable devastation in the most remote parts of the country.

"I was one of the people doing everything," says Ranken. "I don't really like to specialize. So, anyone who comes in with some skills, instantly goes near the top. Then, I wanted to stay involved. We all want to make a difference. This is one way I can do something good for the world."

Ranken actually helped Cameron set up his charity as a non-profit organization. "I told him you have to get this registered," says Ranken, who then used his business and government skills to facilitate Cameron's vision.

Remembering his initial visit to Jakarta, Ranken admits he dived right in and took control of an unusual situation. "I don't mind being lost out of my culture," he says. "It was a challenge. I kind of relish that situation. And Rick was impressed. There have been so many different ways I've been able to help."

Ranken has traveled to Sumatra several times during the year, working with Electric Lamb and reconnecting with the people he has tried to help. He admits that the devastation is mind-boggling. Flying over the coastline, he saw nothing but disaster for 100 to 200 miles. "This was incredible," he now says.

But Sumatra wasn't the only place Chris Ranken tried to help this year. He took off for New Orleans after the hurricanes destroyed much of the American Gulf Coast in the fall. Initially thinking he would do research work for Electric Lamb, Ranken wound up pitching in and helping with the Red Cross. He realized that the Electric Lamb Mission had to continue to focus on Sumatra. "Well, it's the Third World," he says. "Americans are pretty darn generous, but in Sumatra, the scale is so much greater. It's ongoing."

Nonetheless, Ranken was able to help out in New Orleans while experiencing another disaster relief effort; both will aid him in his ongoing work with Electric Lamb. Again, he enjoys the fact that with Electric Lamb, he has a more meaningful leadership position. "There's a surprisingly small circle of people at the top," he says. Ranken is doing everything from fund-raising to checking out boats that the organization may one day purchase. He has, in essence, become the focal point for Electric Lamb in the United States.

At 47, Ranken is philosophical about his humanitarian efforts. Locally, he contributes through his work on the Planning Commission. He also ran for California Governor during the recent recall election. (Someone named Schwarzenegger beat him, although perhaps Ranken would have done a better job.)

"I'll do everything I can to get another ship for Electric Lamb," says Ranken. "Electric Lamb can do a really good job of helping in Sumatra. And because there's a likelihood of future earthquakes, having a vessel there is important. It would be a large ship patrolling the coast, like a floating relief supply ship."

His goal is to make a difference and working with Rick Cameron has given Chris Ranken a direction to do just that. "One thing that stands out is that everybody wanted to help," he says of the tsunami destruction. "It's a more spectacular thing to help out with. It's the epic natural disaster of our time. The tsunami bumped the people's standard of living down to tarps for tents. It's how they are living now."

Ranken is planning another trip back to Indonesia in early 2006. "I'm looking forward to my next trip back to Singapore and Indonesia," he says. "I'll be leaving immediately after the January 3 Planning Commission meeting. There were three promising developments on funding for us this week, so I'm in a good mood now."

For details on the Electric Lamb Mission, visit the comprehensive website at www.electriclamb.org.

Here is an article written by Chris Ranken and Rick Cameron back in January 2005. It presents an insight into what the Electric Lamb Mission faced, and continues to face, even a year after the tsunami tragedy.

Kampung Sawang - A Tragic Situation

By Chris Ranken and Rick Cameron

No matter how much anyone does for the people of northwest Sumatra - no matter how much food and water and medicine and tools and supplies anyone brings - things can never be the same again. The coastal hamlet of SAWANG near the village of LANGUAN shows this painfully.

156 people lived in this idyllic seaside kampung. Residents lived on fish, vegetables, and fruit, and tapped their rubber trees to sell in the city of CALANG, 15 kilometers away.

The tsunami hit the village with full force. 114 of the 156 died. 42 survived: 38 men, one woman, and three children. All the surviving men lost their wives and all their children; all the surviving children lost both their parents; and the lone surviving woman lost her husband and children.

All of the leaders of the community died. A village elder, apparently the new spokesman, told us, "I can't think, and we don't know what to do now." Half of the villagers, out of desperation, set out yesterday on the day-long walk to the CALANG. They hope to bring back food to their village - but CALANG itself was absolutely devastated by the tsunami, which killed most of the residents of that beautiful and thriving town of 15,000.

The survivors are in great pain, and there appears to be no way out. A month after losing his parents, the three-year-old still cries almost continuously for them. Sometimes he stops to call out for his drowned father, "Ayah, Ayah," and then starts crying again.

So there they are, a group of 42 unrelated people, almost all men. Their village is now little more than an encampment; they are living in makeshift shelters on a hillside. They are several kilometers from any other sign of civilization. They subsist on coconuts, fruit from a few trees, and what's left of their vegetable garden. In some ways, they are better off than other villages: they still have tools, and a well with fresh water. But their rubber trees are not worth tapping; there is no way for them to get the latex to market. And of course, all their fishing boats and equipment are gone - washed away by the sea that has sustained them for generations.

Until our arrival yesterday, this community had seen no aid at all, save for one insufficient food drop from a helicopter. We immediately brought them two small boats full of food, lamps (with kerosene), clothes, and hygiene supplies. They still have an urgent need for roofing iron, seeds, and more food, and we will continue to supply them in the future.

Those that have survived to this point are reasonably healthy, although there is one suspected case of malaria. But there are many flags visible along the beach, marking the gruesome remains of the many victims still not buried. We will return to the encampment today with body bags, gloves, boots and masks.

But despite what we give them, the community seems lost and hopeless without its women. To rebuild their community in a physical way seems feasible, but how can anyone measure the loss of all of their wives and children?

There are countless small kampungs like SAWANG, scattered along this devastated coast. Some of the villages came through a little better; some, a little worse. But for the hard working people of this area, life will never be the same. It's hard to imagine their lives will ever again be as full as they were when they woke up to a normal village morning on December 26th, 2004.