A Topography of Banda Aceh: Notes from a Journey By Sorayya Khan Writers, especially novelists, invent the environments in which their stories unfold. We create characters and their families, we shape structures of lives, and we form the sentences thought and spoken. To us, the environment is a myriad of fluid and complex variables in which the topography of emotions, family, culture, and power is as real as the topography of nature’s oceans, deserts, and mountains. Our narrative suggests what to incorporate and what to leave out, and we know that the more exact the story’s environment, the more likely it is that our work will ring true. Once in a while, we may emerge from the dream that is our solitary work—imagining worlds—to take a breath and consider the real world, the true setting in which we live. It was just such a break that sent me to Banda Aceh, Indonesia, in May of 2007 to interview tsunami survivors and, a few weeks later, returned me to Ithaca, New York, with a sharpened, more substantial perception of what environment suggests. [Read more].

Aceh visit planned by
Sorayya Khan, local author

We are truthfully honored that you have taken the moment to visit our new and informative website. We would like to thank donors and supporters of Aceh Relief Fund who work together with us to provide better future to the Acehnese that has been suffered from the massive tsunami struck on December 26, 2004. [Read more]

To date, ARF’s micro financing program has been utilized by 64 people in Punge Jurong V and beyond. With this no-interest easy credit facility, tsunami survivors have started or re-started small businesses with between US $150 and $1,500 seed money. So far, there are only three (4.76%) borrowers who have fallen behind in their repayment installments.

The businesses utilizing the financing range in scope from vegetable sellers, roadside food vendors, small convection to fabric sellers. There are also home-based bakers, teachers, and four trishaw men, two of whom are briefly chronicled here. [Read more]

ARF volunteer Rick Wake (left) spent three weeks in Aceh devoting his energy and time to help our work in rebuilding communities.

Excerpt from his journal: "Most of the kids drew mountains, the ocean and trees--the most obvious environment around them. One child drew red cross tents, similar to what they were in at the moment. Others drew the Tsunami. I then asked them to draw something that makes them happy, or if they like, a picture of happiness. This resulted in a wide range of drawings, from Sponge-Bob Square-Pants and other cartoon characters, to flowers, family, and smiling faces). For the last exercise, I asked them to draw their name huge on the paper and decorate the text with things that they like and if they want, they could draw what they want for the future. I presented the exercises with different levels of conceptual challenge, since the class consisted of the entire school with kids ranging from first to fifth grade. Had I taught the entire school before the Tsunami, I would have been teaching over 300 children, but 60 were all that remained. Many were lost, and yet more moved away when their homes and family were gone." [Read more: www.rickwake.com]

Remembering December 26th

On December 26, 2004 a tsunami claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, many of those in Aceh, Indonesia. The damage in Aceh was particularly devastating where nearly a quarter of its four million people population was affected. Aceh Relief Fund (ARF) grew out of a humanitarian need to help alleviate the subsequent suffering of the Acehnese people. To commemorate the tragedy, ARF is presenting pictures taken by our team members that have never been published before. [Read more]. Other story: The Ithaca Journal article [December 26, 2005]

It is the fruit of networking. Realizing that small initiatives need to be strategic and focused, ARF utilizes a vast network in and outside Aceh to fundraise and deliver its programs. On the other corner of the world, well, at least the other corner of the US, Asian Pacific American Society (APAS) of New Orleans, with the help of United Way and other agencies have raised over $440,000 tsunami donation in New Orleans greater area by April 2005. APAS is a unique and strong community organization. It is a real melting pot of communities from Asia and the Pacific regions--some already naturalized, some others are students or professionals with temporary residency status—in a famous city of New Orleans, Louisiana. [Read more]

Current Activities

Community Center Development

Despite its proximity to the center of Banda Aceh, Punge Jurong V is no different from other villages with regards to the state of reconstruction post-tsunami. Half of the surviving 400 villagers are still living in barracks seven miles away from the village and the other half are living under tents or in the remains of their destroyed houses. The first new structure being built in Punge Jurong is a community center, thanks to the effort by ARF. [Read more]

Micro Finance

ARF currently support 23 small business operated by victims of the tsunami in Banda Aceh. The Easy Credit Facility is available to adult tsunami victims in Banda Aceh. Priorities are given to victims with experience in operating small businesses prior to the tsunami. [Read More]

Mobile Library

ARF operates mobile library (also know as mobile learning center) to serve children both in villages and in camps, shelters, and barracks. Due to shortage of fund, the service is curried out by volunteers using motorcycles/scooters. Thanks for the recently acquired fund from APAS, ARF is in the process of purchasing a van which will be remodeled into a mobile library. [Read More]