ACEH

march - june 2005

Below are excerpts from my 'blog' on Aceh.

Rice

we are trying to do our bit by volunteering our expertise with various community groups, providing information and training, meeting refugees and collecting their stories.

We came across a small patch of padi growing in the middle of a refugee camp (photo) not far from the beach. Out of 18,000 inhabitants along this coast road, only about 1,200 remain. We asked an elderly man about his rice and why it is growing. The general understanding here is that once soil is spoiled by salt water, the salinity ruins it for about a year. Why was this rice growing beautifully in sand, without water? The gentleman explained that this was grown from ancestral seeds - indigenous to the region, used for generations but not used for the last decade because the gov't provides genetically engineered seeds which grow faster and produce several harvests a year instead of the 1 produced by organic varieties. Traditionally, Acehnese always save a portion of their harvests for seed-stock in the future. These indigenous seeds had been in his care for ages and found again in the debris following the tsunami. 

Once people realized that this rice was actually growing, 'officials' came and took his entire stock of remaining seeds 'to the city', he says, clearly not knowing where his seeds have gone. If his tiny patch is not guarded day and night from foraging animals, these too will be lost.

Barge

The barge in the photos is huuuuuuge and was 'parked' at sea waiting to get into the port and unload its cargo of coal. It is still attached to its tugboat. Both were lifted by the tsunami and carried several kilometers and finally dropped on this main coastal road about a kilometer from the beach. The Singaporean owner came to view his property a month ago and inspect the cargo – which is still there. According to the resourceful family who built a food stall under the barge, the Singaporean was so shocked by the situation, that he sighed, collapsed on a box at the stall, and couldn't speak. The family gave him a coffee which he drank in silence. They described him as 'dizzy'. He then left without a word (didn't pay for the coffee either) and last they heard was he could not figure out what to do. So there it stays!