<p>Daughter and a group from her college are thinking about using their fellowship awards ($3000 each) to visit Indonesia over the summer with Habitat for Humanity and help with the rebuilding. While I feel better about her going with a group, I am still a little worried about her safety. Anyone else have kids planning to volunteer in that part of the world in the near future?</p>
<p>Mini's daughter is planning to go back to India for the summer.</p>
<p>I'm surprised that they will be able to work in the stricken areas of Indonesia. From what I understand, the military and government in those areas have severely restricted visits from foreigners seeking to help with volunteer aid. I think the situation in India, Thailand, and parts of Sri Lanka is different.</p>
<p>I would be comfortable if my daughter was going with an organized group like Habitat for humanity, but that is a contrast to a friends son who is planning on going there now, with his girlfriend, unaffilated with any group and with no real plan on what they are doing. The mom is horrified, she is a naturopath and the kids think they can get by with homeopathic treatments instead of vaccinations, it just doesn't sound like they have thought things through very clearly.</p>
<p>Carolyn Indonesian workers apparently are needing military protection . Probably not where I would want my daughter to be heading.</p>
<p>Amethyst, my personal opinion: it isn't safe to go to Indonesia. There are reports already (I don't know if they are substantiated or not) of hostile reaction to missionaries and such even when they are not trying to convert.</p>
<p>Sometimes young people don't think things through thoroughly. Groups like the US Army enter disaster areas with their own shelter, food, health care etc. They are not dependent on an already stressed infrastructure to provide the basics of life. However, people going to the stricken area on their own (presuming the Indonesian government will even permit them to travel there) will have to rely on local people for housing, food, etc. Have they thought whether any benefit they can give the local people will outweigh the burden they will impose?</p>
<p>As for those who plan to spend their fellowships to go to Indonesia to build homes with Habitat for Humanity, could those fellowships be given for relief? If that doesn't seem like an option on the surface, perhaps those young people could put their heads together and figure out how to make it happen. The money would provide much more benefit for the disaster victims if spent by a reliable charity (Red Crescent, etc.) than if used to fly Americans to Indonesia to build homes. So many Indonesians are without jobs now. If Indonesians were paid to build homes, they would have housing and jobs - a two-fer.</p>
<p>EllenF, great idea! Speaking of twofers, my own son is putting his twenty-inch-long, thick, curly, blond hair on the line as a fund-raiser at his school. If the fund-raiser gets to 4K, he'll shave his head AND give it to Locks of Love! (Others--with much shorter hair--are also pledging their shorn heads.) I love his hair, but I love his big heart more!</p>
<p>It now seems that the group will be heading to Thailand - in an area inland where much rebuilding is going on. I guess I feel better about that country. I saw on the news today that tourists are still going there, and helping with the relief effort instead of vacationing. Anyway, the trip is still in planning stages so there is time to check on all the details.</p>
<p>My brother and sister in law have both spent massive amounts of time in Thailand volunteering in orphanages. BElieve me, the people there need help as much as anywhere.</p>
<p>I am in Jakarta. The Indonesian government and the aid organizations agree that individual volunteers cannot and should not go to Aceh. There are already hundreds of agencies at play and just logistically a person who is not affiliated with a group would just get in the way. What they need in Aceh now are people with specific skills like medical personnel. Generalists are better off in their home countries organizing aid or in Jakarta answering telephones or helping to load airplanes. Anyone who is determined to work on the ground in Aceh should contact the aid organizations directly. If they need help they will say so. If they decline, I wouldnt recommend coming to Indonesia as the chances of getting into Aceh legally as an individual are slim.</p>
<p>Habitat for Humanity is a solid organization that has been active in Indonesia for many years. If they are planning a foray into Aceh, then I would assume that it would be well organized.</p>
<p>As far as the security factor: This is difficult to appraise and everyone has his/her own comfort level. Aceh has been for decades in what amounts to a state of civil war with the Indonesian government. It is really unknown whether the separatist rebels will take this opportunity to accelerate the battle or will call a truce. There have been minor skirmishes with between the rebels and the Indonesian army in the areas where aid work is going on. A volunteer could conceivably be in the wrong place and get hurt.</p>
<p>The situation in Aceh is so dire that it cannot be described. This is not reconstruction. This is city building from scratch. Over 100,000 people, who were already near subsistence level, have no homes, no jobs, no village, no families. This is a desperately poor country. There is simply no where for these people to go! I sincerely hope the world doesnt get compassion fatigue as this problem is not going to be resolved for many, many years.</p>
<p>very well said, momrath. And I agree and want to stress that if you are not part of a large organization that is already helping, you would only be a hindrance to the efforts, which at this scale take a lot of logistical planning. Habitat is a great organization. Personally, I would have loved to go with Doctors without Borders, but apparently my services as an EMT aren't needed (which is surprising - surely they need trained medical people to do the more menial tasks like injections, splinting, etc. and leave the larger issues to the doctors and nurses? guess not).
So until I graduate from med school, my monetary support and best wishes must be enough.</p>
<p>So....we have returned, and have lots to tell, though folks who want to read it should probably go to my d. and my blog - <a href="http://shantinik.blogspot.com%5B/url%5D">http://shantinik.blogspot.com</a></p>
<p>My d. is planning to go back this summer; there is a huge amount to do, especially around my mother's organization''s building of permanent housing (which is all done by the villagers themselves, as you'll see on the blog, and is part of a unique "food-for-work" program), and since it is essentially all family, the bed (or at least a mat) is waiting. D. hopes to raise money at Smith, not for herself, but to build more houses (she's already got the beggars' baskets, courtesy of the basketweaving community that used to supply the fisherfolk, and now have lost their only source of income.)</p>
<p>While my d. will do aid work (heck, she's already dug bodies out of a school, and helped cremate them), her main work (as it already has been) will be as a writer, keeping our supporters aware of her daily experience and the organization's doings and needs. Her education is already standing her in good stead, and I'm very proud of her.</p>
<p>Mini, I keep in mind your comments on your web site about the wierdness of foreigners dropping food bundles, old encyclopedias, having Western adoption agencies go there, World Bank tiger prawn hatcheries etc..</p>
<p>Are you saying that there isn't much for most Americans do other than donate money? What do you think of the Habitat for Humanity and other groups going over there? People taking their vacation to go and help out? etc? </p>
<p>From my own political perspective it does seem wierd to only try to help these people after a tsunami.</p>
<p>Will you be going back this summer?</p>
<p>I will not be going back this summer (sigh!) There is a lot for Americans to do, beginning with understanding how our patterns of thinking (and then consumption) have consequences among people we have never met. There is a single multinational "food chain", and the fact that we are at the top of it doesn't exempt us from its implications.</p>
<p>I think it is WONDERFUL for people to go abroad with Habitat, etc., not so much because of the work actually accomplished (local folks are quite adept at creating their own living conditions in keeping with their environments), but because it is both a way to acknowledge, and to become increasingly aware of both our interdependence and our common humanity. If the tsunami is an opportunity for us all to move in this direction, something good has come of it.</p>
<p>My mother is putting up a website (actually an Iranian public health prof. in London is doing so.) Check it out at <a href="http://www.lafti.net%5B/url%5D">www.lafti.net</a></p>
<p>Mini:</p>
<p>You do not know me, but thanks for your help. Our temple has raised a lot of money from generous american donors. We have mailed it to India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia. Thank you for your offering the aid to poor who really need it.</p>
<p>mini, thanks for that link! After reading through your amazing blog I was trying to figure out what LAFTI stood for! :) Was your trip planned before the tsunami? How long had it been since your (and your D) last visit to the area? My mother and niece just returned from a trip to India (Jan 3 - 18) that had been planned for a long time. They avoided the coastal areas. It must be very strange for your D to return to classes at Smith after this trip.</p>
<p>Trip was planned before the tsunami - but to celebrate the publication of my book about my Indian parents. Hadn't been for 5 years! (too long!) It will be interesting to have my d. return to classes; there are lots of folks lining up to interview her, and we've just prepared the blog as a "mini-book" (now there's a pun!) - which is available by donation. (call me at the number listed on my website - <a href="http://www.skylarksings.com%5B/url%5D">www.skylarksings.com</a>, or send me a private message.) But she is not planning to change any of her courses as a result, and, if you've followed the blog, you'd know that her Italian has taken on new importance!)</p>
<p>can't let this drop off page 1 !!!! :) If anyone has not checked out mini's blog, do yourself a favor and click... I am interested in an organized version, ie the minibookblog. It was a little difficult to read through the thing in chronological order, and then I stumbled upon another page with more links to blog entries. Fascinating stuff! I have several questions for you. Will send a pm.</p>