We kicked off our new little project for little people this week. To get the kids from our villages involved in all the fun, we decided to hold an art competition.
Although the Acehnese are a resilient bunch of people - you kind of have to be when living in a place that's been a conflict area for the last 30 years. A lot of people suffer from post-traumatic disorder and this is especially true for children. A few months ago, we were caught outside during a sudden rain storm and there were 2 kids, probably around 8 or 9 years old next to me and they could not stop shaking and crying. Perhaps the sudden downpour triggered memories associated with the tsunami waves? So we thought it would be a good idea to get a bunch of crayons and lots of paper and give the children a chance to express themselves through art. The topic is 'The Future of Aceh', but as I watched the kids this afternoon, a lot of them were drawing big waves.
Each village will select 2 drawings and then we will pick 12 of the best. We plan to hold an auction and also to create a 2006 calendar out of the 12 drawings. The Assistant Secretary of State will be coming in 2 weeks and the plan is to have him hand out the awards to the winners. What a great photo-op that'll be.
Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Monday, November 28, 2005
J to the K to the T
I was in Jakarta this past weekend. I must say this was the first time that I've actually enjoyed being there. Maybe it was because I was only there for 2 days? Maybe it was because I was there purely for fun? Maybe it was because now I have friends there who I can hang out with? Or maybe it was because I did a whole lot of shopping? Who knows?
The big news is that there is a new direct flight from Jakarta to Aceh! Previously, all flights to Aceh stop in Medan for about 45 minutes (get off the plane with all your carry-on (5 minutes), hop on a bus to the terminal (5 minutes), stand in line for 10 minutes to pick up a transit ticket, standing in line for another 10 minutes to go through the 1 x-ray machine, and get back in line to board the plane...yes, a big waste of time). This morning, I caught the 6:20am flight and was in the office by 9:15am! Yes, we're excited by these things. I think there will be a parade if they start a direct flight to Singapore!
The big news is that there is a new direct flight from Jakarta to Aceh! Previously, all flights to Aceh stop in Medan for about 45 minutes (get off the plane with all your carry-on (5 minutes), hop on a bus to the terminal (5 minutes), stand in line for 10 minutes to pick up a transit ticket, standing in line for another 10 minutes to go through the 1 x-ray machine, and get back in line to board the plane...yes, a big waste of time). This morning, I caught the 6:20am flight and was in the office by 9:15am! Yes, we're excited by these things. I think there will be a parade if they start a direct flight to Singapore!
Brrrrrrrrrrr...
No, it’s not cold here.
BRR or the Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi is the Indonesian government agency responsible for the tsunami rebuilding. Earlier this month, Wall Street Journal (11/02/05) published an article about BRR – how it was set up, the support it received from McKinsey and about its Director – Pak Kuntoro (a Stanford alum). Just last week, in local newspapers, there was an exposé of sort, publicly announcing Kuntoro and senior official in BRR’s salary level. Apparently Kuntoro makes 75 million Rupiahs a month (about $7,500) which is about 12 million more than the President of Indonesia’s officially published salary. The justification being BRR is handling millions and millions of reconstruction funding, and with the culture of corruption that is so pervasive in this country, BRR officials' (from the very top to the very bottom) salary must be higher than the normal bureaucrat in order to prevent corruption. Does this logic make sense?
On the note of Pak Kuntoro being a Stanford alum. I learned something new about Indonesian economic history the other day. In the 1960s, Indonesia was on the brink of famine and disaster and a group of US-educated Indonesian economists pulled the nation out of economic crisis which led to 3 decades of growth under Suharto. This group of economists - most of them Cal Bears were referred to as the Berkeley Mafia. Go Bears!
BRR or the Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi is the Indonesian government agency responsible for the tsunami rebuilding. Earlier this month, Wall Street Journal (11/02/05) published an article about BRR – how it was set up, the support it received from McKinsey and about its Director – Pak Kuntoro (a Stanford alum). Just last week, in local newspapers, there was an exposé of sort, publicly announcing Kuntoro and senior official in BRR’s salary level. Apparently Kuntoro makes 75 million Rupiahs a month (about $7,500) which is about 12 million more than the President of Indonesia’s officially published salary. The justification being BRR is handling millions and millions of reconstruction funding, and with the culture of corruption that is so pervasive in this country, BRR officials' (from the very top to the very bottom) salary must be higher than the normal bureaucrat in order to prevent corruption. Does this logic make sense?
On the note of Pak Kuntoro being a Stanford alum. I learned something new about Indonesian economic history the other day. In the 1960s, Indonesia was on the brink of famine and disaster and a group of US-educated Indonesian economists pulled the nation out of economic crisis which led to 3 decades of growth under Suharto. This group of economists - most of them Cal Bears were referred to as the Berkeley Mafia. Go Bears!
Saturday, November 26, 2005
Tragic!
I just lost my 3500+ songs on my iPod. I'm so sad. This is just really bad timing since I'm about to get on a 3-hour plane ride to Jakarta.
I had bought about 10 pirated CDs and wanted to upload those songs for the trip. Instead of selecting 'update iPod manually', I selected 'update iPod automatically'.
Now I have 315 songs =(
I will just have to buy a suitcase full of pirated CDs in Jakarta. But I'm still sad. No Juanes or La Ley or random music I've collected over the years.
Luckily, I think the files are still on my laptop in DC. Mom! I hope you didn't erase the files!!!
I had bought about 10 pirated CDs and wanted to upload those songs for the trip. Instead of selecting 'update iPod manually', I selected 'update iPod automatically'.
Now I have 315 songs =(
I will just have to buy a suitcase full of pirated CDs in Jakarta. But I'm still sad. No Juanes or La Ley or random music I've collected over the years.
Luckily, I think the files are still on my laptop in DC. Mom! I hope you didn't erase the files!!!
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Gobble Gobble Gobble
Thanksgiving in Aceh! I'm off to a turkey sandwich dinner!
However, I will get to have a real turkey Saturday night in Jakarta.
However, I will get to have a real turkey Saturday night in Jakarta.
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Eeck!
In my inbox this morning were 4 emails all related to the new travel warning for Indonesia issued by the State Department.
The Indonesian police raided a JI (the Indonesian branch of terrorists connected to Osama) safe house a week or so ago and discovered 35 bombs and a videotaped threat from a hooded terrorist who threatened specific attacks against Americans, Australians, British, and Italians. The police also discovered an internet website that gave detailed instructions on how terrorists can attack and kill individual westerners on the streets of Jakarta. In addition the new info indicated that terrorists are likely now to attack westerners riding in cars or walking on streets, sidewalks or pedestrian overpasses in Jakarta. So glad I'm not white!
The Indonesian police raided a JI (the Indonesian branch of terrorists connected to Osama) safe house a week or so ago and discovered 35 bombs and a videotaped threat from a hooded terrorist who threatened specific attacks against Americans, Australians, British, and Italians. The police also discovered an internet website that gave detailed instructions on how terrorists can attack and kill individual westerners on the streets of Jakarta. In addition the new info indicated that terrorists are likely now to attack westerners riding in cars or walking on streets, sidewalks or pedestrian overpasses in Jakarta. So glad I'm not white!
Monday, November 21, 2005
Work in progress
These are a few photos from this past week's visit out to Lampuuk. Things are happenning out there!
Lampuuk villagers building the water processing facility
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Lampuuk villagers building the water processing facility
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Saturday, November 19, 2005
Shake Shake Shake!
Earthquake #11
Magnitude? 4.9
Date? Friday, 18 November, 12:44:08 local time
Epicenter? 55 miles SE of Banda Aceh or 5.032°N, 95.999°E
What was I doing? Having lunch at USAID with the #2 dude from Washington along with reps from the other projects in Banda.
Magnitude? 4.9
Date? Friday, 18 November, 12:44:08 local time
Epicenter? 55 miles SE of Banda Aceh or 5.032°N, 95.999°E
What was I doing? Having lunch at USAID with the #2 dude from Washington along with reps from the other projects in Banda.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
This week...so far
It's been quite a busy week - which is good. I always go through this "I'm so bored in Banda" phase whenever I return from a city, and I was once again in a funk after coming back from Bali. Demonstrated by the hours and hours of Alias I watched this past weekend.
Tomorrow the #2 dude from USAID will be arriving to do a 2-day field visit. The visit is extremely important as this dude has a lot of pull when it comes to budgetary allocation for next year. And lucky us, #2 dude will be visiting 2 of our project sites. The first site is 2 of our villages in Lampuuk (See June 23 post on Lampuuk). We are helping the villages build a water filtration and storage facility. The village is blessed with a mountain spring, but the water needs to be purified and stored in order to make it potable. I will post some pictures of the project later. Also, we helped the villagers to start a small business making well rings. When constructing a well, first you drill, then you line the sides of the well with these cement well rings. Typically a well will require abut 10 rings. So instead of buying rings, these villagers decided to buy some molds and cement and build their own and then sell to other villages. They're lucky because the guy who knows how to make the rings survived the tsunami.
The 2nd site #2 dude is visiting is Baitul Qirath. BQ is a microfinance organization that we're supporting. Recently, we just signed a public-private parternship agreement with Microsoft, and Mr. Gates will be providing BQ with $200,000 over the next year or so to strengthen the capacity of their staff, to write up a business plan, and to increase the lending capital. BQ right now has about 300 customers in Banda, all are shopkeepers in 5 main traditional markets around the city. USAID digs the whole public-private partnership thing, so we gotta show BQ off.
On the home front, I've been getting an illuminating crash course on electric systems, as we’re getting ready to make some upgrades to our office and guest house's current system. Since it’s over $500, per US government procurement directives, we must obtain price quotes from 3 different firms. So I’ve been interviewing contractors and learning about how and how much electricity gets beamed into my houses. Did you know
In other news, it looks like I'm stuck in Banda for the first anniversary of the tsunami. It might not sound so bad, but it's December 26! I was planning on going to the Philippines to meet up with Lillian for X'mas, but now, it looks like I'm stuck here. I'm still hoping to see her in Singapore for New Year. Major Bummer.
Tomorrow the #2 dude from USAID will be arriving to do a 2-day field visit. The visit is extremely important as this dude has a lot of pull when it comes to budgetary allocation for next year. And lucky us, #2 dude will be visiting 2 of our project sites. The first site is 2 of our villages in Lampuuk (See June 23 post on Lampuuk). We are helping the villages build a water filtration and storage facility. The village is blessed with a mountain spring, but the water needs to be purified and stored in order to make it potable. I will post some pictures of the project later. Also, we helped the villagers to start a small business making well rings. When constructing a well, first you drill, then you line the sides of the well with these cement well rings. Typically a well will require abut 10 rings. So instead of buying rings, these villagers decided to buy some molds and cement and build their own and then sell to other villages. They're lucky because the guy who knows how to make the rings survived the tsunami.
The 2nd site #2 dude is visiting is Baitul Qirath. BQ is a microfinance organization that we're supporting. Recently, we just signed a public-private parternship agreement with Microsoft, and Mr. Gates will be providing BQ with $200,000 over the next year or so to strengthen the capacity of their staff, to write up a business plan, and to increase the lending capital. BQ right now has about 300 customers in Banda, all are shopkeepers in 5 main traditional markets around the city. USAID digs the whole public-private partnership thing, so we gotta show BQ off.
On the home front, I've been getting an illuminating crash course on electric systems, as we’re getting ready to make some upgrades to our office and guest house's current system. Since it’s over $500, per US government procurement directives, we must obtain price quotes from 3 different firms. So I’ve been interviewing contractors and learning about how and how much electricity gets beamed into my houses. Did you know
In other news, it looks like I'm stuck in Banda for the first anniversary of the tsunami. It might not sound so bad, but it's December 26! I was planning on going to the Philippines to meet up with Lillian for X'mas, but now, it looks like I'm stuck here. I'm still hoping to see her in Singapore for New Year. Major Bummer.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Happenin' Friday Night in Banda
I just watched 7 episodes of 'Alias'. 7 well spent hours. Goal is to finish Season 1 by the end of the weekend. Think I can do it?
I hear 'Lost' is pretty good - never got into it while I was home. Is it worth spending $6 on Season 1? I think it has 9 DVDs.
I hear 'Lost' is pretty good - never got into it while I was home. Is it worth spending $6 on Season 1? I think it has 9 DVDs.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
Inch’allah: It is the will of God
One of the things we’re working on in the villages is trying to get people to make long-term plans. When we ask the villagers what kind of small scale infrastructure they would like in the next 6 months, often they’ll respond by “inch’allah, we may all die tomorrow.” Well, it’s one thing to live everyday as your last and do something cool, but to just sit around and smoke all day? Hmm…Anyway, this thinking was exacerbated by the tsunami because many people saw the natural disaster as God punishing the people of Aceh because they had done something to really piss off God. But this way of thinking is pretty pervasive. A couple of weeks ago, I was conducting a 6 months performance reviews for my local staff and I asked our young accountant where he saw his career going and what kind of things he’d like to pursue. His answer was “inch’allah, what ever God has planned for me.” I guess he wants to tape receipts and enter numbers into Excel all day for the rest of his life. And just the other day, I asked one of my staff if she wanted to join us for dinner. Her answer was “inch’allah.” It’s like, c’mon, what could God do to you between now and dinner time? She wasn’t struck by lighting, and came to dinner.
What’s the point of having goals and aspirations when everything is inch’allah?
What’s the point of having goals and aspirations when everything is inch’allah?
Monday, November 07, 2005
Asking for forgiveness in Bali
It was the last weekend of Ramadan, and in Indonesia, it means everything pretty much shuts down because everyone goes home to spend time one's family and ask for forgiveness from everyone. Because of the huge transmigration that takes place in Indonesia, cities like Jakarta pretty much shuts down. Aceh as well was pretty darn quiet starting on Tuesday when people started to pulang kampung (literally means to return to village). I left for Bali on Thursday morning, which is Idul Fitri, the first day after Ramadan. Everyone goes to the mosque for early prayer before returning home to spend the day with family. With this being the first Ramadan after the tsunami, there were a lot of people visiting the mass graves that surrounds the city.
So to ask for forgiveness from my sins of the past year, I decided to go to Bali to meet Michael and David, 2 friends I met in Yogya, along with friends of friends, all together about 20 people.
The entire weekend consisted of sleeping in, swimming and body boarding at the beach until after sunset, out to a nice dinner, and then partying until 5am. Saturday was a costume party, with "legends" being the theme. We had to scramble around Kuta to find creative costumes at the very last minute. I went as the Chiquita banana girl. I don’t think I’ve seen so much debauchery in one night, and I will spare you the sordid details.
It was a beach-bummin' weekend - can't remember the last time I saw 3 sunsets 3 days straight! Since I didn't get to explore other parts of the island, I'm sure I will be going back to Bali sometime soon. I still need to go check out Ubud, the cultural center of Bali, as well as the volcanos on the western side of the island. Who wants to join me?
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