Supporter: Glory Dwi Anjani Sunarto

Photo: The carefree atmosphere during coffee grading time. Photo Glory Sunarto/Mercy Corps

Earlier this month, I got a fulfilling experience to do a new assessment on a potential new program involving coffee farmers in Central Aceh district and its surrounding area. When the Indonesia Country Director, Sean Granville-Ross, assigned me on that task, I was thrilled, not just because I was going to go to the infamous beautiful highland in the heart of Aceh, but to me it also sounded like: a new program!

The excitement to me, personally, because this would be the first time to do an assessment from scratch -- for a new potential program, while beforehand I have been involved in many assessments for our education and community development programs, which meant the program was already set up.

But this time was totally different! We are the one who should decide what kind of program intervention to propose based on our field assessment result. Oh, and I said we, because I was lucky enough to do this assessment with my former manager, Laura Bruno, who now is the Senior Program Officer for Southeast Asia. Awesomeness!

Photo: The village natural beauty with coffee land along the roadsides. Photo Glory Sunarto/Mercy Corps

The districts of Central Aceh and Bener Meriah were the target areas to assess which well known as the area of coffee producers. Most of the populations are coffee farmers. We were not seeking particular data on their regular coffee business, but assessing their other potential sources of income through other livelihoods they have and also how their life as coffee producers can support them in the need of daily nutrition, food security, clean water, and sanitation access. That included the level of the lady farmers’ awareness and behaviour on breastfeeding.

Apart from having 10 different meetings with some government institutions and cooperatives in those areas to gain information on financial literacy and more economic development aspect, we visited this one village of Kelupak Mata, in Kebayakan sub-district, in Central Aceh. The village was hidden behind the hills to reach it we had to drive up a steep cliff. But it was worth it, since it was a very beautiful village with beautiful people who were living there! The goal was to touch base and find out the real example of their access to health facility, sanitation and breastfeeding behaviour!

So, there we were, having a informal group discussion with a small group of coffee farmers led by Mr. Isri while sipping the superb morning coffee of Gayo Highland. Afterward, his wife, Mrs. Nusrawati, took us for a walk to see the health clinic facility and had a chat with a pregnant mother who is also a coffee farmer, Mrs. Jasmani. She told us about how the village midwife and the health clinic are continuously campaigning and giving information about how important is exclusive breastfeeding and also how she strongly believes that breastfeeding her baby is the best choice. She opposed the idea of giving formula for her baby, other than it cost a lot -- for a poor villager like her -- also it’s not as healthy as breastmilk.

Photo: Glory Sunarto/Mercy Corps

Interestingly, we also met a group of women who were doing the coffee grading. The atmosphere at the place was so cheerful and carefree. They all welcomed us warmly, so we sat down with them and asked about the breastfeeding behaviour in the village. They unanimously said that they all breastfeed their babies even when they are working at the coffee plantation.

“We hang the baby on the nearby tree, so whenever they are hungry we can just stop working and breastfeed them,” explained one lady, just as what Mrs. Jasmani told us earlier.

It was only three days of assessment, but it was intense, and we know exactly what we are going to write down on our concept paper. Those cheerfully non-stop giggling group of ladies inspired us the most!

Photo: The beautiful lake of Danau Laut Tawar -the icon of the highland. Glory Sunarto/Mercy Corps

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Four and a half years ago today, I started my journey of the heart work. Yes, a heart work, because this work was really special to me.

Mercy Corps' Project Supervisor has a chat with elementary school kids while doing a road project inpection next to the school. Photo: Glory Sunarto/Mercy Corps

Being born an Indonesian and living my whole life on Java island gave me the chance to live closer to the center of information, great access to knowledge, the comfort of city life and the routine of a high-speed city commuter, but still something was missing; a value, a dream, something deep down inside. I knew that I still needed to do something more meaningful.

The tsunami disaster that hit Aceh Province — at the far northwest tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island — in December 2004 brought that chance to me, the chance to be someone that could do different things. Not directly though, not yet; I knew my limitations, and at that time I was not ready to deal with emergency response. So, almost a year later — on December 2, 2005 — I left the hustle-bustle life of a city girl and started my journey with Mercy Corps in Meulaboh, West Aceh.

Knowing very little about the real situations at hand, I was ready to deal with whatever. I determined to do something useful for the tsunami’s survivors, as well as finding the real value that was burning inside me.

I first started a job as an Education Program Officer for Mercy Corps' Education in Social Revitalization Program. In this initial position, I learned a lot about the greater values of this organization and was amazed with the fact that so many people out there were trying to help and becoming our donors. And so my amazing new life began immediately: the river, beaches, muddy fields, community center floors and jungle were my playgrounds. My life became about the communities we served and my colleagues — the beautiful people I worked with everyday.

A community laborer working on a latrine project at Rima Jeuneu Village, Peukan Bada Sub-district, Aceh Besar District. Photo: Glory Sunarto/Mercy Corps

Within months, the nature of the tsunami recovery program for which I was working shifted to the development phase. There I found myself joyously embracing the new challenges and becoming the part of Community Development Program, slowly expanding our reach not just for the needy ones in coastal areas, but also those living up in the hill — far inland, conflict affected and living in deep poverty for years. Using Mercy Corps’ community mobilization strategy, we tried to support the community, build their capacity and personally touch their lives with our warm hearts and hard-working hands.

This has not been an easy journey though. There were times when I felt heartbroken and shed my tears, frustrated and exhausted. But those moments easily swept off by the smile, welcome hands and ‘thank you’ words from our partners, the communities that we served. On my latest field visit just a couple of weeks ago with Mercy Corps' Aceh Director, he said this to me: "We often become stressed about the work, but it’s just because we love what we are doing and we are trying to do the right thing."

He was right, indeed. I love what I have been doing here.

Four and a half years — not a short time at all — and I would say I’m proud of our team here in Aceh. We have done around 600 community projects, varying from social development, economic development, water and sanitation, and community infrastructure. But most importantly, we have been developing the community. Now the Community Development Program in Aceh has officially finished —yet not really, because it’s a continuous process — but the heart work remains.

I am grateful and proud to be part of this team and this organization that has put the values and action into rebuilding the the foundation of communities that had been destroyed by the tsunami. Today, I know that I found what I was missing years ago.

I have been living my dream.

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A Haitian earthquake survivor in the aftermath of the disaster. Photo: Eduardo Munoz / Reuters

On Tuesday, an earthquake struck Haiti. It struck me few hours later, to learn that we just dedicated some of our team members from Mercy Corps Aceh — just three months ago, in October — to respond to the earthquake that shook Padang, West Sumatra. After the initial shock, a little relief followed, to learn that Mercy Corps is sending the team to respond to this earthquake in Haiti.

So, I thought that the least thing I could do was to spread the news through my Twitter and Facebook, retweeting news from Mercy Corps headquarters. I posted this one yesterday: "RT @mercycorps Scrambling to help Haiti. Read how we're responding and help with a donation: http://is.gd/6aatg".

I didn't immediately think about what actions my friends would take after reading that message. But many responded with encouraging words and wishes to go to Haiti themselves to help with the emergency efforts. A couple of them were part of the Indonesia Response Team that was deployed to Padang.

It's really heartwarming to know that there are always people who are wanting — and trying — to help out in the misfortunes that happen in other parts of the world, in whatever way they can, even through words of sympathy or encouragement. You can do it discreetly, silently, sincerely. You can even just send a prayer.

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This morning when I arrived at the office, I got a call from one of my team members, Hasdi — a Community Facilitator for our Community Development Program here in Banda Aceh. He’s one of the members of Indonesia Response Team (IRT) in Padang, as a volunteer from our office. Immediately I was a bit worried, but he reassured me that everything was fine, just a little bit sleepless from the non-stop trips of assessment and distribution. He just missed us and wanted to hear the updates about our office.

“How’s work? Is everything fine?” he asked me with full concern. Then I said, “What work? We don’t have anything to do around here, so don’t worry!” Then we laughed heartily. I told him not to worry; I still have the other folks doing a great job and taking care of the work of those who have been deployed to Padang and surrounding areas for the emergency response. But it is, in fact, a busy time for us here: I am managing a team of 22 people for our two-year Community Development Program here in Banda Aceh. We're at the peak of workload to be completed: it's the month when our quarterly report to donors needs to be submitted.

When the devastating earthquake hit Padang on September 30, 2009, I was on an airplane on the way back to Banda Aceh from a weeklong break for the Eid Ul Fitr holiday. Therefore, I know nothing about the deadly disaster — not until my sister called me from home to make sure I was fine. She was afraid that the earthquake has shaken Aceh as well.

The following day, instead of focusing on catching up on work after the holiday, I got a quick morning briefing from my supervisor about the steps we needed to take in response to the disaster. I was needed to make a quick decision, because four of my staff members are currently on the IRT and two of them are team leaders. So, I met both of the leaders and asked for their willingness to be deployed soon — of course, they did not hesitate at all.

Starting that day —the first day after the earthquake — we prepared our team for some of their colleagues being deployed. We talked about what we needed to do in order to keep delivering our program in 40 villages across four sub-districts, as scheduled. We started preparing handover notes and appointing persons-in-charge.

Then came another day of decision: Tuesday, October 6, when Mercy Corps' Aceh Director told me that Padang needed as many team backup as possible. He planned to send all the IRT members in our office, plus some other folks who wanted to volunteer for the emergency response. That was the biggest pang for me: I needed to send five of our eight team members from our office to Padang the next day. It felt a little bit weird for me when that critical situation did happen, but we were ready. And it feels great that we could help in the emergency response by dedicating our team members there.

My conversation with Hasdi ended like this: “Okay, boss, I need to go now. We have a meeting."

Take care folks, we are supporting you! Keep up the spirit out there!

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