Contributor: Josh Kreger

Wali Khan is smiling now.

A few weeks ago when he looked over northern Pakistan's Konch valley, there was not much to smile at. His home - like 90 percent of the homes in Bela village - was reduced to rubble. Food was scarce, livestock lost, no roof over his head - and the nights were becoming colder and colder.

He, like the other families in Bela, received food, a tent and other critical items such as plastic sheets and blankets from Mercy Corps. The agency's emergency response team had managed to reach even the most distant and highest points of the isolated Konch and Siran valleys.

But the weather continued to deteriorate and Wali realized that his four children would not survive a winter at elevations higher than 6,000 feet. Snow was quickly filling the valley and blocking all access routes to and from the village.

Mercy Corps stepped up with a solution for Wali's family and hundreds of other vulnerable households in the area - an innovative cash-for-work program to build winter shelters. The program is mostly using recovered materials from destroyed homes to build these heavy-duty, multi-family buildings.

Wali signed up for the cash-for-work program, one of more than 100 men and women in his village to do so. In a manner of days, program participants have constructed 53 shelters while earning income to support their families.

"Now my family will be warm this winter," Wali said.

Serving the most vulnerable

In another part of Bela village, Roshi, a recent widow, works with her daughters-in-law on their new winter home. Mercy Corps stresses the importance of taking care of the most vulnerable members of any community - namely widows, orphans and handicapped. Everyone in Bela village has pitched in to help Roshi build her house, including the women.

Women are an integral part of our programs around the world. Mercy Corps strongly encourages communities that women be allowed to participate as much as possible. In fact, about 25 percent of the cash-for-work laborers in Pakistan are women, while Bela tops the list boasting a 40 percent female workforce. All women get paid the same daily wages as men.

Through the ever-expanding cash-for-work program, Mercy Corps has helped build shelters for over 2,600 households. Nearly 30,000 beneficiaries have been reached already. Our emergency teams continue to deliver items such as blankets, stoves, sheets and tools to help vulnerable families get through the winter.

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A host of varied and unusual things awaited us in the village of Suak Ribee, West Aceh, Indonesia. Among them were the sunset of a sunny day, traditional drums and singing, banners, villagers and a yellow coconut emergency bridge.

“Ah, Mercy Corps! Welcome to your bridge and our bridge. The first bridge in Meulaboh!” the village chief exclaimed. Although we requested no banners or fuss, two enormous banners stretched across the road. The object of the celebration - the new bridge - greeted visitors to the opening ceremony of Mercy Corps' latest infrastructure project in the area.

The bridge is truly an important step in the post-tsunami rebuilding of this part of Indonesia - it's the first to be built in this area since the devastation.

We initially called this project the "Emergency Bridge" because it was built during an emergency. The bridge is an essential piece of infrastructure, connecting two main villages in Meulaboh, the capitol of West Aceh.

Soon after construction started, it became the "Coconut Bridge." It took on this moniker because everyone likes coconuts and "Coconut Bridge" sounds environmentally friendly (which it is) and tropical (which it is as well). Over time, some questions remained as to if it was a coconut or emergency bridge - understandably confusing.

On the day before it opened for traffic, it was painted yellow - a bright optimistic color, not to mention safe for nighttime crossing. Thus the Yellow Emergency Coconut Bridge came to be.

The rapid completion of the project - over just three weeks of work - is due to the hard work of a team of only twenty cash-for-work laborers, including skilled tradesmen from the village and Mercy Corps staff.

The celebration reflected the hard work, commitment and happiness of the villages.

Traditional Acehnese drumming and singing called Saman was performed by Suak Ribee’s own youth troupe, who have represented Acehnese culture in Europe and Asia.

The official ribbon cutting was preceded by speeches by the village chief, the Camat (or administrator) of Johan Pahlawan sub-district and Mercy Corps Field Coordinator Erin Cornish. The ribbon cutting was followed by the first official crossing of the bridge by the villagers, Mercy Corps staff and curious onlookers.

As the celebration came to a close, this happy and optimistic day ended, filled with feelings of accomplishment.

While many infrastructure plans are discussed in Meulaboh, Mercy Corps is taking a lead in initiating and accomplishing projects. The Coconut Bridge is just one example. A football field is being cleaned up and revived. Kilometers of drainage have been cleaned, rehabilitated and dug. The list goes on - and so does Mercy Corps' work.

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