Dispatches from the Mentawai Islands

Marudin, a local farmer who received tools and seeds from Mercy Corps, thinks the results from the corn harvest are encouraging. Photo: Iswanto JA/Mercy Corps

Indonesia's Mentawai Islands have a very hot and arid climate but, because of high rainfall and minimal pests, it is great for agriculture. When the tsunami hit last October, Mentawai residents ran from the waves with only the clothes on their backs. Most tools and crops were lost.

Through separate but collaborative programs, Mercy Corps has distributed 559 Farmer Toolkits through funding from USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA). We've also given farmers 565 packs of corn, chilli, eggplant, watermelon, cucumber and green bean seeds — as well as 150,000 cacao seedlings — through the generosity of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

As you enter Kinumbuk, Bulasat village on Pagai Selatan (South Pagai Island), the air becomes cool. Each temporary shelter belonging to a tsunami-displaced family is nearly covered with a leafy and shady corn crop. Not far from the house there are also cacao, pepper, eggplant and cucumber seedlings that are beginning to grow.

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Rich Ormond on his way to the far-flung Mentawai Islands. Photo: Mercy Corps Indonesia

I recently spent a week in the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia, where I work as Director of Programs. The Mentawais are a group of islands in the Indian Ocean and accessible from Sumatra only once a week by overnight boat. It's about as close to the end of the Earth as most people care to get.

Mercy Corps has been active in this far flung location since October 2010. Rather than write about my experience here, I tapped into my love of photography and video to put together this video blog of my time there: http://www.mercycorps.org/countries/indonesia/24978

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In their old villages — before the earthquake and tsunami hit Indonesia's Mentawai Islands last year — people never had trouble getting fresh water. Their homes were always located close to rivers, because they knew that water is of the utmost importance.

Bright orange water tanks, provided by Mercy Corps through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, located behind the temporary shelters of a displacement camp in Indonesia's Mentawai Islands. Photo: Iswanto JA/Mercy Corps

Without shade trees, the displacement camps for tsunami survivors in Rua Monga and Bulak Monga are hot and barren. People prefer to get out of their temporary shelter and spend as much time in their farm fields as possible.

Life post-tsunami has been overwhelming for everyone affected. People in Rua Monga and Bulak Monga moved to temporary shelters built by Indonesia's National Disaster — without a reliable water source or lighting, plus the loss of their normal way of life, living conditions have been very difficult.

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The people living in Masokut were very enthusiastic about the installation of a hydraulic pump, which helps getting clean water easier for tsunami-affected families. Photo: Iswanto JA/Mercy Corps

Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mercy Corps´ hygiene promotion, livelihood, water and sanitation programs are improving living conditions for those living in displacement camps on Indonesia's Mentawai Islands, which were struck by a tsunami last October. In the villages of Masokut and Berilou village on the island of Sipora, these programs are having a positive effect on the community´s health and economic wellbeing.


The head of Masokut village, Rahmat Setiawan, told Mercy Corps that people in his community have started to smile because of the success of the water and sanitation programs. "Before Mercy Corps' water and sanitation program, people took water from the small river that is around 100 meters behind the relocation camp. Carrying the bucket without spilling all of the water was difficult and tiring day in and day out. Every day, parents and children must take turns to bring water 100 meters home," said Rahmat.

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Jalukhu is optimistic about education in the Mentawai Islands post-earthquake and tsunami because of a “speck of light” from Mercy Corps. Photo: Iswanto JA/Mercy Corps

Crek... crok... crak! The sound of the manual typewriter echoes throughout the quiet night in the displacement camp. In the 24-square-meter room, the typewriter's rhythms make new music in harmony with cricket and mosquito sounds.

The old typewriter is played by the old man's fingers. He has graying hair but an energetic body and mind. He is the headmaster of the local elementary school, and every night he is always busy typing a report. Mercy Corps visited him at a busy time of year — currently elementary and high schools in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Mentawai Islands are conducting their final exams.

The old headmaster is 56-year-old Jalukhu, originally from Nias Island. He’s a civil servant convinced that, despite the tragedy of the earthquake and tsunami, the education and prospects of Mentawai's children will soon rise.

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A solar lamp, like those distributed to 250 families in Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Mentawai Islands, glowing at night. Photo: Sara Velasquez/Mercy Corps

Last night we spent the night at KM 37 in order to check on the families using the solar lights that we have distributed.

So far, we’ve distributed almost 250 solar lights to families in both North and South Pagai, survivors of last October's devastating tsunami here in Indonesia's remote Mentawai Islands.

The government doesn't provide electricity in displacement camps in North or South Pagai. Some sub-villages have a generator, which they occasionally use so that they can charge their mobile phones, listen to music or power up a machine when necessary.

Solar lights are a huge deal to the people here.

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Young survivors of the Mentawai tsunami at a water tap near the displacement camp where they currently live. Photo: Sara Velasquez/Mercy Corps

When a disaster initially happens, the first response is to take care of the injured and provide emergency relief to at least meet the basic needs of life. There is a second, and equally dangerous consequence which is often left until the issue needs to be attended — sickness from lack of proper sanitation.

In the internally-displaced person (IDP) camps adults and children are suffering from diarrhea, vomiting, fever, cough and itching in some parts of the body. Recently, children have broken out in measles, but there are only a few doctors on the island and the numbers have not been confirmed. Children have been taken to Sikakap at the beginning of last week, but there were no medicine to treat their conditions.

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It tickles me how adaptable humans are; how adaptable I can be. When I first arrived in the city of Sikakap in Indonesia's tsunami-stricken Mentawai Islands I was feeling a little overwhelmed.

1. There is only one boat, once a week to bring people to and from Sikakap. The boat leaves Padang every Tuesday night and arrives 12-15 hours later (depending on the weather) on Wednesday morning. The return boat leaves Sikakap on Wednesday night, and after 12-15 hours, arrives in Padang on Thursday morning. If you don’t catch either of those boats you are out of luck and have to wait another week.
2. Fruit and vegetables only arrive once a week on this boat. Every Wednesday mid-morning, the stalls are filled with green beans (kacang buncis), red chilis (lado), eggplant (terong), oranges (jeruk), mangoes (manga), and apples (apel). Once a few days go by, everything is gone — or rotting — so you only have a couple of chances to get your daily dose of fruit and veggies.
3. It rains just about every day, and the streets are pot-holed. I like walking, and you can tell from the lines of mud splashed from my sandals up the backs of my legs.

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Tsunami-affected and displaced parents and children in the village of Bake, Indonesia listen to a Mercy Corps presentation on hygiene. Photo: Sara Velasquez/Mercy Corps

The emergency response team here in the tsunami-stricken Mentawai Islands has been preparing for a hygiene promotion campaign for survivors, and today was their first day in action!

We left our office this morning at 8 A.M. There was Hetty, Anto, Afkar, Andri, Roni, Warta, Laptor, Farid and myself.

We got on a boat, and went across the water to the next island. It only took about five minutes to get there. We loaded up a borrowed truck with 36 hygiene kits, and we had our own truck waiting to transport the Mercy Corps team. We all jumped in and off we went.

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