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Asian tsunami 10th anniversary: Foster children, families enjoy close ties

BANDA ACEH — Besides the Singapore government and NGOs, individual Singaporeans also reached out to victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which took place 10 years ago. Some started an informal foster family programme to look after and care for displaced children in Aceh, Indonesia, and their efforts are bearing fruit.

A boy wearing a raincoat and a helmet stands under the rain on a road in Pasar Atjeh in Banda Aceh, Dec 25, 2014. Photo: Reuters

A boy wearing a raincoat and a helmet stands under the rain on a road in Pasar Atjeh in Banda Aceh, Dec 25, 2014. Photo: Reuters

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BANDA ACEH — Besides the Singapore government and NGOs, individual Singaporeans also reached out to victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami, which took place 10 years ago. Some started an informal foster family programme to look after and care for displaced children in Aceh, Indonesia, and their efforts are bearing fruit.

Abdul Mutalif Hashim witnessed the devastation in Aceh during a humanitarian aid mission. The 54-year-old was so affected by what he saw at an orphanage, he decided to do something himself.

“I decided to think of a long-term kind of help, because normally in this kind of natural disaster, in the beginning people will keep helping… but after a period of time, things start to stop, because everybody is focused on other things,” he said. “So, I was thinking how I could have a long-term relationship with these children, which I think is very important for their upbringing, their growth, because many of them were still young.”

Mr Mutalif collaborated with the Fajar Hidayah Integrated Boarding School in Banda Aceh to start a foster family programme. He gathered 17 families and matched them with 30 children. The families gave emotional and financial support, and paid for the children’s education, up to university.

Mr Mutalif himself looked after four children. One of them is Junaed, who lost his father during the tsunami when he was 10 years old.

“The kindness (the Mutalif family) gave - we will never forget, because it is so precious to us,” said Junaed.

Dian Sitadini is another beneficiary of the foster parents programme. Her father was a casualty of the armed conflict between the Aceh Freedom Movement and the Indonesian government.

“Mom and dad tell me to always study hard in school, to respect my elders. I must be successful, education is most important,” she said.

“Many of them still have their trauma of going through the experience. We understand, and we try not to tell them that we can feel for them, because we were not there and we will not be able to feel how they feel,” said Mr Mutalif. “We always tell them that this whole episode is a blessing - that they have a new father, now in Singapore they have relatives.”

When the children visited their foster parents in Singapore, it was their first time in a foreign country. The orphanage and boarding school hopes such foster family arrangements can grow.

“These children have lost everything. Some of them had no family at all. So they needed attention, so this was what they got from the foster parents,” said Nusa Rangkuti, director of Fajah Hidayah Foundation.

“That’s why they are so grateful… (the relationships forged with their foster parents) last a long time. Even until now they still communicate, though they have grown up. It breaks all the barriers, culture, politics, doctrines, it brings the people very close. We hope this kind of programme we could work with not only in Singapore to forge these kind of relationships.” CHANNEL NEWSASIA

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