Ten months later, nightmares still haunt the little girls. When they close their eyes, they still see the 30-foot wall of water crashing down. They see loved ones lost in the swirling water. They remember the sheer terror of running from the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami.
It’s hard to forget, especially when you still live in a refugee-style tent.
The Indonesian girls draw their traumatic experiences on paper at the prodding of Dellanna O’Brien, former executive director of national Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) based in Birmingham. She listens as the girls explain their artwork. She and her husband, Bill, former director of The Global Center at Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School, have heard the stories over and over in the last three months. Each new story touches their hearts as much as the first.
“The boys and girls smile but still have pain in their eyes,” Dellanna O’Brien said of the participants in her trauma counseling. “The adults will tell you that they don’t have problems in dealing with the disaster, but the more you talk about it, they begin to cry.”
The O’Briens, with their three children, were Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) missionaries to Indonesia from 1963 until 1973. The couple recently moved back there — to one of the hardest-hit tsunami areas, Banda Aceh — in an effort to help with long-term rebuilding plans. Just one year ago, Banda Aceh was closed to foreigners. This mainly Muslim area is considered the “front porch to Mecca.” In ancient days, Banda Aceh was the last port on the journey to Mecca, the city where Muslim pilgrims journey for prayers and sermons to fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam.
Ever since the tsunami, Banda Aceh, which is located on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, opened to anyone who offered help. The O’Briens say there’s still a lot of work left. Most of the disaster relief agencies finished up and left within the first three months. Bill O’Brien said many of the remaining non-government organizations will move out soon. He acknowledged that long-term partnerships with businesses can make a significant impact. The organization that sponsors the O’Briens, Compassion Frisco, is doing just that.
A group of citizens in Frisco, Texas, formed Compassion Frisco with the desire to try a city-to-city partnership with Banda Aceh. The group is made up of businessmen, faith groups and other civic organizations.
So far, the partnership is providing trauma counseling, some wells for clean water and help with rebuilding homes and businesses. Compassion Frisco identified one hospital that needed repair and helped it to reopen. A new artesian well was installed at the hospital through a WMU Foundation HEART Fund grant.
“We’ve committed to five years,” Bill O’Brien said. “That doesn’t mean Dellanna and I will be there all five years; it just means that it’s going to take a long-term relationship for Compassion Frisco to build the trust needed to help rebuild this area. What the people need now is a way to provide for themselves.”
Despite the immediate outpouring of help from around the world, the needs are still great in Banda Aceh, the O’Briens explained. Thousands still live in tents. Drinkable water is still not easy to find. Entire villages are starting over from scratch. Small businesses are virtually nonexistent.
“It’s really hard to describe the destruction in Banda Aceh — maybe if you take (Hurricane) Katrina to the 30th power and then you’ll start getting an idea of the magnitude,” he said. “People are trying to get on with their lives … and they need the means and support to do it.”
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