Child sponsorship update from Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Update for child sponsors from the SOS Children's Village Banda Aceh, Indonesia from December 2008.

Dear Friends,

We would like to share our joy about the official opening of the three new SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES in Sumatra, built for survivors of the tsunami at Christmas 2004. SOS Desa Taruna Medan (North Sumatra), SOS Desa Taruna Banda Aceh (in the capital of the province Aceh) and SOS Desa Taruna Meulaboh (West Aceh), all consist of 15 family-houses with ancillary buildings and a nursery school. A number of children have been under our care for a long time, first in temporary quarters, then at their respective SOS-Village. Some victims of the devastating earthquake on the Nias Islands also found a home at Medan. Two competent young men who grew up at SOS-Lembang in the seventies and eighties are in charge of SOS Medan, one as Village Director, the other one as educator.

Our SOS Children’s Village MEDAN was established in the year of 2005 and now there are 102 children, 49 girls and 53 boys. The children came originally from different tribes such as Batak, Nias, Melayu and Java. From Batak Tribe they came from different sub-tribes because Batak has 4 main sub-tribes called Batak Toba, Batak Karo, Batak Mandailing and Batak Pak-pak with different languages. At first the differences have of course caused some awkwardness but it seems they no longer become an obstacle for the children to get along with each other. For around the first 2 months period, communication between children and mothers, children and new friends who only knew their local languages was rather funny because some children didn’t know how to speak Indonesian language, and some mothers only understood Indonesian and their own local languages. At that time, body language was quite effective! Fortunately the condition didn’t last for too long. After 1-2 months, many children started to use Indonesian a lot better to communicate with others.

Growing up at Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Everyday, after returning from school, the children will do various additional activities such as dancing, singing, music and sports, particularly Taekwondo. In the dance classes children are taught kinds of famous traditional dances from North Sumatera Tor-Tor Dance and from Nias there are dances which use a lot of jumping skills and wooden tools such as the ones called Karo Dance and Selayang Pandang Dance from Melayu. They participated in dancing contests several times and won the first prize for various numbers of the Local Dancing Competitions inter students from Medan Town.

After moving from one rented house to another, our SOS Children’s Villages MEULABOH and BANDA ACEH were finally established. With the sincerity and hard work of the whole team, these two SOS Children’s Villages started to develop and grow bigger. The SOS Children’s Village MEULABOH has 86 children altogether, 44 boys and 42 girls. The SOS Children’s Village BANDA ACEH has 94 children, 52 boys and 42 girls.

The SOS Children’s Villages MEULABOH and BANDA ACEH are located in the Provinces which applies Islam Laws. Therefore, our children here are educated and guided based on the Islam Law and local culture. Everyday before it turns dark, the children will take a bath, change their clothes and go to the SOS- mosque to pray together. The Acehnese children have some unique habits, i.e. shaking hands and putting the hands of mothers, educators, security guards, gardeners and other grown up people on their foreheads or cheeks as a sign of politeness and respectfulness. They will do the same before going to school and when they return home from school.

Events in Banda Aceh, Indonesia

As Moslem families, the SOS Children’s Villages Meulaboh and Banda Aceh will be very busy during Ramadhan and Eidl Fitr. Compared to the Moslems in Java, they have a different ritual called Megang, it is a tradition on eating meats done before the fasting period and before Idul Qurban Day. In the evening, after breaking the fasting, the children will do the “Tarawih” Prayers together at the open meeting hall because the mosque is too small to accommodate all the congregations. The religious duties performed there are always so solemn.

As common in the SOS Children’s Villages, the children are always excited to welcome the fruit season. They will take start harvesting the fruits even though they are not ripe yet. The trees they like to climb are mangosteen, durian or coconut because these are big trees.

Just like other children of the SOS Children’s Villages, apart from going to school, the children have various activities to follow such as sports: Taekwondo, volleyball, football, badminton and table tennis, dancing, drawing, sewing and making handicrafts. Recently, the boys from SOS CV Banda Aceh participated in Taekwondo competitions and won several medals.

Children and staff from the Tsunami Villages as well as us at the National Office wish you all a successful Year of 2009.

Yours sincerely,
SOS DESA TARUNA INDONESIA

Gregor H. Nitihardjo
National Director