1 JANUARY 2007

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS!

Nearest to the epicentre

SO HERE WE ARE AGAIN IN ACEH, on the northern tip of Sumatra in Indonesia. It’s New Year’s Day, and tomorrow, 2nd January, Haggis and I start our 2nd Performance, Workshops and Games Tour of Aceh for Children’s World International.

 

SINCE THE TSUNAMI hit South East Asia on Boxing Day 2004 Children’s World International has taken several different Performance, Workshops and Games Tours to tsunami-affected children - to Sri Lanka in March, May and November/December 2005, to Thailand in December 2005/January 2006, to Sri Lanka again in March 2006 and to Aceh in April 2006 (diaries of all these Tours plus photographs can be accessed from the Home Page).

 

ACEH PROVINCE WAS THE NEAREST AREA TO THE EPICENTRE of the earthquake that caused the tsunami, and was the area that was hardest hit and suffered most. More than 170,000 died in Aceh Province, and more than half a million were made homeless. When Haggis and I were here in April 2006, rehousing was happening, but it was happening pretty slowly. Since we arrived this time, we have seen a lot more houses, and will be very interested to obtain details about how many have now been rehoused, and, more importantly, how many remain unhoused, living in camps or barracks. I will put these figures into this diary as I discover them.

Catching up on our news

LET ME CATCH YOU UP WITH WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE WE LEFT ENGLAND..........

 

HAGGIS AND I SET OFF FROM HEATHROW at 9pm on Boxing Day (the 2nd Anniversary of the Tsunami) and arrived in Singpaore at 5.50pm on the 27th. We stayed the night in Singapore to get over the worst of our jet-lag, and flew straight on to Medan early the next morning, 28th December.

 

IN MEDAN WE HAD TO FIND AND LIBERATE THE 4,000 BADGE COMPONENTS WE HAD AIR FREIGHTED OUT FROM ENGLAND. Badge-making went down a storm with the Acehnese children during our April 2006 visit and 2,000 badges were made then (basically we prepare cut out the paper circles, the children design and draw their badge centres, and then I make them up on the machine for them). We left our badge machine with Yayasan Lamjabat, a really nice local Charity we worked with in April, (along with our speakers for the shows, facepaints and balloons) as we knew we were going to return to Aceh as soon as time and funds allowed. I decided we should try and enable 4,000 children to make their own badge this time. 4,000 badges weigh more than 40 kilos - and although Children’s World International has been very lucky travelling to different countries with masses of excess luggage in the past, flashing our NGO passes and paying no charges, I had a feeling that this time we should do it legally and not just “wing it”. So air freight was arranged - the badges should have arrived on 22nd December, and here I was trying to find them 6 days later.

Expensive imports

WE ARE EVENTUALLY DIRECTED TO THE CUSTOMS COMPOUND, about a mile away from the Airport. - our taxi isn’t allowed in, so Haggis stays with the taxi and the luggage, and I set off on a half-kilometre walk to the Customs buildings to try and get it all sorted out. It is still before 9.00 am and the office isn’t open yet, so I plonk myself down to wait. Eventually “the Man” arrives - yes, the badges are here - Hooray! But there will be import duty to pay - Booooo!! To my amazement, they want to charge me 2,500,000 rupiahs - I don’t too much mind paying 27.5% duty on the actual cost of the badge components, but they also want to charge me 27.5% duty on the air freight costs and insurance costs, which seems insane. However, argue as I may, the only answer is, “It is procedure!” In actual fact 2,500,000 rupiahs is only about £150, and not the end of the world, but it is irritating nonetheless. I hitch a ride back with the badges to our taxi, and meet up with Haggis who had been getting a little worried about how long I had been (though it was far quicker than the 4 days it took me to liberate Children’s World International’s badges and art and craft materials form Tirana Airport in 1999 prior to our journey overland to Kosovo!).

 

WE HEAD BACK TO THE AIRPORT, buy our tickets and pay another 500,000 rupiahs excess luggage to get the badges on board with us - these are going to be the most expensive badges ever - let’s hope they give a lot of pleasure! We catch the 12.20 flight to Banda and arrive there at 2.00 pm after a very boring flight, as there was thick cloud and we couldn’t see the land below us at all. The only non-boring moment was when we seemed to be about to land and suddenly soared up into the sky again - a bit unnerving as we knew there were mountains ahead of us, but we landed safely on the second attempt.

Our hotel

WE TAKE A TAXI TO THE GREEN PARADISE HOTEL, on the South-West outskirts of Banda Aceh. When we were here in April we heard rumours about this lovely, reasonably priced hotel with a pool. We were staying in a boring, not very nice hotel in the centre of town and absolutely longed for a pool to cool ourselves in between our early morning and late afternoon shows, but we simply couldn’t find it until the last day when a guy at the UN gave us directions. It looked really nice and a double room cost only 200,000 rupiahs (£12 roughly) a night rather than the 500,000 rupiahs (£30 roughly) a night we were paying in the middle of town - we determined to book in there next time. We got some friends out here to book ahead for us, in early December, as it is apparently always booked out with NGO’s as it is such a great place to stay. We were really looking forward to getting there and unpacking, but when we arrived, to our horror, they had never heard of us! Our hearts sank to our boots - what on earth had gone wrong? But luckily (and, apparently, completely unusually) there did prove to be a room available - and our hearts soared again!

 

IT’S A SMALLISH ROOM, and we have a lot of luggage and show props and workshop materials, so we are quite cramped - but there are flowers and palm trees outside and a big, communal outdoor building with tea and coffee-making facilities, iced water, a huge television, tables and sofas, leading to a decent-sized pool. We unpack and have a cooling dip in the pool, then Haggis flakes out for a bit and has a sleep while I catch up with the emails - yes, there is even internet connection in the bedroom, which will make all the difference to my life out here - in April I had to trek out to what were euphemistically called “Internet Cafe”s but were in truth tiny, cramped, swelteringly hot cubicles where I would crouch and swear as I was disconnected time after time, dripping sweat onto the keybaord!

Local food

A VERY ACHENESE DINNER (rice, 3 prawns and a searingly hot spinachy sauce) and early to bed. I slept like a log till 4.30 am and then got all my email stuff out of the way and worked on a big funding application from Children’s World to the Fairbairn Foundation which has to be sent off very soon for a very exciting new Light Beam to Sound we hope to undertake in special schools in the South of England in February and March.

 

SATURDAY 30TH DECEMBER - early make-your-own-breakfast and then catch a becak into town to do some get money and do some vital shopping. (Becaks are small 2-seater sit-ins attached to a motor bike - we fit snugly, with hips welded together, which actually helps protect one from the jolts on the uneven roads.) First of all we buy a simcard for my mobile phone, and a phone card, so that we have an Indonesian phone number and cheap calls. All the banks are shut as there are Muslim holidays till Tuesday 2nd January, so we join a long queue outside the ATM cubicles.

Multitasking

WE RING MUSLIM AID while we are in the queue, and ask if we can go and see them to go through the timetable they have arranged. They tell us to come as soon as we have done our ATM transactions. So another becak out to the Muslim Aid Headquarters, where we are greeted by all the staff who were so kind to us in April, setting up lots of shows for us in dayas, camps and barracks - we are incredibly grateful to them for doing the same this time. Fadlullah Wilmott, Muslim Aid’s very charismatic chief, is in Java, but everything has been beautifully arranged by Farid and Marhaban - they have managed to fill most all of our afternoon sessions, and we make arrangements to meet them on 2nd January for the trip up to Sigli, 2 hours drive from Banda Aceh, where we will be doing shows, games and workshops at Muslim Aid venues for 5 days at the start of the Tour. On the morning of the 8th Farid and Marhaban are going to take us round all the Banda Aceh venues they have set up, so that we can ensure it is alright for us to use the Balais (communal open-sided meeting halls where religious meetings and other community events take place, and where we generally do the show when visiting barracks), check that there is electricity, shade for workshops and see if we can find any adults who might like to help us. One of the secretaries creeps up to me and asks whether Haggis would do a show for Muslim Aid staff, so we arrange to go and do one at the office after the reconnoitring on the 8th.

Weak at the joints

Back to the middle of town in a particularly narrow and uncomfortable becak, and have a quick lunch before heading for the only supermarket - we buy coffee, water, isotonic drinks (essential for Haggis after his shows as he sweats out at least 2 pints per show), calculator (essential for converting prices - there are roughly 17,000 rupiahs to the English Pound, and dealing in millions of rupiahs it is very easy to make big mistakes!), a sturdy bag for the badge machine and components, plasters, paper and felt pens for badge-making, etc. The third floor of the supermarket, which houses all the non-food bits and bobs, is boiling hot, and we eventually emerge sweating like piglets and feeling rather weak at the knees.

 

We catch another becak back to Green Paradise (about 20 minutes away from the centre of town), with me and all the shopping in the side car bit and Haggis clinging on for dear life behind the motor cycle driver. (These journeys, though not particularly fast, are quite alarming as the becak drivers have a great propensity for 3-point turns, and actually driving the wrong way down the roads to get to where they want to get to!) People think we are very funny - and there are endless shouts and smiles and waves as we make our less-than-royal way back to the hotel. The Acehnese really are very friendly, lovely people, and very welcoming - our reception in April was even more welcoming than our times in Sri Lanka and Thailand.

 

Have another go at the internet, but it doesn’t want to work - maybe because there are too many people on it, maybe because of the big earthquake in Taiwan that has apparently damaged some cables. It certainly seems easier early in the morning before everyone else is awake - it's lucky that I am an early riser!

Receiving a briefing

We take Linda North and her Acehnese husband Adi out to a Chinese dinner - lots of lovely fish with garlic and ginger, and prawns, and a stunning spinach dish. We met Linda when we were here in April - she has lived here 12 years and runs a wonderful small Charity called Yayasan Lamjabat - she was running a Children’s Centre and bussed in 200 children from camps and barracks each afternoon for different activities. We did a show and badge-making and parachute games there, and also at a barracks she took us to in April, and she has set up 2 shows for us again this time. When the whole Tour looked as though it might fall to pieces a few weeks ago, Linda was incredibly supportive in trying to get herself and Muslim Aid and the Red Cross (who have also set up some gigs for us) together. She and Ady give us a general briefing - houses are being built, but there are all sorts of problems - some of the large agencies seem to be spending huge percentages of their income on administration, corruption is rife, materials are inferior, labour is fairly unskilled and there are still many, many to be rehoused.

Red face

In the middle of our dinner, a nice Japanese lady comes over to speak to Linda. Linda introduces her and I understand Linda to say that she runs a restaurant - “Oh, wonderful!”, I say, “We really LOVE Japanese food! Fantastic! Do you have a card?” The lady seems rather amazed by my enthusiasm and scurries away to bring me a card, then disappears. To my horror, she is nothing to do with a Japanese restaurant at all, but is with the Japanese Red Cross! I feel such a prat! I am completely deaf in my right ear (I had mumps when I was 30 and the virus escaped into my ear and made it nerve-dead) and live in terror of making boo-boos of this sort (one of my best was at a loud party when someone said something to me, and I said, “How nice!” and it turned out she had told me that her grandmother had just died!) Hey ho!

 

Linda and Adi drive us back to Green Paradise and we unload all the Children’s World International equipment we left with them at the end of April - a 9m parachute and a 7m parachute for games, 2 speakers/amplifiers for the shows, the badge machine, some modelling balloons and some facepaints (neither Haggis nor I are any good at facepainting, but sometimes one finds venues where there are artistic mothers who are eager to help).

Festivals

The next day was 30th December and we headed to the Island of Pulua Weh. We had hoped to start working in Banda as soon as we arrived, but Hari Mueng and Eid Festivals make that impossible - so, having achieved all we need to achieve in Aceh for the moment, we decide to go to the Island on the 4.00 ferry. First (after more early work on the Internet and more work on the funding application to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation) we cut out the circles for 300 of the 4,000 badges and draw inner circles in them (the children then draw in the inner circle so that they don’t lose part of their design when the badge is made up and the paper curls round the side of the badge) and put the pins into 300 badge backs. We won’t get back from the island until the morning of the 2nd and then need to set straight off to Sigli, so it is important to get ahead and make some now - at least enough to cover our first couple of workshop sessions.

 

We set off by taxi for the ferry good and early, as we want to be sure of getting seats - because of the holidays, the ferry will be very full. We are recognised at the Port as Haggis did an impromtu show here in April while waiting for the ferry - and while I have a cup of coffee and a fried banana he takes his colourful hats out and entertains again.

A rough sea

The sea is pretty rough, and the ferry ride to Sabang takes 90 minutes rather than the normal 45 minutes - bang, bang, bang we go through the waves. We keep a firm eyen on the life-jackets and work out how we would escape from the cabin were we to capsize! Glad to reach dry land at last. Lots of people on the Sabang Pier recognise Haggis and his colourful hats from our previous visits, and people seem very pleased to see us again, which is lovely. Mr. Fer, who drove us to a lot of our Pulua Weh shows in April turns up and is very welcoming. We make arrangements for him to meet us and take us to our shows on the island on 9th and 10th January.

 

Our friends Ton and Marjann from the Lumba Lumba Dive Shop have very kindly booked us a room at the Laguna Resort (£12 a night for a basic but nice double bedroom with separate sitting area and bathroom - well, squatter loo and tank with water scoop with which to drench yourself), which is just as well as every room at Gapang is booked because of the holidays.

 

Dinner on the beach and an early night.

Who pays?

(So that you don’t think we are just having a holiday, I need to make it clear that Haggis and I are paying for our flights to Australia and back - where I am going to visit my son and then we are both attending a Circus Festival in Tasmania that Haggis will be performing and teaching at. Children’s World International is just paying for our flights from Singapore to Medan to Banda to Medan and back to Singapore, which only come to about £200 each. We will get a living allowance to cover accommodation and food and internal travel on days we are working, but we will be covering all our expenses on days that we are not working. This makes it very cheap to run a Tour, and we hope to use performers who are already travelling from England to Australia (or vice versa) for future Tours if we can raise some more funds.)

 

Yesterday was New Year’s Eve, and we were “on holiday” at Gapang Beach. More work on the Fairbairn funding application and writing this diary and then a scuba dive. We haven’t dived since we were here in April and it was lovely to be back in the water again, despite that the visibility wasn’t brilliant because of the rough weather. Dinner on the beach and early bed - too tired to see the New Year in, but happy 2007 wishes to all our family and friends - and indeed everyone - may the New Year bring us all much joy!

New Year's Day

Breakfast on the beach this New Year’s Day. The weather leaves a lot to be desired - it is a bit grey and gloomy, but hey, we’re not complaining. Haggis has just been for a dive while I caught this diary up to date, and in about half an hour we are off to dive together - apparently there are lots of devil rays around - hopefully we will see some!

 

Tomorrow we catch the morning ferry back to Banda Aceh. Hags will go into town to try and find superglue (for fixing his clubs and my collapsing tooth) and an extension cable and I will go straight to Green Paradise to repack all our stuff. We are being picked up at 11.30 by Muslim Aid and driven to Sigli to start our Tour with our first show at 4.15 pm. Before we leave Green Paradise, I will try to get onto the internet (which was hopelessly difficult from the island) and email the information for the Fairbairn funding application to my wonderful assistant Chris, who will be returning to work at Chfildren’s World’s Glastonbury office tomorrow after her Christmas/New Year break, and I will also try to get this diary live and online on the web page in case there is anyone out there who wants to read it.

Hello! Is anyone there?

I never know if anyone is reading the diary - sometimes it feels as though I am just sending it off to the ethernet and that there is no one there. If there IS anyone there, do drop us a line and say “Hi!” You can always reach us (well, when the internet is working!) at

 

I append a current copy of our timetable - it’s looking good - we have 28 definite gigs, and hopefully 5 more. Very much looking forward to our first gig tomorrow near Sigli. I’ll write again soon and let you know how it goes and put up some photographs! Best wishes to all! Arabella.

 

FOR ALL NGO's: CHILDREN'S WORLD INTERNATIONAL'S PERFOMANCE, GAMES AND WORKSHOP TOUR

WHICH WILL BE RUNNING IN ACEH DURING JANUARY 2007

 

(Juggling Comedy Show (40 minutes, audiences of up to 400), Badge-Making (up to 150 children at a time if someone available to help us), Juggling Workshop (up to 30 children at a time) and Large-Scale Parachute Games (up to 50-60 children at a time) for tsunami-affected children (and their families). Sessions should be early morning and/or late afternoon, and shade is required for both CWI and children! Electricity wherever possible, so we can play the sound track to Haggis's show. A translator for any shows, games and workshops would be a huge advantage wherever possible, as then we can achieve much more - and help with transport would be much appreciated wherever possible. Help with badge-making workshops also very welcome as it gets hectic!)

 

28 DECEMBER-2 JANUARY

On 28th December Arabella Churchill & Haggis McLeod of Children's World International arrive and settle into Green Paradise Hotel in Banda Aceh, where they will be based most of the time until 29 January when they leave Aceh. (Hotel telephone 0852 600 14185 & 0651 741 1554; Bella and Haggis's local mobile - 0812 694 7415, and we can almost always be reached by Email at bellachurchill@hotmail.com).

 

We will spend 28 December-30 December having briefing meetings with Muslim Aid and Yayasan Lamjabat, buying various materials we need, preparing beanbags & badge components and rehearsing the shows. Because it is then Hari Meugang and Eid, we realise that nobody is likely to want to book shows or sessions during that period, we are going to Pulua Weh to dive between the afternoon of 30th December and 1st January and run more rehearsals, before our journey to Sigli for Muslim Aid which starts on 2nd January.

 

Most of our dates have already been arranged, through the kindness and good services of Muslim Aid and Yayasan Lamjabat (both of whom we worked with on our first Aceh Tour in April 2006) and the Red Cross, but you will see that there are just a few remaining sessions available on our current timetable (the mornings of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th January in Sigli, and the mornings of 18th, 20th, 22nd and 27th January in Banda). We would very much like to fill these available sessions, so that we use our time in Aceh usefully and reach as many children as possible. The show is really good, and workshops can also be run when there is the right sort of number of children and the situation is controllable enough.

 

IF YOUR ORGANISATION WOULD LIKE TO BOOK ONE OF THE REMAINING AVAILABLE SESSIONS, PLEASE SEND ME A MESSAGE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO bellachurchill@hotmail.com or ring me on 0812 694 7415.

 

We will have to operate on a first come-first served basis. As soon as an organisation books a specific date, I will update the timetable and then re-circulate it around everyone, so they can see what dates still remain.

 

As long as there is shade available, we can work in schools, dayas, camps, barracks or any centres where there are a reasonable number of children. We do hope that your organisation will wish to book a show/session for the children you work with. If you DO want to book one, please get in touch really soon, as we expect the available dates to go pretty fast.

 

With best wishes,

 

Arabella Churchill,

Children's World International.

 

 

ANY DATES/TIMES MARKED AVAILABLE

ARE UP FOR GRABS. Please contact us soon

if you would like to reserve one!

No charge!

Lots of fun for children and families!

Do help us to fill our gaps if you can!

Our Itinerary

 

THIS IS THE CURRENT TOURING ITINERARY

FOR CHILDREN'S WORLD INTERNATIONAL

(as of 05.00 Aceh time, 14 January 2007)

 

 

TUESDAY 2 JANUARY:

Drive to Sigli

SESSION at Sigli, Cot Lureng, Trieng Gadeng for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

WEDNESDAY 3 JANUARY:

SESSION at Tanjung Harapan) for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

THURSDAY 4 JANUARY:

SESSION at Barak Lhong Paru, Trieng Gadeng for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

FRIDAY 5 JANUARY:

SESSION at Barak Desa Mbeu, Trieng Gadeng for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

SATURDAY 6 JANUARY:

AVAILABLE MORNING SHOW/SESSION IN OR NEAR SIGLI

SESSION in Sigli, for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

Drive back to Banda Aceh

 

SUNDAY 7 JANUARY:

SESSION at Australian Red Cross TLC, Lhong Raya Stadium, 10.00-11.45

SESSION at Kindergarten in Banda Aceh for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

MONDAY 8 JANUARY

Morning - Visit all Muslim Aid venues with Farid and/or Marhaban

Afternoon ferry to Pulua Weh, and staying there till morning 12th January

 

TUESDAY 9 JANUARY:

On the island of Pulua Weh

SESSION on Sabang at SMA Dua, Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

WEDNESDAY 10 JANUARY:

On the island of Pulua Weh

SESSION on Sabang, at Iboih for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

THURSDAY 11 JANUARY:

On the island of Pulua Weh - R & R

 

FRIDAY 12 JANUARY:

Return from Pulua Weh to Banda Aceh on the early morning ferry

SESSION at Lampasi Engking around Banda for Muslim Aid,

16.15-18.00

 

SATURDAY 13 JANUARY:

SESSION at Junior High School in Tungkop, Darussalam in the morning for the Irish Red Cross

SESSION at Barracks Cadek in Banda for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

 

SUNDAY 14 JANUARY:

SESSION at Australian Red Cross TLC, Cot Cut, Kuta Baro

10.00-11.45

SESSION at Leupung housing, Riting, for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

MONDAY 15 JANUARY:

5.00 am start to drive down to inspect the houses

that Ides Charity is building with Glastonbury Festival funding.

SESSION at Aloe Ambang in the afternoon for Ides Charity

 

TUESDAY 16 JANUARY:

In Aloe Ambang inspecting houses

SESSION in Teunom in the afternoon for Ides

 

WEDNESDAY 17 JANUARY:

Drive 7 hours back to Banda

SESSION for Yayasan Kanaivasu in the late afternoon

 

THURSDAY 18 JANUARY:

AVAILABLE FOR SHOW/SESSION IN THE MORNING

Morning session now taken by YULFRITA'S ORPHAN SCHOOL

SESSION for Yayasan Lamjabat in the late afternoon

 

FRIDAY 19 JANUARY:

SESSION at TK Aisyah, Ulee Kareng, Banda Aceh - Muslim Aid, 9.00-10.00

SESSION at Barracks Asrama Raider, Banda Aceh - Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

SATURDAY 20 JANUARY:

AVAILABLE FOR SHOW/SESSION IN THE MORNING

This morning session now taken by another Irish Red Cross school

SESSION for Yayasan Lamjabat in the late afternoon

 

SUNDAY 21 JANUARY:

SESSION with Youth off the Streets in the morning

SESSION at Daya Darul Aitam Seulimum, Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

MONDAY 22 JANUARY:

AVAILABLE FOR MORNING SHOW/SESSION IN BANDA

Take the afternoon ferry to Pulua Weh

SESSION at Sabang, Balohan Temporary Shelter for Muslim Aid 16.15-18.00

 

TUESDAY 23 JANUARY-THURSDAY 25 JANUARY:

R & R on Pulua Weh

NO SHOWS/SESSIONS DURING THIS PERIOD

 

FRIDAY 26 JANUARY:

Early morning ferry back from Pulua Weh

SESSION at Barrack Blang Krueng. Banda Aceh for Muslim Aid 16.15-18.00

 

SATURDAY 27 JANUARY:

AVAILABLE SESSION/SHOW IN BANDA IN THE MORNING

SESSION at Barrack Bakoy in Banda for Muslim Aid, 16.15-18.00

 

SUNDAY 28 JANUARY:

SESSION at Australian Red Cross TLC, along Lamnyong/Kreung Aceh riverside, Banda Aceh, 10.00-11.45

SESSION at Barrack Lamhasan in Banda for Muslim Aid,

16.15-18.00

 

FLY OUT OF BANDA MONDAY 29 JANUARY

 

As of 05.00 GMT 14 January 07:

 

28 sessions booked - Now 30, with the addition of the Irish Red Cross second school and Yulfrita's orphan school

 

4 morning sessions still available in or near Sigli: These were not taken up, but actually we needed the time to prepare badges, so it is just as well there were spare mornings!

 

4 morning sessions still available in Banda Aceh: Now only 2 left which we probably need for admin.

 

IN THE END WE MANAGED 33 SESSIONS!