Tsunami Relief
Week 8 - Fishermen Back In the Sea |
| Posted by Administrator (admin) on May 08 2006 |
Saturday, 19th February 2005
POHD did some house-keeping today. For a while now, its office at the Penang Diocesan Centre looked like it was also hit by the tsunami! Boxes of all sizes, plastic bags, tapes, scissors and rubbish littered the floors everywhere. The trolley looked like it needed an overhaul and the manual pallet jack definitely needed some greasing. With the help of some volunteers from Lighthouse (a free-meal centre) and POHD staff, the place was put into some resemblance of order. We are going to need the space soon as the orders for more engines and children items start rolling in early next week.
Boxes outside... Boxes inside...
Boxes everywhere!
Friday, 18th February 2005
POHD has been privileged to be assisted by various concerned individuals and organisation around the world in mobilizing relief aid to Aceh.
Chihuahua,
"Quítate Un Peso de Encima"
This town is full of amazing people! They heard about POHD work through a friend's email and decided to support it. One thing led to anotherr and before you know it, the whole of
° Tec de Monterrey
° Centro de Diálogo y Bienestar Humano
° Sociedad de Alumnos de Relaciones Internacionales
° Formación Humana y Compromiso Social. Mtra. R. Ramírez
° Presidencia Municipal
° Instituto de Cultura
° Teatro de la Ciudad
° Consejo Coordinador Empresarial
° Coparmex
° Fundación del Empresariado Chihuahuense
° TV Azteca
° Televisa
° Lobo TV
° El Heraldo
° Tiempo
° La Palabra
° Radio Lobo
° Radiorama
° Banorte Bank. Tec de Monterrey Branch
° Federación Mexicana de Scouts, Grupo 3
° Tecnológico de Chihuahua I
° Impulso
° Jóvenes Unidos para Servir
° Concert musicians:
- Grupo muscial BEANDA
- Soloist-Jesús Juan Martínez
Appeals were made on TV, newspapers and even street corners. A concert was organised too. It was simply superb and in just one month the good people of Chihuahua raised a whopping RM51,072.01 (US13,703.16)! Our heartfelt thanks to all those who worked tirelessly to make this campaign a success. A huge thank you to the generous people of
Los Angelas,
Aceh Valentine Relief
That’s what the campaign in Los Angelas is called as the campaign was launched on Valentines Day. Teachers, parents and students joined forces to collect toys, crayons, color pencils, picture books, dolls, stuffed animals, games and frisbees. These items are for the children of Aceh. So many children were affected by the tsunami and many have fresh memories of devastation and death lingering in their fragile minds. It is hoped that with these generous donations, the children of Aceh will begin to re-live their days of carefree joy again.
The LA team
Thursday, 17th February 2005
Small fish nets, big fish nets, crab nets, prawn nets…so many types of nets! Who would have thought that fishermen needed all these nets to make a decent catch? Well, that exactly what Vincent found out as he spent countless hours by the beach talking to fishermen and their families. He also has the difficult task of ensuring the aid applied for by various individuals reached the most needy ones. It’s a tough and thankless job.
Today, Ishak Mohamed and Lee Teik Tan received new crab nets. A total of 15 nets costing RM555.00 (US146.00) were delivered to them.
Ishak receiving his nets A happy Lee!
Up to date, POHD has received aid applications from 20 fishermen for various items including boats, engines and nets. The Government too is in the process of providing aid to fishermen though it remains to be seen when these promised aid would reach the fishermen. POHD is working closely with the Fishermen Association of Tg. Bungah to ensure there are no overlapping aid distributed. What is most important now is to get these fishermen back into sea as soon as possible.
Going out to sea...
Wednesday, 16th February 2005
Miracles happen and it happned to three lovely sisters from the religious order of Daughters of St. Anne. Sr. Happy and Sr. Grace, both from the Philipinnes and Sr. Marianela form Peru have been actively working in Banda Aceh providing medical assistance at a make shift clinic there. Since Penang was closest to Aceh, they came here on 12th Feb'05 (Saturday) so that they could renew their visas upon re-entry into Aceh. After getting in touch with the local religious community (the only poeple they knew in Penang), they were assigned a volunteer to drive them around Penang who happened to also be a POHD volunteers. One thing led to another and they ended up at our office only to find us well-stocked with medical supplies that they had been short in supply back in Aceh.
The sisters at the Penang Airport
Arrangements were immediately made to box and transport the medical suuplies required by the sisters. POHD transported the aid to the airport with the neccessary documentation. As the sisters checked-in for their flight, there were all smiles. They came to Penang with nothing but went back with a good supply of much needed medical aid. We too were gald to send the aid where it was most needed.
Meanwhille, children are begining to get some attention here. POHD feels children needs are not met well enough at the relief centres in Aceh. With the pictures of devastation and death still fresh in their minds, more needs to be done to help them deal with the mental trauma that these kids have been exposed too.
POHD has decided to purchase 10,000 sets of student marterials and teaching aids consiting of colour pencils, crayons, chalks, rulers, excercise books, sharpeners, scissors, posters, brushes, pens, bags and drawing blocks. It is extimated to cost over RM70,000 (US18,421). This items will go a long way in helping the children rediscover and relive their childhood. Lets keep all these children in our prayers as POHD stives to journey with them in their struggle.
Tuesday, 15th February 2005
Recently POHD received a request to participate in Reconstruction efforts in Banda Aceh. The project was initiated by an NGO called Eye-On-Aceh which has been intrumental in highlighting the plight of the Acehnese people for a while now. They have also been actively involved in the tsunami relief efforts there.
After studying the initial plans, POHD has agreed to construct a 'balai' - a community centre where villagers can come together for various community activities. Such gatherings are common within the Acehnese community. Plans are also underway to build homes too.
On 7th Feb'05 POHD transfered RM39,420 (US10,374) which works out to approximately 90 million ruppiahs. The money which was recieved by Cik Zuherna Bahari of Eye-On-Aceh will be used to purchase contruction materials and paying wages to workers. The villagers would be hired to to build the 'balai' so as to provide them with an opportunity to earn an income.
Word from Nana:
Nana (Forum LSM Aceh)
"dear all friends...
En. Jasmin with his nets
POHD received more quotations for fishing boats today. After negotiating with the supplier, POHD made orders for 7 fishing boats at a cost of RM27,200 (US7,157). POHD also ordered 10 engines of various horsepower costing approximately RM49,000 (US12,894). Delivery is estimated to be two weeks. All these purchases are made after Razak and Vincent complete detailed need analysis of each aid applicant. This analysis included photographs of destroyed fishing equipments and verification of ownership with the Tg. Bungah Fishermen Association’s membership database.
Suzuki Engines
Sunday, 13th February 2005
Vincent visited the fishermen at the shore. He was pleased to see that some of the fishermen who had received the engines on Tuesday were already going out to sea. One of them, Ahmad Ismail who was just returning from the sea with a good catch caught up with Vincent and offered him his catch of giant prawns! Vincent was tempted but politely refused.
Other fishermen were busy placing floats and weights on the nets they had just received yesterday. It was nice to sea the fishermen back to work with the hope of a better life glimmering in their eyes.
Getting ready for sea...
Last changed: May 08 2006 at 12:05 AM
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