Day 1 - 20 October 2008

I began my journey from Glasgow, Scotland, reaching Aceh province in Indonesia this morning.

This afternoon I made the 7km journey from Bande Aceh, the capital of Aceh province in Sumatra, to the village of Leupung Mesjid. There I met 30 young people who told me how their lives have been affected by the aftermath of the Asian tsunami and decades of conflict between the Indonesian government and the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka or Free Aceh Movement (GMA).

SCIAF is working with Caritas Czech Republic’s Traditional Arts Lecturers Organisation (TALO), a trauma therapy project which helps children to overcome their traumatic experiences through counselling and traditional Acehnese art, music and dance.

I was accompanied by Darmansyah and Septina Indrayani, the Field Co-ordinator and Project Manager of TALO. We had to change vehicles along the way when the car we were travelling in got a puncture but when we finally arrived, the girls and boys were waiting for us. They performed three types of traditional Acehnese dance.

The TALO project draws on Acehnese culture to help children affected by conflict and the tsunami to rebuild their lives. Dance classes run for two hours every Monday and the children also benefit from counselling sessions. Their teachers, Yusfarli and Afriyanti told me that the project has given these young people more self confidence. They no longer run away from strangers.

I met ten-year-old Nurhayati who was abused by her mother. When she first started coming to the classes she was very withdrawn and didn’t join in with the activities. But Nurhayati soon became a regular at dance classes. She made friends and slowly began to open up and share her feelings with her teachers. Nurhayati and her mother both had counselling sessions with TALO. The abuse has now stopped and their relationship is much better.

All the children attending the TALO programme have one thing in common – they share a story of trauma and recovery.