I may be the only person in the state of Indiana who has been to the area most hard-hit by the Tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. The northern-most province of Indonesia, known as Aceh, is not visited by too many people. In fact, the land had been closed to outsiders for about 2-3 years. I feel if people hear more about the place that got hit the hardest, they will be more likely to give money and maybe even one day go themselves.
Aceh is clearly the hardest hit in the disaster. The province has had 80 percent of its land totally wiped out. So far 80,000 of the 140,000 dead are from Aceh. However, people there estimate that maybe 1/4 of the population will be found dead or will later die from this disaster. That is about 1 million people! Imagine all of Indianapolis' population being wiped out! Even worse, 25 percent of an entire culture would be gone! That would be like 80 million Americans dying. It is catastrophic when you think about it.
Aceh is known as the Window to Mecca. Few people realize that Indonesia is the largest populated muslim country in the world. Aceh is the province that Islam entered southeast Asia. It is also the most strictly Islamic law area of all of Indonesia. For that and many other reasons, the Acehnese have been fighting for independence from the Indonesian government for many years. The fighting had become so bad that all foreigners had been kicked out.
I went to Aceh in the summer of 2000. I went there on an unofficial mission trip. I lived in the capital city of Banda Aceh that so many of you have seen on the news. I have seen satellite images of streets I walked on devastated as if atomic bombs were dropped. Markets I shopped in are wiped out, homes I visited are no more, and friends I made -- some are surely dead.
What can you do? If you pray, then pray for Aceh as well as the other areas hit. Pray for the many workers who are now allowed back in to help. And please give. Give to the Red Cross or give to the disaster relief effort on www.imb.org. I know that site gives 100 percent of money given to disaster relief to the disaster relief.
If you want to know more about Aceh, feel free to e-mail me at bcmguy@hotmail.com.
Paul Matthew Cooper
Adjunct Staff
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