The emergency volunteers who stayed to build a community

Elvi Zaharah Siregar teaches at the state vocational school SMK Negeri 1 in Calang, Aceh Jaya. Ten years ago, she was among the first batch of volunteer teachers sent to Aceh after the tsunami. © UNICEF Indonesia / 2014 / Achmadi.  

CALANG, Indonesia, October 2014 – Dian Permata Sari was just six years old when the Indian Ocean tsunami destroyed her home town of Calang, around 100 kilometers south of Banda Aceh on Indonesia’s Sumatra island.

After the huge earthquake on the morning of the 26^th December 2004, Dian’s family saw the seawater receding. They managed to run to the hills before the tsunami hit the shore. The family stayed away from the coast for two days.

“When we came back, all the buildings were destroyed, the trees had been brought down and there were bodies and garbage everywhere,” says Dian, now a serious and articulate 16-year-old girl.

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Just 700 kilometres away in North Sumatra’s capital city of Medan, Elvi Zahara Siregar also felt the earthquake.

As a newly qualified teacher, the 26-year-old was still living with her parents at the time. 

Elvi remembers that day clearly – the earthquake that caused the devastating tsunami in Aceh shook her house in Medan so violently, she couldn’t stand up for five minutes and water in her parents’ aquarium kept splashing over the sides and onto the floor.

Over the following days, she watched television news reports of the havoc that had been wreaked in Aceh province.

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How a volunteer is preventing violence against children at school in Central Java

Erry in one of his group discussion
sessions on violence prevention.
© UNICEF Indonesia/2012.

Preventing violence in schools is complicated and takes a strong vision, specialist knowledge, experience and patience.  UNICEF cannot do this alone and therefore works with the government and local non-government partners (NGOs). An army of volunteers is also playing a hugely important  role.

A fabulous example of this is Erry Pratama Putra – a man of 37 years from Klaten in Central Java, Indonesia. He first became involved with UNICEF six years ago, when he volunteered during the emergency response after the earthquake in Yogyakarta and Klaten.

“It is our responsibility to ensure children are fully protected from all forms of violence, whether at home, in school or in the community. I don’t have anything to offer except my heart, my soul, my mind, my spirit and my idealism to create a decent world for children as their future is entrusted to us today.”