UNITED IN DIVERSITY

United in Diversity forum in Bali

Building Trust for Our Common Future
6 - 8 December 2003, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia. The UID Conference in Bali, December 2003.

To make monetary donations, please use the following account details:
United In Diversity
Bank Ganesha
JL.HAYAM WURUK NO 28 JAKARTA
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For US or Canada donors on tax-deductible contributions, please email:
Gina Darmawan
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POST-TSUNAMI RELIEF AND RECONSTRUCTION WORKS

Shortly after the Asian tsunami happened last December, UID joined the international community and everyone else in extending a helping hand to Indonesian victims and their families in affected areas.

While the International community can and must help, it is essential that aid reaches the people most in need and that the aid fits with a strategy that has longer-term impacts. However well-intentioned, brave, and vital in the short run they may be, relief workers cannot make the kind of long-term commitment that is needed to help rebuild and sustain local economies, communities, and institutions.

What is more, the eyes of the world were on Indonesia last December. But, alas, the camera has moved on. Therefore, UID’s response to this crisis is to work with international and Indonesian partners, the Government of Indonesia, and professional agencies to invest in developing local capacity, i.e., victims and families who remain in tsunami-affected areas after the relief helicopters are gone, so that they can rebuild their homes, livelihoods, and futures.

ACEH
With its energy and access to Indonesian society, UID worked with a number of its partners in the months following the Asian tsunami to provide food, water, medical supplies, and other immediate logistics to victims and their families in Aceh—the area worst hit by this disaster.

Our partners include:
- Conservation International (CI);
- Tzu Chi Foundation;
- For a Drug-free Indonesia Foundation (YCAB);
- Telesindo; and
- Asian Medical Students?Association (AMSA).

Eight months later, UID is currently exploring with Out of Asia, as initiated by its founder Warwick Purser, the feasibility of a project aimed at making handicraft products using local materials in labor and exporting them to other parts of the world. Modeled after Out of Asia’s success in central Java, UID hopes that this joint project will help create and sustain livelihoods in communities that have been affected during the tsunami.

NIAS
Just when the world seemed to have forgotten about the Asian tsunami, an 8.7 magnitude earthquake hit Nias and Simeulue, two small islands off Aceh, Indonesia, on 28 March.

As it had done shortly after the Asian tsunami took place last December, UID, which has been coordinating relief and reconstruction works for Nias, sent volunteers, food, water, medical supplies and logistical aid to victims of the earthquake of 28 March right after it happened.

Moreover, since last December, UID has been collaborating with its key partner YCAB to provide relief and reconstruction services to the people of Nias. Together, the two partners have launched a project under the name Delasiga Cinta Anak Bangsa (DCAB).

Made possible with the generosity of Monaco Asia Society, this project has been designed not only to relieve victims and their families in Nias of immediate losses and pains caused by the Asian tsunami and earthquakes, but also to help them recover from these tragedies and—most importantly—rebuild their lives, homes and communities.

Working with international donors and local partners, UID has thus far built and moved 50 families into 50 new homes in Sirombu village, Nias. UID aims to reach a total of 239 houses, one school and one clinic. We have also given out 60 fishing boats, one vessel, and 60 sets of fishing equipments to villagers in Sirombu, as our way to help them rebuild a sustainable life.

We are delighted to share that the homes in the Monaco Complex were the first ones that Indonesian tsunami and earthquake victims could move in after living in tents for months—before those in Aceh did in September.

Also, we are working with University of Monaco to provide a long-term program of educational assistance scholarships, teacher training, meals, uniforms, books, and other schooling needs to the community in Sirombu.

Finally, UID is conducting a feasibility of building a production plant of virgin coconut oil (or VCO) in Sirombu and Hinako, both in Nias. If succeeded, this project would contribute more income to local villagers in these areas and, thereby, improve their livelihoods.