REPORT BY PP. IAN HOWDEN ON VISIT TO INDONESIA AND DISCUSSIONS ABOUT THE
GAMPONG ANAK PROJECT WITH ROTARY DISTRICT 3400 TSUNAMI DISASTER
MANAGEMENT TASK FORCE AND SOS CHILDREN’S VILLAGES JULY 2005
Present at the meeting In Jakarta were:
DG D3400 Rodolfo Balmater TDM Treasurer
PDG Osman Aman TDM Vice Chairman and Field Operations Director
PDG Mark Wong Sec./Treas. Of the Indonesia National Committee for TRF Solidarity in S.E.AsiaFund
SOS National Director Hadiyanto Nitihardjo
PP Asri Kerthyasa TDM Field Operations Coordinator
PP Ian Howden Chairman Turramurra Rotary Club Tsunami Relief Committee.
DG Rudy and PDG Mark were present for an update brief and then had to attend another Rotary function.
Their presence and support is appreciated.
Background
What is the Gampong Anak project and who are TDM and SOS? and where does Turramurra Rotary Club
fit in.?
Gampong Anak is a children’s village of 15 homes, a vocational centre, clinic and community centre,
kindergarten, mosque, and a library and activities centre planned to be built in Banda Aceh. It will provide
homes for 150 orphans of the tsunami, 25 mothers and other staff, and facilities for young people of the wider
community who need an anchor as they redevelop after the horrors of the tsunami.
TDM is the Rotary District 3400 Tsunami Disaster Management Task Force assembled to channel the flow of
worldwide Rotary support to the niches where Rotary talent and finance can be most effective. TDM was
established by Immediate Past Governor, Tjetje Sjamsu, and the team includes the current Governor, and a
selection of past Governors and presidents who are devoted to a long-term commitment to tsunami victim’s
relief.
SOS Children’s Villages Indonesia is part of the largest private children’s organisation in the world. They
operate, 1500 facilities in 131 countries, all financed by charity. More than 250,000 children benefit from the
various residential, educational, and development programmes worldwide. SOS Have 5 villages in Indonesia
with a well organised central management in Bandung. The National Director of SOS, Mr Hadi Nitihardjo, is a
Rotarian of long standing.
SOS originally was an abbreviated Latin phrase, which has no specific meaning in the current organisation.
Turramurra Rotary Club was offered a donation of US$ 300,000 by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to
find and develop a project of lasting benefit to people affected by the tsunami. The RC of Turramurra formed a
committee of appropriately qualified Rotarians who considered a number of projects in Sri Lanka and
Indonesia. Gampong Anak was chosen because it best fitted Rotary capabilities and enabled the best control
of the finances. The project has potential to grow into a great programme involving RAWCS and Rotary
Districts and clubs throughout Australia.
The time was ripe to visit Indonesia to meet the TDM and SOS management. The objective was to consolidate
a beneficial and lasting relationship for a project to which we could confidently invite Rotary Clubs and Districts
throughout Australia to support.
The Opportunity
Banda Aceh was a city of 800,000 people when the tsunami struck. Many villages and towns along the North
Sumatra coast were also destroyed, some with complete loss of life. The number of people directly affected
amount to over 2 million. Identified loss of life is 180,000 people but total loss of life is estimated to be greater
than 250,000.
Compare these figures with the populations of Perth 1,180,000, Adelaide 1,000,000, Wollongong 230,000 and
Newcastle 280,000.
North Sumatra was undoubtedly the worst affected area by the tsunami in the whole of the Indian Ocean.
Where do you start to help so many people who are now living in camps, and who can see no future for
themselves.?
The answer has to be to identify something within our capabilities and make it happen as quickly as possible
and with lasting effects.
The Gampong Anak Project gives Rotary Australia an opportunity to build buildings of lasting benefit, use local
labour for construction, and local staff trained to rebuild broken lives.
Because the project allows us to be involved for 5 years, or longer if we wish, there will be many opportunities
to do the Rotary things such as understanding the culture of our next-door neighbour.
District 3400 work done and in progress
SOS has already built 24 houses in Meulaboh, Rotary Clubs in District 3400 are working independently in
cooperation with overseas Rotary Clubs undertaking several projects with values ranging from US$10,000 to
more than US$100,000.
The Rotary Foundation have donated US$1.5 million
The Canadian Rotary Committee for International Development (CRCID) have donated US$1.0 million
Pledges and commitments from other Overseas Rotary Clubs amount to US$1.0 million
TDM have already built a community Youth Centre in Meulaboh and established a radio station that
broadcasts 8 hours a day, and they will extend the broadcast time to 24 hours a day.
Plans are being prepared for a Rotary Youth Centre providing dormitories for university students and others in
Banda Aceh.
It is appropriate that I quote from District Governor Rudy Balmater’s July monthly newsletter.
“ With such large sums of money involved, the integrity and the good reputation of Rotary must surely be our
primary concern. In the execution of the above projects we strongly encourage Rotary Clubs and the TDM to
adopt and adhere to a responsible Governance System that will have absolute transparency and accountably
firmly in place. Suffice to say that it is expected that regularly publishing financial reports, in respect to sources
of money (list of donors and their contributions) and the detail applications of money for the project is
compulsory. This effort would ensure that there will be no abuse or misappropriation of the funds and would go
a long way in upholding the integrity and goodwill of D3400 and win the respect and confidence of donors to
continue to provide funding for our community projects in the future.”
Current Position with Gampong Anak
Final plans for Stage 1 (the 15 residential buildings) are in the process of being approved and tenders are
expected to be called in the last week in July. Construction will be commenced in September and completed 8
months later.
Phase 2 will be commenced in July 2006 when phase 1 has been completed.
Lists of potential children for the homes have been compiled and potential mothers have been identified. The
mother’s credentials will be carefully screened before they are selected and commence 3 months training.
We had previously been advised that we would be allocated 2 of the 15 homes and support these for 5 years.
Other donors have been allocated 14 of the 15 homes but have not committed to any support. Hadi advised
that most donors are willing to pay for a building, on which a plaque of recognition is displayed, but are
reluctant to commit to on-going support. This leaves us with only one house.
I advised that we are firmly committed to one house and to 5 years support for that house.
Hadi asked if we would commit to support of the other 14 houses. I suggested that Rotary Australia could
make a more useful contribution building and supporting part of phase 2. I promised to ask our Turramurra
committee and RAWCS if they would support appealing to Rotary Clubs and Districts in Australia to raise
A$1.5 million for the building of the Vocational centre, the clinic and community centre, and the library and
activity centre and support these for 5 years.
My reasoning behind this is first that Rotary Australia has Rotarians with talents appropriate to all of the
centres who would be willing to help during the 5-year support period and beyond, and that these centres are
for the use of the wide community of Banda Aceh involving many people.
Also, the finance for one home is already available and the finance necessary to build the centres would not
be required until July 2006. This will give RAWCS time to solicit the clubs throughout Australia for support in
giving their tsunami money to the project.
If more money was available, we could also add the director’s house and the administration building. The
building of the kindergarten has already been committed by another donor.
Accurate costs of the 3 centres in which I expressed interest will not be known until tenders are let, but
estimates based on the other 5 similar centres in Indonesia are:
Construction Cost
Vocational Training centre
Equipment
US$
55,600
23,000
Library, Computer and activities centre
Equipment
Furniture
Books
Computers
45,000
11,000
6,000
4,000
4,000
Clinic and social centre
Equipment
Furniture
45,000
12,000
5,000
The family home to which we are already committed will cost US$ 41,000 without furniture and utensils
Transport and admin costs during construction
and opening ceremony
28,000
Operating costs for 5 years
1 home
Vocational Training centre
Library Computer and Activities building
Clinic and social centre
20% contingency
Total value
85,000
67,000
25,000
140,000
119,320
US$715,920
=
A$1,022,743
Director’s house and Admin building to which I did not express interest would be US$ 25,000 and 51,000
respectively to construct.
Financial Arrangements
TDM will nominate a member of their committee to check the accounts submitted by SOS prior to forwarding to
the Turramurra Tsunami Committee.
SOS have appointed Ernst and Young as their auditors
TDM have appointed Ernst and Young as their auditors
The following procedures were discussed and all parties agreed to obtain approval for these procedures from
respective boards of control and committees.
During construction stage, SOS will request an advance with justification to the TDM representative.
TDM will sign approval before forwarding to The Turramurra committee acting on behalf of RAWCS.
Turramurra will approve and send to RAWCS who will send the money direct to SOS.
With each subsequent request for finance, SOS will account for expenditure of the previous advance, the
accounts and advance request will be scrutinised by TDM and Turramurra before sending to RAWCS for
payment of the advance.
Operating costs of the committed units will be estimated by SOS on a quarterly basis.
SOS will send the estimates through TDM to Turramurra who will send to RAWCS for direct payment to SOS.
At the end of each quarter, SOS will send actual expenditure accounts for scrutiny by TDM and Turramurra.
On approval, RAWCS will send the next quarterly advance direct to SOS.
Areas of assistance beyond financing
A number of areas where Australian Rotarians might be able to assist were discussed so that TDM are aware
of our capabilities. The items which interested most were bed nets for malaria and DIK items. For both of these
I suggested that it is important that TDM have a pipeline through Indonesian Customs before we would export
to them. Osman Aman has agreed to follow this up.
I gave them the contact of Rotarians Against Malaria and suggested that when they have specific items they
require that they contact me and I will check with DIK in Australia.
SOS encourages the involvement of sponsors and there will certainly be opportunities for Australians to help
when the buildings are complete.
Visit to Desa Taruna, Tabanan, with Asri Kerthyasa
Tabanan is a town in Bali approximately one and a half hours drive from Denpasar. SOS has one of the 5
Children’s villages in Indonesia at this township.
The Children’s village has 12 houses, 120 children who have been orphaned or abandoned, 4 staff members,
and 12 mothers. For the greater community they also have a kindergarten attended by 60 children, and an
activity centre which includes a computer room with 6 computers. The paintings done by young people at the
activity centre were most impressive. There is also an administration building and Directors house. This village
has been running for 15 years and their next stage is to build a home for mothers who have reached retiring
age, and not able to look after 10 children.
They are fortunate in having 6 hectares of land space. This enables them to have a full soccer field and a half
field, two badminton courts and a playground for the kindergarten. The houses are of exposed brick and are
well spaced out in extensive grounds.
They have an immediate problem with the reticulated water which is suitable only for washing. There is one
water tank for each two houses for drinking water.
One of the staff and a group of boys met us on arrival and a group of girls with their home mothers prepared
and served us with refreshments. The demeanor of the children and staff was most impressive and the
children displayed confidence which belied the tragic circumstances which led to them life in the village. They
had all come as either orphans or abandoned children. If their parents or a parent is alive, they must relinquish
any further rights to bringing up the children, before the village will accept them..
The sporting prowess of some children is considerable. One girl had won a gold medal for 10,000 metres in
the Asian Games in Vietnam. Many had done well in athletics competitions at Denpasar, and their soccer skills
had brought them many trophies which were proudly displayed in the Administration building. The boys
delighted in showing off their soccer skills which were considerable.
The home mothers showed us through their homes and introduced us to their children who were always well
mannered. The homes were all well kept and tidy, and the mothers were obviously very proud of the homes
and their children.
When they reach an age when they have a good education and can work, SOS ensure that they have a
steady job before they go out to live in an SOS youth hostel. We were proudly told that this village has
produced 6 nurses, a teacher, a soldier and many other very good careers. In the society in which they live,
and the background from which they came, this is a wonderful achievement. It speaks well of the careful
selection and training that SOS put into their staff.
Recommendation
Words cannot express the huge need for tender loving care in Aceh.
Discussing progress, procedures and other detail with SOS management and the District 3400 TDM, and
visiting a village similar to the planned village in the tsunami area of Aceh has given me the ability to approach
RAWCS and Rotary Clubs and Districts in Australia with confidence.
I recommend to all of those who have not yet committed their hard won tsunami donations to transfer the
money into the RAWCS overseas aid fund, and nominate that it be used for the “Gampong Anak” project in
Aceh. The money will go into an interest bearing account already opened by RAWCS for this project.
You can rest assured that The Turramurra Tsunami Relief committee will work with TDM and SOS in
Indonesia, and RAWCS in Australia to build and support for 5 years as much as your money will allow. This
will also give you the opportunity to become involved with the village in many Rotary ways, including just visits,
which are encouraged by SOS.
Forward donations to
Jack Elliott,
RAWCS Eastern Region Treasurer
P.O. Box 134
Oatlands
NSW 2117
Please specify your donation is for the “Gampong Anak” project in Aceh.
PP Ian Howden
Chairman Turramurra Tsunami Relief Committee