In September 2005, I travelled to a number of tsunami-affected areas in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia. In Banda Aceh, Indonesia, I visited temporary Maternal Child Health centres, water distribution points, temporary housing and barracks, and future housing construction sites. As a public health and disaster response professional with CARE for more than 25 years, I was in awe of the calamity that struck so many people, so quickly, so totally. I was also in awe of the job that had already been done and the work still left to do.
One site in particular made an impression. We were with an architect from Planning Alliance (pA), a Canadian architectural firm working with CARE, at a health clinic site that was then no more than a footprint – just a concrete slab that provided the dimensions of the building, and a sign that noted the clinic and CARE’s name. Architect Anierin Smith told us with full confidence that “you will be able to come back here in four-six months and find a fully functioning health clinic, well-equipped and staffed…’. I was impressed by his assurance not only that the clinic would be rebuilt, but how it would also be staffed.
Exactly one year later, I was back in Banda Aceh. Driving through a neighborhood that was under reconstruction, I caught site of the mosque that was directly in front of the former clinic. And there it was: a sea-green and coral two-storey health clinic – a bright, bright spot in a neighborhood still in transformation.
We were met at the door by the midwife in charge, Ibu Sinarti. When she saw the CARE logo on the vehicle, she opened her arms to us. “Selamat datang (welcome),” she said with a smile, and showed us around. The new clinic was impressive. Opened in July, 2006, nine months after our visit, it was bright and airy, clean and shining with walls tiled and painted in soothing pastel colours. One of the staff was holding a freshly swaddled newborn, the mother laying nearby, tired and smiling. Ibu Sinarti told us she chose the colours for the building herself, because she wanted her clinic to look “more like a person’s house – comfortable, not like a hospital.”
Midwife Ibu Sinarti stands outside the new health clinic, which provides health care for the local community, all of whom are tsunami survivors. Photo: CARE/Josh Estey
