9.0 Richter Scale - 7 years after ...

2004, December 26 - As many as 200.000 lives were wiped out within minutes when a giant tsunami hit Aceh's west coast on Sumatra; ten times the figure of the recent tsunami that stroke Japan in February 2011. It took some days till the world public could grasp the devastating situation in Banda Aceh, as a long-lasting civil war between the central government and members of the Free Aceh Movement had escalated the years before and made it a non-go-zone for foreigners.

When I arrived end of February in the province of North Sumatra to coordinate on site Caritas Austria's aid efforts for the people on Nias Island, just off  "fireline" along the western coast of Sumatra, I felt the island somehow escaped the worst of the tsunami's deadly destruction. But a few weeks in, a second powerful underwater earthquake struck Nias on Easter weekend 2005, causing not only the loss of additional lives but indeed destroying many buildings in its capital Gunung Sitoli, as well as houses and vital infrastructure around the island. I suddenly found myself within the center of destruction, chaos and suffering.

7 years on I am back in Sumatera Utara. I carried for some time the wish in my mind to revisit the places and people I met under such difficult conditions. In addition, North Sumatra has so much to offer: be it the jungle around Bukit Lawang as one of the last retreats for the endangered Orang Utah apes, the vulcano Gunung Sibayak with the rewarding hot springs after trekking up and down the steaming crater, or the mystic fresh-water lake Danau Toba.

Danau Toba was formed some 80.000 years ago by vulcanic eruption that left the caldera collapsing under its own pressure and weight. Its crystal clear water takes dark green to black shades, as it is one of the world's deapest lakes at more than 500 meters, straight down from the shores of its inner island Samosir.

Bukit Lawang, settled along the border of the Gunung Leuser National Park, is today again a popular tourist destination, be it with local weekenders escaping the  humid and noisy 3-million metropole Medan, or foreigners in search for an unforgetable encounter "F2F" with the Orang Utah apes. Unfortunatly the Orang Utah Rehabilitation Centre closed years ago, leaving this endangered species "in the hands" of the wardens of the park, the "consciousness" of the locals for co-existance, and the danger of ever closer approaching loggers and oilpalm plantations.

My visit to Nias was something special - not only on my travel agenda. I understand from my personal experiences in development cooperation that "coming back" to a place of duty - or personal engagement as I prefer to say - is vital to understand change and development. Both, the local participants as well as the external input provided through projects - including the technical experts - face shortcomings in this regard. Whereas people growing up in their community may find it difficult to "see" change and sometimes oppose change for various reasons, external inputs enter a given situation as "newcomers", departing consequently latest at the end of the project. For me, revisiting a place and its people is a process of "own decision" and "taking time". It intuitively enriches the mind by recalling memories, capturing new situations, and merging them into a more comprehensive picture, thus serving as an authentic lens for change and development. I am the scholar.

However, the reward of my "side trip" to Sumatra and Nias was to meet again some wonderful persons that received me with surprise and unconditional friendship. Pastor Benno and his secretary Kristina made my stopovers in noisy Medan a home-stay, same as P. Mikael hosted me kindly it the new Caritas Centre in Nias and P. Rantinus and P. Doni at the St. Christopherus guesthouse in Sibolga. What a nice reunion that left me departing with a warm heart and an enriched experience of change and development in the spirit of social justice. By the way, before visiting Indonesia in 2005, my "western" school knowledge was that of the world's biggest Muslim nation. Not much more to add?! Yes, my dear friend Luis, there does exist in Medan Radio Maria and a Catholic Universities too, being part of a multicultural society in Southeast Asia.

Link to my pictures from my two trips to Sumatra and Nias (2005/2012):
Nias 2005 - Caritas emergency project visit after Tsunami (12/2004) and Earthquake (03/2005)
Nias 2012 - Back to Nias Island
Nias 2012 - A road trip up into the hills
Nias Museum - A place still to be discovered
The Orang Utans at Gunung Leuser National Park
The weekly market in Bukit Lawang
Mt. Sibayak - Hiking the Vulcano and Hot Springs as reward
Lake Toba - a lake full of mystery and beautiness