The Mercy Corps Blog

Blog Post Posted October 9, 2009, 1:57 am by Tanty Pranawisanty

A happy moment amid the ruins

Rendra (at back) plays with his two friends and a rusty old bicycle in the village of Suranti, where Mercy Corps delivered hygiene kits to earthquake-affected families. Photo: Tanty Pranawisanty/Mercy Corps

I was busy overseeing the distribution of hygiene kits for 167 earthquake-affected households in Surantiah village when I was suddenly attracted by the sound of laughter from outside the hall where we were handing out supplies.

Three little children shared the joy and laughter of riding a rusty, dusty bicycle around. From their appearance, I guess they are around six or seven years old. I offered them candies that I always bring whenever I go to the field and, without hesitation, they took some with smiles on their faces. Soon after, I had a few wonderful moments taking their pictures as they rode the bike and laughing out loud when I showed them the previews on my digital camera.

When I asked what were they doing there, one of them — a boy named Rendra — said that they were there waiting for his mother, Ibu Yanti, who is a member of the Disaster Preparedness Team in this village. Mercy Corps — through a partnership with a local organization, Kogami —has formed these teams in each sub-district and trained them for disaster preparedness. Ibu Yanti was in charge of arranging this distribution for her village.

The two girls playing with Rendra were also waiting for their mothers, who were in line to get hygiene kits. They are all neighbours in Surantiah and they all had the same story for me. Their houses and school were badly damaged by the quake. At the moment, they are out of school and still have no idea when they will be back to study and see the rest of their schoolmates.

But one thing's for sure: they really understand what has happened and, sadly, what might happen in the future when another disaster strikes. They have learned from Rendra’s mother and other Disaster Preparedness Team members what should they do if an earthquake happens again.

But today, they all seemed very happy playing with their rusty bike, the only belonging left from the earthquake. Deep inside, I do wish that they will always have happy moments like I saw today — and I hope their school will be rebuilt soon.