HUMANITARIAN RELIEF

A local school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, was destroyed by the merciless Asian tsunami and the only English teacher of that school was killed. To help the recovery, a volunteer spent three months assisting with the reconstruction and rehabilitation effort. He became a much-loved English teacher at the local university.

With the support of a C.A.R.E. travel grant, a volunteer teacher from Canada arrived at the English language center at the Universitas Syiah Kuala in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. He undertook his journey to Aceh with a simple idea in mind, “seek first to understand and than to be understood.” He found these were resilient people who love, hurt, work, play, laugh and have an amazing attitude given they have survived, in some cases, a lifetime of conflict and one of the most horrific natural disasters of recent times.

The volunteer also spent time interacting with the children from local relief camps. For the local children, a foreign playmate was initially a cause for curiosity and surprise; however they were able to mix fun with education through some basic language learning games and became fast friends despite the language barrier.

Through the Universitas Syiah Kuala the volunteer was able to provide an environment for advanced English practice for students interested in learning English. A native English speaker can be a rarity for Indonesian students and he provided them with conversational tools including English directions, topics and some common slang thus giving many students a base to practice English.

One of the chief outcomes of his volunteer trip to Aceh was a greater feeling of connection to the place and people, and he resolved to return to Aceh when possible to not only continue his work but also to renew and strengthen the friendships and connections that he made along the way.