Having learnt from previous mistakes, we started off earlier than the day before. Even the doctors arrived as early as 6 am. We carried on with registration procedures and gave the children the clothing. Changing into new clothes before undergoing a very significant procedure in their lives is actually the tradition of the Sunda people. We took turns to assist the doctors, entertain the parents, handle technicalities, and dispense medicines. A total of 9 kids were circumcised. Once we were done with the kids, we were then given a tutorial on the procedures of circumcision from Dr. Asep.
Afterwards, we went home and started packing up clothes and money to be distributed to the villagers who suffered from loss of properties due to earthquake. Along the way to the houses, we were told by Pak Kuwu of the sufferings the villagers had to endure. Houses were destroyed, livestock were lost, properties damaged, and yet they had been receiving little aid. It is somehow relieving to know that Bulan Sabit Merah Indonesia (BSMI) had always been on the move to help by providing sincere support in every way possible to those in need. Since the houses were located far in the village area, we went through quite challenging path but it was worth it for we were met by very thankful and grateful villagers.
Ruins
Plus, we had the chance to admire the picturesque scenery of the hilly paddy fields.
That night, we had our final preparation for the health education session at the primary schools. But since there were not much to be done (most have been settled earlier), we grabbed the chance to chat and bond with Pak Kuwu’s family.
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Day 5 : Ke Tasik
5th of August 2010
One of our team members went back to Malaysia on this day due to family commitments. Albeit only 5 of us were left, we were, figuratively speaking, armed to the teeth for our next activity. However, we were greeted with unforeseen news in the morning - it was school holiday and the primary school a.k.a. Sekolah Dasar (SD) was closed. It was rather disappointing but we managed to come up with a back-up plan. We rescheduled our plan and went to town to buy some books and teaching materials for the schools, both primary and secondary schools (SD and SMP respectively).
We also arranged for some praying carpets to be bought and placed in Pak Kuwu’s house since the house is always used by the villagers to perform Eid prayers. This is because the mosque nearby is not big enough to accommodate the whole population of Desa Sukasetia.
Late in the evening, our team leader was accompanied by Pak Kuwu to mosques in Kecamatan Cisayong to distribute al-Quran and reading materials as donation.
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Day 6 : Anak-anak SD
6th of August 2010
Customarily, the women in Desa Sukasetia will have al-Quran classes at the mosque near Pak Kuwu’s house before Friday prayers. Thus, we took the chance to have a farewell meeting with the villagers at the mosque. Pak Kuwu delivered his speech (in both Sundan dialect and formal Indonesian language to help us understand) explaining to the people about us and our mission.
Your donation through our hands
Next, we straight away carried on with health education session or also known as ‘Penyuluhan Kesihatan’ at the SD. Our objective was to instill in the students the way of healthy lifestyle. We taught them how to brush their teeth and hands properly, when and why, and also talked about safety precautions and the importance of healthy nutrition. We actually planned to do this activity by combining students of class 1 and 2; class 3 and 4; class 5 and 6; so there would be 3 groups in total. This was to avoid any inefficiency in handling the students. Nevertheless due to some miscommunications, it turned out to be 2 groups of students; a group of class 1 students and another group consisting of all students from class 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Praises be to God we managed to deal with the changes appropriately and of course with the teachers’ assistance, we also finished on time before the school bell rang.
the happy faces
Before the end of the session, the students were given one goodie-bag each as a token of love from us. Another school nearby (SD) was chosen to receive some donations from us in the form of teaching materials, gift for the school children and some goodie bags special for the orphans. Overall, we have distributed teaching materials to school libraries of 2 primary schools (SD) and 1 secondary school (SMP).
Upon returning home, we arranged for a farewell gathering with BSMI representatives namely Dr Husen (General Leader for Tasikmalaya) and Pak Asep (Secretary). Both Dr Husen and Pak Asep were actually in a rush to a location where landslide and flood had just occurred. So, we grabbed every chance we had to discuss more in depth about the role of BSMI and hence acquired a clearer insight of this organization. Before we parted, our team leader handed over a token of thoughts and appreciation from our team in the form of a framed group photo.
Pak Kuwu and BSMI (Dr. Husen and Pak Asep Budiawan)
After Maghrib prayers, we paid a final visit to Dr. Asep’s house to hand over the extra medicines during circumcision and also another framed group photo to show our appreciation.
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Day 7 : Salam kasih sayang
7th of August 2010
Final day in Indonesia. We woke up early in the morning to a very sad atmosphere in Pak Kuwu’s house. During the approximately one-week stay, the bond created between us was so strong that we left the place heavy-heartedly. But we left, promising ourselves to try our best to keep in touch with the Tasikmalayans and lend our hands whenever possible, insyaALLAH.
Prepared by :
Fasihah Mohd Sofian
Secretary of
Tasikmalaya Relief Mission 2010 team
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