People who have lost everything find a new sense of community Abdulah Rashid is tying steel to reinforce the toilet he will build next to his new brick house in Sigli, on the north coast of the island of Sumatra, east of Banda Aceh, Indonesia. As soon as he hears that the wood has arrived to finish framing the roof for Mrs. Katijah-Malim's house, he leaves to finish that job. She is sitting next to the unfinished house threading felt pieces and metal strips on the roofing nails so they'll be ready for him to use. With the rainy season coming, she's anxious to have her house completed so she can move in. "I stay in the barracks at night, but it's five people to a room, so I want to get back here to live," Katijah-Malim says. When she returns, she'll go back to her daily work--cutting pandanus leaves into thin strips and weaving mats to sell. For now, she comes from the barracks each day to help with the construction and to see that her neighbors' goats don't eat the plants she needs to earn her living. Agus works with his father and his younger brother building Habitat houses in a nearby community. They have built eight brick houses, with the help of the partner families. A neighbor, Samsul Bahri and his wife, Ainal Mardiah, help with construction when they are not selling foodstuffs in the sidewalk market. They were glad to be asked to choose the windows and vents for their house. "We want to put a terrace on the front and to add on to the side, for the children," he says. He inherited his parents' wooden house on this site and added a brick house 10 years ago. Both were destroyed by the tsunami. "In Sigli, home partners make the house their own," Gunawan Sudiyono says proudly. Project manager for the North Aceh building project, Gunawan is an engineer with experience in community organizing. He explained that partner families contribute labor and choose from a few options, like colors, but that the house also reflects the Islamic culture; it's laid out so that it's convenient to wash before praying, and so women can sit together and relax without head coverings. At Bang Niang, Thailand, Prathana, a young mother with two daughters, is starting a new life without her husband, who was killed by the tsunami. "When my husband was alive, together we dreamed of having a good house where we would raise our children. He was lost in the tsunami, and I am alone to take care of them--but now we have a good house. For that I am thankful." For every family affected by the tsunami who is finding its future in a house built with Habitat for Humanity, there is a similar story of tragic loss and hopeful renewal. --Kathryn Reid |