A report from Banda Aceh, Indonesia, on the efforts being made to protect the children who lost their parents in the tsunami

New hope for children who lost everything

It's now five months since the Banda Aceh region of Indonesia suffered the loss of tens of thousands of people as a result of the Indian Ocean earthquake.
As the killer waves pounded the region, husbands became separated from wives and children watched in horror as their parents were swept to their deaths.
One of the many projects currently being run by children's charity Unicef — which is funded by money raised through appeals such as the Belfast Telegraph's — are a number of child protection centres for youngsters now classified as 'separated' and 'unaccompanied'.
In the aftermath of the tsunami, thousands of such children were placed in internally displaced people's (IDP) camps.

Since the Boxing Day disaster, hundreds of children have been reunited with relatives or close neighbours, thanks to reunification programmes run by aid agencies and charities such as Unicef.
In a miraculous turn of events, local man Nasruddin Mohammed was reunited with his two-year old daughter Fajriana 40 days after the disaster.
A local family found the toddler two kilometres from her family home and after hearing about Unicef's reunification programme, they took the child to an IDP camp where she was finally reunited with her father and three siblings.
He said: “She was scared at first but the whole family was so overjoyed. I had tears in my eyes upon finding her.”
However, five months from the disaster and a total of 1,322 children now remain on the 'separated' and 'unaccompanied' registration list.

All over Aceh, Unicef staff have set up child protection centres for these children. One such centre in Lankruet caters for 123 children, all of whom live in temporary tents close to the centre.
With toys such as jigsaws, skittles and board games provided by Unicef, the emphasis for the children at the centre is on play. But staff also encourage them to talk about the trauma they have suffered through art and group therapy.
Meena Byrne, a children protection officer with Unicef, said training is now being provided in juvenile justice as well as child abuse and exploitation. She added there have been very few cases of abuse.

Ashleigh Wallace
27 May 2005

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=641765

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