The trip to Aceh was very long: 15 hrs in a plane to Kuala Lumpur. We then flew to Medan where we slept over one night. And the next morning we took our last flight to Banda Aceh. When we arrived in Banda Aceh our real program started. We have our own bus. With this bus we travel around Aceh. We went to the office of EI. There we heard what they were doing and what they had achieved in the last two years. It was a shock to hear the details about all the losses and damages around Aceh. We went to ground zero and I got very emotional just seeing all the damages and I couldn’t imagine that this happened though you hear about it and watch it on TV. Today (20 Feb.) we visited 2 schools built by EI. We also met some children. In the beginning they were very shy but when we were about to leave I had to give the boys high fives. Tomorrow we gonna buy some school stuff for the kids with the 500.000 RP from EI. Thursday we gonna bring the equipment to the school.
Regards,
Arthur
Tuesday 20 February 2007
Amanda Deelen and Evelyn Zuiderwijk, the Netherlands
Our expectations of the country were quite different compared to the reality in Aceh. We are actually a little bit shocked about what we have seen in the last two days.
We know that the people were in a very dramatic situation but they are so nice and lovely to us. The ground zero was very impressive but also the new houses that were built in a very short time, that became a home for the families.
We made a lot of pictures which say more than thousand words. You can see them on the blog.
Greetings,
Amanda and Evelyn
We know that the people were in a very dramatic situation but they are so nice and lovely to us. The ground zero was very impressive but also the new houses that were built in a very short time, that became a home for the families.
We made a lot of pictures which say more than thousand words. You can see them on the blog.
Greetings,
Amanda and Evelyn
Angela Jones, UK
So far the past two days I have enjoyed the EI tour. I’m very happy that I got the chance to go on the EI tour. I have enjoyed seeing the schools and the children.
I think that the schools are nice. It was very touching to see how happy the children were when they were given the ball to play with and the way they were so happy and pleased to see us. They were welcoming and that was nice. I also like seeing the new houses that were built. I think that they were nice too. I think that the rest of the students on the tour are very nice and friendly.
Angela
I think that the schools are nice. It was very touching to see how happy the children were when they were given the ball to play with and the way they were so happy and pleased to see us. They were welcoming and that was nice. I also like seeing the new houses that were built. I think that they were nice too. I think that the rest of the students on the tour are very nice and friendly.
Angela
Phuoc Huynh and Hue Huynh, Australia
Before the tour we had some understanding of the impact of the tsunami. The true extent of the damage caused by the tsunami has become clearer in the past two days. We now have some understanding of the complexities involved in the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Banda Aceh, and the commitment to achieve improvements for the children.
It has been a warming experience to see the work that Education International has done in providing schooling for the kids that have lost so much. This brings some normality and hope to their life.
We will never forget the laughter and smiles of the children’s faces.
Phuoc Huynh and Hue Huynh, Australia
It has been a warming experience to see the work that Education International has done in providing schooling for the kids that have lost so much. This brings some normality and hope to their life.
We will never forget the laughter and smiles of the children’s faces.
Phuoc Huynh and Hue Huynh, Australia
Genta Nakano, Japan
I visited two new schools and presented a soccer ball to the students from Indonesia which has been collected by children in Kobe, Japan. Kobe experienced an earthquake 12 years ago and 6434 people perished. So children in Kobe grew up in the process of reconstruction after the earthquake. Children in Kobe really know how hard it is to recover from such a disaster. By sending the football to the children of Indonesia they wanted to cheer them up. As soon as they received the ball they started to play with it immediately. I was very pleased when they were playing with it because it is the evidence that the message from Kobe to Indonesia arrived.
Genta Nakano, Japan
Genta Nakano, Japan
Daniel Sykes, Wales
When I first arrived in Indonesia, it was very exciting and enjoyable for me to introduce myself as Dan from Wales to all the people of different ages and nationalities.
After travelling half way around the world to Indonesia, I have felt very welcome by Education International to Banda Aceh.
The tour so far has been a wonderful and educational experience and visiting the young children at school, seeing their faces light up, will stay with me for the rest of my life.
And what EI has done to help education and schools in Banda Aceh is truly amazing!
Thank you to EI for this wonderful experience and let’s hope the rest of the week is as good as the start!
Daniel Sykes, Wales
After travelling half way around the world to Indonesia, I have felt very welcome by Education International to Banda Aceh.
The tour so far has been a wonderful and educational experience and visiting the young children at school, seeing their faces light up, will stay with me for the rest of my life.
And what EI has done to help education and schools in Banda Aceh is truly amazing!
Thank you to EI for this wonderful experience and let’s hope the rest of the week is as good as the start!
Daniel Sykes, Wales
Rob Vink
Hi everyone,
I’m Rob Vink, a student of education from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The tour started out great for me. We met Juliane at the airport in Amsterdam and she was really nice and open right from the start. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was pretty long and we didn’t get much sleep, but we didn’t mind as we were way too excited.
Aceh is really beautiful and the people are so friendly. I didn’t think the things we would see here would effect me this much.
It’s good to see that the people here make good use of the funds received from donations, but at the same time heart-breaking to see the conditions a lot of the local people live in. It’s kind of hard to describe it, you should really see for yourself. I promise you won’t regret it.
Regards;
(a changed) Rob
I’m Rob Vink, a student of education from Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The tour started out great for me. We met Juliane at the airport in Amsterdam and she was really nice and open right from the start. The flight to Kuala Lumpur was pretty long and we didn’t get much sleep, but we didn’t mind as we were way too excited.
Aceh is really beautiful and the people are so friendly. I didn’t think the things we would see here would effect me this much.
It’s good to see that the people here make good use of the funds received from donations, but at the same time heart-breaking to see the conditions a lot of the local people live in. It’s kind of hard to describe it, you should really see for yourself. I promise you won’t regret it.
Regards;
(a changed) Rob
Emily Sarah May Davies, Wales
Being able to travel half way around the world from
The country is so welcoming, the culture and way of life is fascinating as well.
Hearing the facts about the Tsunami is really shocking, the number of people killed and houses/buildings destroyed. The whole experience so far has been really educational. To see how the money that we have raised has been and will be spent is really interesting and it is interesting to see how the people of Banda Aceh have benefited from the money. One example was visiting the reconstructed schools, to see the children playing football, enjoying school made me feel happy that I raised money that was well spent. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Education International for the amazing life time experience of the tour of Banda Aceh and hope that all is well for the future.
Regards,
Emily
Diary of Student Tour - Hue Huynh from Australia
G'day,
Firstly, I would like to thank EI for giving myself and my fellow peers the opportunity to attend this student tour. I am honored to be representing my country but also being able to experience many new and exciting things along the way.
Day 1
The trip so far has been very crazy. Starting with the plane trip which was insanely crazy but also very energy draining, after waking up a billion times either to have lunch, snacks or dinner and/or from the noise of the aircraft I was exhausted from that amount of sleep.
Our first stop was to Jakata, we had to stay the night at the Jakata Airport Hotel which was nice. When we stepped off the plane, the hit of humidity got to me first, feeling sticky and sweaty was not to my liking but hey it doesn't matter now. I slept like a baby for a few hours before being woken up by the hotel wake-up call.
A few hours later, we packed our bags to go on another plane, next destination Banda Aceh. Whilst on the trip, we had lunch and snacks followed by a few billion naps haha. After this plane trip from Jakata, we met the other students' and teachers' from other countries. The weather was still very humid and HOT HOT HOT, however Australia's weather isn't that different from Banda Aceh.
We reached our hotel which we will now call home for the next week, my first room smelt pretty bad haha umm like a old mustard smell so I decided to change to another room which also had a unpleasant smell however was pretty much better than my first room. A few hours later I decided to stay in my sister's room since her room smelt better and cleaner, but also had a better view, the view from my room was.... just old building materials and garbage collecting dust which was not good for my hayfever.
We had heaps to eat but I feel that we're not doing as much exercise since we're travelling heaps by our personal bus. But the food is great, very similar to what I have at home in Australia but coming from an asian background I love spicy food, so the food here does it for me.
Day 2
Waking up about 7.oo am we got dressed and went to have breakie. The hotel toast is the bomb I tell ya, bloody awesome haha. Around 8.40am we headed off to the Media Centre BRR NAD-Nias which had a few speakers explain how their organisations work and also explained how they are rebuilding the areas which have been affected by the Tsunami in december 2004.
We also visited some of the schools which EI had recently built. One school was completed however the surrounding houses weren't completed yet, meaning that the school will not have any students until the homes are due for completion.
Note: daily blog is not completed, updates will follow very soon.
Cheers.
Firstly, I would like to thank EI for giving myself and my fellow peers the opportunity to attend this student tour. I am honored to be representing my country but also being able to experience many new and exciting things along the way.
Day 1
The trip so far has been very crazy. Starting with the plane trip which was insanely crazy but also very energy draining, after waking up a billion times either to have lunch, snacks or dinner and/or from the noise of the aircraft I was exhausted from that amount of sleep.
Our first stop was to Jakata, we had to stay the night at the Jakata Airport Hotel which was nice. When we stepped off the plane, the hit of humidity got to me first, feeling sticky and sweaty was not to my liking but hey it doesn't matter now. I slept like a baby for a few hours before being woken up by the hotel wake-up call.
A few hours later, we packed our bags to go on another plane, next destination Banda Aceh. Whilst on the trip, we had lunch and snacks followed by a few billion naps haha. After this plane trip from Jakata, we met the other students' and teachers' from other countries. The weather was still very humid and HOT HOT HOT, however Australia's weather isn't that different from Banda Aceh.
We reached our hotel which we will now call home for the next week, my first room smelt pretty bad haha umm like a old mustard smell so I decided to change to another room which also had a unpleasant smell however was pretty much better than my first room. A few hours later I decided to stay in my sister's room since her room smelt better and cleaner, but also had a better view, the view from my room was.... just old building materials and garbage collecting dust which was not good for my hayfever.
We had heaps to eat but I feel that we're not doing as much exercise since we're travelling heaps by our personal bus. But the food is great, very similar to what I have at home in Australia but coming from an asian background I love spicy food, so the food here does it for me.
Day 2
Waking up about 7.oo am we got dressed and went to have breakie. The hotel toast is the bomb I tell ya, bloody awesome haha. Around 8.40am we headed off to the Media Centre BRR NAD-Nias which had a few speakers explain how their organisations work and also explained how they are rebuilding the areas which have been affected by the Tsunami in december 2004.
We also visited some of the schools which EI had recently built. One school was completed however the surrounding houses weren't completed yet, meaning that the school will not have any students until the homes are due for completion.
Note: daily blog is not completed, updates will follow very soon.
Cheers.
The journey so far... Phuoc Huynh, Australia
G'Day Everyone! =)
I'd also like to thank Education International for organising this trip for us. We can tell that there has been so much work to get this tour prepared for us.
Hmmm.. Where should I start? We (the Australians) arrived safely in Banda Aceh about a day after we left Sydney; it was a 7hour flight from Sydney to Jakarta, we stayed overnight at the Jakarta airport and got up at 4am to catch the 6am flight over to Banda Aceh. However, on the way there we had to stop over at Medan to pick up the rest of the participants of the tour. Finally, we arrived at Aceh, my first impression of Aceh reminded me of Vietnam; the people, the houses, the roads and even the smell!
In the afternoon of the first day, we went to go visit the Floating-land ship in Ulee. Basically, it was a huge, electricity-generating boat that was washed 4km from the shore by the tsunami. To see the boat in the middle of a village truely showed the power behind the tsunami. After that, we went to visit the Tsunami village; the place there the tsunami hit, it's just truely amazing to be where I was, and at the same time just a little saddening. To witness all the boats scattered everywhere, muddy swamps all over the place and the houses that remains damaged.
Today we went to visit 2 of the schools that EI have set up. The kids that we got to met, at first were shy, but soon enough they warmed up to us. The japanese students brought a soccer ball over for the kids as a gift and they were thrilled to kick the ball around. Although there was a language barrier between us students and the children of Indonesia, the smile on their faces showed that they were happy. It a rewarding experience to witness the lives of the kids, knowing that they will now have a happier life, with an education. This education is only made possible through the donations that the EI organisation has received from teachers and students from around the world.
Well I'm signing off now.
Take care,
Phuoc
I'd also like to thank Education International for organising this trip for us. We can tell that there has been so much work to get this tour prepared for us.
Hmmm.. Where should I start? We (the Australians) arrived safely in Banda Aceh about a day after we left Sydney; it was a 7hour flight from Sydney to Jakarta, we stayed overnight at the Jakarta airport and got up at 4am to catch the 6am flight over to Banda Aceh. However, on the way there we had to stop over at Medan to pick up the rest of the participants of the tour. Finally, we arrived at Aceh, my first impression of Aceh reminded me of Vietnam; the people, the houses, the roads and even the smell!
In the afternoon of the first day, we went to go visit the Floating-land ship in Ulee. Basically, it was a huge, electricity-generating boat that was washed 4km from the shore by the tsunami. To see the boat in the middle of a village truely showed the power behind the tsunami. After that, we went to visit the Tsunami village; the place there the tsunami hit, it's just truely amazing to be where I was, and at the same time just a little saddening. To witness all the boats scattered everywhere, muddy swamps all over the place and the houses that remains damaged.
Today we went to visit 2 of the schools that EI have set up. The kids that we got to met, at first were shy, but soon enough they warmed up to us. The japanese students brought a soccer ball over for the kids as a gift and they were thrilled to kick the ball around. Although there was a language barrier between us students and the children of Indonesia, the smile on their faces showed that they were happy. It a rewarding experience to witness the lives of the kids, knowing that they will now have a happier life, with an education. This education is only made possible through the donations that the EI organisation has received from teachers and students from around the world.
Well I'm signing off now.
Take care,
Phuoc
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