I must say that I have been in – if not stayed at – some fantastic hotels but the Ritz Carlton in Singapore does take some beating. This is the view from the bath. Not bathroom bath…
And the view from the main bedroom…
We had a wonderful meal though I was too tired to really enjoy it and went back to bed early. The flight home was full of mixed emotions from Banda Aceh with the movies making me tearful.
It was a very good feeling to be going home to the family.
Ian and Martin had the best trip to the airport when their car got a flat.
We actually travelled back to Singapore with more baggage than Kathy – about 26 bags and 250 kgs.
After our leaving meal the night before poor old Mark got a bad ear and was treated by nurse Richie.
There are lots of TLC’s here and I just love them – next time I import a car I know where it will be coming from.
(TLC = Toyota Land Cruiser)
Just to show that we did walk around in scum here are my boots after a mornings work tramping around the city and debris.
With the end in sight we started to get adventurous and seeking out the fun places – the beer – with no alcohol wasn’t nice but everyone still seemed to engrave their names on the tables though – in couples and same sex - oops.
The sunsets have been wonderful though.
Here we have the team – from left to right back to front on Mehall’s departure.
Mehall – camera (Sorry sic), Richie – camera, Martin – ex commando, Me,
Paul - producer, Mark – reporter, Ian – reporter.
This is the story we started when we met Martunis. A story about the local fishing community and how it has been affected – or rather devastated.
But many boats ended up like this one – miles from the sea.
But we did find one fisherman who had boats though all his equipment had been stolen to take us out.
We went to an island called Sabang just to the north east on Banda Aceh – don’t like this photo – I did and still do need to loose weight.
On the way to get the picture above we had to swap boats to the safety boat. Ian was not too happy about this.
Once we transferred the safety oat then broke down!
Once at Sabang and landing just as a storm blew it we entered the Mystery Van – ala Scooby Doo. This is the view from inside.
There is a two inch strip to look through that is clear!
The driver took us to this village which had been struck by the wave. We were here 21 days after the tsunami hit and they told us that we were the first outsiders to visit – including the government. Instead they had built a refugee camp nearby for the family’s that had been displaced. Thankfully very few had died here.
Back at the ferry we stopeed to have a cup of tea and some local sweets. As you can see its still better than India!
Sadly we did have to leave the Mystery Van behind…
On the way back we saw a pod of dolphins who only played for a little before they disappeared. Jumping just the once.
Its very weird as I write this I am actually in Banda Aceh but in March to commemorate three months since the tsunami and how the afrea has begun to get itself back on its feet. Looking back at these photos it is interesting to see what has changed – but that will be under later blogs.
I think what stuck me here and which still can not be conveyed pictorially or by the written word – only by actually being here is the immense scale of what has happened to this small community. In Aceh province so far o date 126,000 people have been buried and another 93,000 are missing – (March 05 figures)
This was not an uncommon sight – here we have Ian and I with a local fishing boat – and yes it is on someone’s house.
Whilst filming for our fishing piece a teenager came up to us with a small boy called Martunis, 7.5 years old. He had been wandering since the tsunami hit on the 26th December having seen his mother and father washed away. Living on a diet of dried noodles which were floating around and water he managed to survive.
Malnourished and covered in bites we gave him some biscuits and water. We then decided that we should take him to Save the Children as they would best be able to care for him a God willing find some relatives still alive. The locals wanted him to stay with them. Knowing that wasn’t the best option we left with Martunis being carried by Martin.
In the car Martin dug out an MRE (Meatballs in Pasta I think) and spoon, gave him that to eat which he wolfed down going ‘Hmmm’ and also some more water. We made sure that Medea our driver / translator told Martunis that he would be safe now. Being carried off by three white men must have been quite unnerving.
At Save the Children a very kind Kenyan nurse washed, dried and clothed Martunis, he was quickly assessed by the doctor and then taken to the nearest hospital.
Seeing he had no body fat left they immediately put him on a drip, he did not like the needle at all, oxygen and checked him more thoroughly. The nurse amazed and saying it was a miracle.
It was in the hospital that we left him if the safe hands of Estonian doctors and nurses.
All having kids of our own it was a subdued ride back to the house wishing that he wouldn’t end up in a camp an orphan. But the probability was not that way inclined.
We started to write and edit, as we went and not concerned about the duration – a big TV news burden. Half way through we found out that his father was still alive and being brought to the hospital by Save the Children.
Stunned, totally and utterly stunned.
‘These hands would care for him yes, but nothing could replace this hand, it is his fathers. A hand he must have thought would never touch him again…
There will be many in Banda Aceh and beyond who will have lost hope that they will ever see loved ones again. What this small boy teaches us is that we must never loose faith.’
Ian’s last lines in the script.
This is an amazing story and to be able to get a good ending with in six hours of finding Martunis was fantastic. I think it helped us all realise that despite the total destruction of lives and property positive things could happen. We all felt very proud and privileged to be a part of it.
It gets even better though. When we found him he was wearing a football shirt of the Portuguese FA. They saw this and offered help to him and his family to get back on their feet.
Over a week later we also found out that Spanish TV channels have been playing the package on the news. Stunning.
Drop the R and MARTUNIS is an anagram for TSUNMAI
Links:
Sky News
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1167314,00.html
Ian and I paired together go with Martin in search of a some fishermen and their stories. As we got closer to the shore the scence became one of complete nothingness. Nothing left at all just flat land or pools of water. Everything here had been ripped up and washed inshore. We met a couple of fisherman down by the shore – one who was at sea who came back to find everything and one lost and another who tried in vain to save his family. These stories are recounted again and again by the survivors. Terrible.
Ian amid the destruction, about a mile from the sea
From a vantage point of the first floor of a house that’s still standing – just.
Again in the same area, another boat lying where there were once houses.
Back in the house by 10.30 we had breakfast – MRE’s again. Ian, Paul and Mark try to look intelligently at the map.
Ian then makes himself busy writing his script, at his bedside, whilst Mark makes a cup of tea in the kitchen. Richie is in his room / kit area.
Richie hard at work editing whist Mark and Micheal stand posing for the camera.
After lunch we went to find the local General to see if we could do something with the Army. He wasn’t in. On the way we did pass this. Valet parking at its best – Hotel Medan please!!
At, at least a mile from the port and it had to sail down the street & take a right turn as there was no way it could get here.
Across the square a new open plan house.
Our house, still with sludge outside but clean and tidy.
My bed, next to the shampoo and conditioners.
The toilet. All my years in Asia I have always managed to get round squatting but no more. At least its something I can do now. The cold showers from a KFC plastic bucket, in green water wasn’t much fun.
The famed MRE packets in our pantry!
Mark and Paul
Up to no good I’m sure.
Having got the lucky draw today, Ian and get up at 6.00am to get to the military airport and try to blag our way onto a US Navy helicopter conducting an aid flight. And what do you know it works. A SeaHawk I think it was based on the USS Nimitz based just off shore.
Before the tsunami hit most of the coast would have looked like this – green, fertile and very pleasant.
Its very hard taking self portraits when you are holding a camera out of helicopter as you fly along – as you can tell. Ian and I.
We flew for about 20 mins south west and landed at a village slightly in land from the coast but cut off as the road had been washed away.
Here we distributed water, rice and noodles.
Zak (heli crew) talking with the locals
I also brought some toys from the kids to give out. I produced the bag here and it just disappeared…
Boy with his new truck.
We were called back to the chopper and took off only to land a few miles away at a refugee camp – mainly filled with kids. If I had known I wouldn’t have give all the toys away. They were very happy to see us and even gave us some coconuts and oranges in exchange for the noodles and water. Ians first attempt to drink coconut milk direct from the husk – in a helicopter too.
Once more as we flew back we could see destruction all along the coast.
All you can see are the concrete foundations where houses once stood.
Today’s breakfast and most meals to follow were from MRE packets (commercial ration pack) of sausage and beans.
Due to the time difference with London – which worked in our favour – 7 hours ahead, my morning was spent going through my kit and seeing what worked and what didn’t – mostly it didn’t but managed to cobble together enough bits from 3 laptops to get one Avid working for Richie and myself to use. (As I go on I’ll introduce everyone by photos.)
That done I headed out with Mark and Micheal to do some lives from the western part of town where they had stated to dump the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of washed up waste.
On the way I got my first ground level views of the destruction. Truly awesome and very hard to describe – even after 2 weeks obliteration was everywhere, as was the odd body here and there still lying at the edge of the road waiting to be bagged and buried.
Mark is the one in front of the camera and Micheal (pronounced Mehall – Irish version) behind – my job was to get the signal to London with took about 40 mins on the phone as I found my camera had developed audio problems too. We managed one live and and a bit of other filming when we broke for lunch courtesy of the little Honda generator I got in Dubai a travel kettle and some more MRE’s. Sausage casserole for me if I remember correctly. This didn’t last long though as we had a torrential downpour that got us all soaked and back to the house we went.
A lone palm tree still stands with rain clouds looming on the horizon.
Dinner was another MRE. I also tried Gin and Pocari Sweat. Don’t its terrible.
After the red eye flight from Delhi to Singapore, a four hour wait, quick hop to Medan in Indonesia it was good to be getting closer, though getting more nervous at what I would see. Getting off the plane I was asked if I was an aid worker – no, media. I thought that life would become difficult but immigration, travel permit to Aceh province and press card where issued all in about 10 mins.
Leaving the airport I bumped into the crew leaving Banda Aceh and heading home. My plane was delayed a couple for hours so it was good to chat with them. Finally our plane got clearance to land at Banda and off we went. When we arrived there was a storm over the airport and we had to circle over the coast. This gave us all a good view of what had happened. From afar a first clue but nothing really compared to what we would see on the ground.
From up here you can really see the scale of the devastation.
Zoomed in over the same spot
Not having any idea where we were staying – knowing it was basically camping it was good to see we were in a big house- taken upstairs and shown our area – the hallway in amongst the salvaged bags of goods from the owners shops. Dry, safe – the building didn’t seem to have any structural damage – it was dark though – didn’t seem too bad.
