Over the past three months more than one hundred and fifty volunteers from twenty three countries have made their way to Sungai Geringging, West Sumatra, Indonesia in response to the two successive earthquakes in early October. We’ve deconstructed 61 homes, salvaged reusable building material for 68 families and built 5 transitional shelters, but there is still more work to be done.
Even four months after these devastating events many families have yet to clear away the rubble from their land and begin the rebuilding process. Everyday myself and fellow volunteers work with and for those families and everyday we see the power we have to change lives.
A cornerstone of Project Sungai Geringging has been salvaging material from homes damaged beyond repair so that survivors can use them to start over. While at the beginning of the project it would occasionally seem like we were leaving these families with nothing but an empty slab, now we can see the fruits of our labor.
Just over a month ago, Ibu Jus’s house was not only too damaged to live in, but too much of a hazard to enter at all. Though she would have liked to rebuild as soon as possible, she did not have the means, physically or financially to do so. In a little over a week, HandsOn volunteers were able to safely remove precarious walls and roofs, save corrugated tin, window and door frames and bricks, and clear her foundation of rubble and debris. Just days after we finished when we drove by her house the progress was unbelievable. Her old door frames were up and the shell of a transitional shelter was formed. Now, weeks later, Ibu Jus is living in a stable transitional shelter built largely out of materials we were able to save from her former home.
But Ibu Jus is not alone. Take a short drive around Sungai Geringging and you will see the progress made by the community and by volunteers in recent months. You will also, however, see the continued need for support. Because of this, Hands On has decided to extent their project in the area until April 9th so that more people who need it can be helped. Along with our new transitional shelter and earthquake awareness programs, we will continue salvaging materials so that the rebuilding process can carry on.












Comments
This looks great! you should apply for a DS Grant at: http://www.dosomething.org/grants. Best of Luck!