Acehnese children work to survive after long conflict and tsunami

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 07/28/2007 12:05 PM

Nani Afrida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

Despite the desolate conditions in which most families still live in Aceh, village children from the tsunami-devastated coast of Lampaseh were found busily planting young mangrove trees, one by one.

Just outside of Aceh's capital city, Banda Aceh, 10-year-old Zulfikar said he did not care his hands and clothes had become dirty and thick with mud.

But the young boy's tree-planting efforts were not the result of a school holiday or environmental education program. Rather, these children were being paid to work.

The good news is however their labor is part of a major regreening program and an overall attempt to help Aceh recover from the devastating December 2004 tsunami.

""I got paid Rp 200 for each tree I planted,"" Zulfikar said.

""Not bad -- I might use it to buy my school supplies.""

Rizki Ananda, a 14-year-old left orphaned by the tsunami, was also busy planting mangroves.

""My pay is enough to buy daily needs and school supplies,"" he said.

Rizki now lives with his uncle and said he could earn up to Rp 20,000 a day -- but that his work was not hard because he was charged with planting rather than carrying the heavy seeds.

Many Acehnese children have learned to help their families earn a living and today even work to help pay their own school fees.

It's not uncommon for these children to work searching for crabs and clams they can onsell to their village.

According to the head of the women's division at Aceh's Prosperous Justice Party, Mulyani Jamal, many children in Aceh suffer malnutrition or are threatened by child traffickers.

Others have turned to drugs and suffer addictions and post-conflict psychological trauma.

Aceh was rocked by almost three decades of conflict -- thought to have ended with the signing of peace deal between the government and the Free Aceh Movement rebels in 2005.

""Acehnese children are less fortunate compared to other children in the country,"" Mulyani said.

""They have had to suffer (years of) conflict and then the tsunami.""

The party's data shows one third of tsunami victims were children.

Illegal trafficking of children increased in the area after the disaster left more than 1,000 children orphaned.

Across the archipelago, there is no data to show the number of children subjected to illegal trafficking -- but numbers are suspected to sit between 200,000 and 300,000 -- many of which are more likely being exploited for sex.

Mulyani said trafficking victims were lured by various methods, including offers of legal employment or working for foreigners on vacation. The sad truth, Mulyani said, was these children were being sold as prostitutes.

""The fate of Acehnese children has became the worst across the nation, with low levels of education quality, especially in remote ares,"" Mulyani said.

""The Acehnese government and the community must take part in a move to save this young generation.

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