Lessons learned: It began with a massive tsunami hitting Aceh in December 2004 when Dahlan, 52, a farmer and fisherman from Lambaro village, became aware of the importance of maintaining a water-preserve system
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It began with a massive tsunami hitting Aceh in December 2004. Dahlan, 52, a farmer and fisherman from Lambaro village, has since become aware of the importance of maintaining a water conservation system.
'I lost my wife and two children in the tsunami. We were escaping on two motorbikes. I was in the front with one child, and my wife was behind with our two other children. The wave just swept my wife and children away,' Dahlan said, sharing his grief in a compilation of survivor stories recently released by international humanitarian aid organization Oxfam.
The villager said all of the Lampuuk area, where he and his family had been living, was ruined. 'I took my surviving child up into the hills for two years while Lampuuk was reestablished,' he said.
Lambaro is one of the tsunami-affected areas in Aceh receiving assistance from Oxfam to return life to normal. Various activities, including development of a clean water system, have been initiated under the assistance.
'Each village has a water committee, and I am the water engineer for Lambaro,' said Dahlan.
'I do whatever is needed to maintain and clean the system. I work with the four other engineers to make sure that the pool is clean and that the pipes de-silted, also in the village. When one of the engineers is busy, we cover for each other and when there is a lot to do, we work together,' he said.
Dahlan said he did not get paid for his work developing the water system. 'It is voluntary ' we depend on donations from the community. Some households can pay Rp 1,000 a month, but others pay less. This pays for operational costs, for fuel, equipment and the running of the committees,' he said.
Dahlan said everything was working well with the system until Lambaro had heavy rain for five consecutive days recently. 'One of the pipes broke and some mud got into the system we had to clean it out. We replaced the pipe and water is flowing again,' he said.
During the dry season, he added, there was less water because the catchment pool was quite small. 'This is why we have built another pool higher up the hill, to pipe water down to the main pool to keep the system going,' said Dahlan.
Praising the initiative, Dahlan said what he had learned from the humanitarian programs after the tsunami had let him understand how to manage and maintain the whole system. (ebf)(+++)
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