Family matters

For the families which have the good fortune to work with World Vision, life is on the up and up

WORDS TIM RICHARDS
PHOTOGRAPHY KANNIKAR THREEPALAVISESKUL

Having her school fees sponsored
means Ilada can now focus on her
studies while her mother cares for
their valuable buffalo

December is a month when thoughts turn to families. Around the world, the end of the year is marked by reunions with relatives, as people reconnect with loved ones who may normally live far away. Whether celebrating Christmas or not, it’s a good time to gather with family members and reflect on the past year.

When thinking of family, it’s worth remembering that the concept extends beyond the typical nuclear family, often jokingly referred to as mum, dad and 2.5 kids. The spectrum of possibilities runs from a single parent to extended clans, or even to the idea of an entire community as family. Whatever form it comes in, family is worth celebrating as we head towards a new year.

Ilada’s story

One family looking forward to a happier future is that of Ilada, who lives in the Thai village of Nong Kwang, 150 kilometres east of Bangkok. She and her parents, along with her older brother and younger sister, live in a corrugated iron shed with two rooms. Through the window of the outdoor kitchen, Ilada can see the family’s market garden, buffalo and calf.

These simple possessions have provided stability and hope for the family during difficult times, such as the period after the economic crisis, which hit Thailand in 1997. “At that time, my husband and I were labourers,” says Ilada’s mother, Pad Tamnau. “I would take any paying job that was offered.” They worked in other people’s fields, or as human porters, earning just enough to pay for basics and the children’s school fees.

When World Vision offered the opportunity of child sponsorships to the village, Ilada and her siblings were eligible to take part. The sponsors’ donations covered the kids’ school fees, allowing them to keep a buffalo calf rather than selling it. Now that calf is a fullgrown mother, producing offspring that give the family another source of income.

New farming methods have meant
a richer crop

In addition, World Vision gave Ilada’s parents training in organic farming techniques, which enabled them to cut back on fertilisers while producing a greater yield. The result? Healthier vegetables, healthier soil and a surplus of fresh produce to sell outside the local temple.

The future is looking brighter for this family. A sponsor’s support can go towards school fees and for Ilada and her siblings, it has guaranteed their school attendance. “My husband and I have had a hard time because we lacked education, and we don’t want our children’s lives to be like that,” says Pad.

Road to recovery

Further south in Banda Aceh, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, is another family that has survived difficult times. Three years ago, the city’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Marzuki and his wife Asma Sulaiman were visiting their 16-year-old son at his boarding school in Jakarta when the tsunami struck their hometown.

Off to school – when
schooling is not a given it
becomes all the more precious

On their return, they discovered their other four children had been claimed by the destructive waves. The couple’s response to this devastating news was to dedicate themselves to helping the survivors of the disaster, returning to the inundated Permata Hati hospital in Banda Aceh and slowly clearing it of debris by hand.

While standing in the mud outside the facility, Dr Marzuki and Asma met World Vision’s health program coordinator Dr Mary Wangsaraharja, who offered to help restart the hospital. World Vision then supplied an ambulance, 50 hospital beds with mattresses and linen, medical equipment and essential pharmaceuticals.

Nowadays the hospital is fully operational, continuing to serve the inhabitants of Banda Aceh years after the tsunami. It has a surgical ward, paediatric unit, maternity ward and two conference rooms – named after the couple’s late daughters, Davina and Siska.

Of course, it hasn’t been easy to continue working after such a massive loss. “When God suddenly took four of them from me at once, I felt like I was drowning,” says Asma, who still works as a midwife and a director of the hospital’s foundation, through which World Vision and 55 other donors provide their support. “I knew it was impossible to get them back, but as I had been helped by foreign aid to get this place back, I decided to make it a place to remember them.”

New beginnings

 

A new son for Nurlita to
call her own
Photo: Greg LowAs a sign of the hope that the reopened hospital has brought to her community, Asma points to 31-year-old Nurlita, sitting on one of the donated beds, holding her newborn son. Nurlita lost her husband and a daughter in the 2004 tragedy. Having remarried a tsunami widower, she and her new husband are now able to celebrate the safe delivery of their first child.

The birth of a child is always cause for hope; a new spark of life to carry its family’s hopes and dreams into the future. But in this place, still haunted by the tsunami, the arrival of a new life seems more powerful and positive than ever.

About StarKids
Jetstar has now taken their StarKids’ fundraising onboard with donation envelopes in the seat pocket of every Jetstar service. Passengers are encouraged to place small change in any currency into the envelopes. All monies raised will go to the StarKids’ program. This Jetstar and World Vision initiative aims to raise at least AU$3 million over three years for World Vision to fund programs assisting children in Australia and countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. For more information visit www.jetstar.com/starkids