The Gathering

Once in Medan, there was much to be done before we could head to Banda Aceh, our destination. There were team members still arriving that we had to pick up from the airport and show back to the hotel. We had to get a special blue entry book for Medan at the airport (so we had to go find somewhere to take passport photos). We had to try and buy things to help the people in Banda Aceh - so we began buying water, food, clothes, medicine. And one of the biggest issues - we had to find trucks to transport all this stuff.

On my part, I spent a lot of time at the airport, waiting for people and helping the new arrivals get their blue entry book. I had a lot of chats with the friendly heavily armed guards at the airport, who tried desperately to improve my Indonesian. I saw lots of big military planes, and though they looked like an easier way to get to Banda Aceh, but alas it was not to be for us. I also spent some time in the hotel looking down onto the street, marveling that there wasn't any accidents. The way the traffic "worked" was crazy, crazy, crazy. If there was no traffic using the lanes for oncoming traffic, the cars would just spread themselves across the whole road using all the lanes, as if it were a one way street. Then when cars started coming towards them, they would all try and get back over to their side of the road. My main form of transport in this terrifying mess of traffic was a motorcycle drawn cart, as in the photo. Not the most reassuring vehicle.

We were told we wouldn't be able to find trucks, because the army and other aid organisations had already taken them all. I'm not exactly how we manage it, but in the end despite what they said, we have two trucks.

Many other things occurred that were totally amazing during these few days of preparation. When some of the team went to a warehouse to buy bandages and medications etc. There was a drug rep there who heard what they were doing and paid for about half of everything (which was quite a sizable amount of money). We are given something along the lines of 6 tonnes of food, clothes and water to take there.

This is starting to become real. I'm starting to wonder, what will happen when we are faced with the overwhelming loss the people in Banda Aceh have faced? I determine in my heart to try and keep my focus on the people who have actually suffered the loss. Not to become introspective considering how I am affected by the sights and smells. After all however I feel about it, I am not the one who has lost everything, they are. An easy thing to decide when you're in a bustling city.

Through it all Rein is a lifesaver. He helps us all the time, we call him constantly. In the end, it turns out he has a factory in Langsa, which because it is in Aceh, he has been unable to visit for a long time. We organise that when we travel we will go via there to organise some of the things we need. Also some of his workers from the factory will come with us as interpreters (we have two people in the team apart from Rein who are fairly fluent in Indonesian, but in Aceh they speak Acehnese, although a lot of them speak Indonesian as well).