Langsa - a glue factory

We were finally on our way. A convoy made up of two trucks and a few 4WD. A haphazzard group of Australians, Americans (although the americans hadn't all come from america, some of them were living overseas in nearby asian countries), a dutch man and some of the local people. We drove to Langsa. On the way a lot of the conversations we had had in our meetings in the hotel rooms were reiterated.

We were predominantly a group of white christian people going into a hurting muslim world. The rules were simple. There was to be no discussion at all about God publically in Banda Aceh. We were not there to add insult to injury. We were there to help pure and simple. We were to be respectful of these people and what they had been through and what they believed. It was probably a big enough invasion for these people that all these strangers were coming into their land already. If someone asked us directly about our faith we would be honest but nothing more. We had an Indonesian pastor with us from Bali, so that we didn't seem like one more foreign force invading their space, we went in under his banner. Our trucks all said "Bali for Aceh" in english and Indonesian. As far as I recall none of the other aid groups (partners, ARMS or oaktree) had any advertising up.

In Langsa further preparations for the trip were made. Not knowing what conditions we were going into a massive rock sorting mission began. It is not as wierd as it sounds. Randy was going to build a water filter for whatever community we were in. It worked by first running the water through layers of rocks (big rocks, small rocks, smaller rocks, sand) and then the water was run through a filter and then an ultraviolet light. So we were sorting through a big pile of rocks into different size groups under the hot Indonesian sun. Other preparations were made here also.

The decision was also made that we would wait till nightfall to travel. It seemed that would be the safest option to avoid being set upon by rebels. In less then 24 hours we would be seeing first hand for ourself the destruction the tsunami had on this community and the suffering to the people. I wondered if I was prepared. How do you prepare for something like that? How do you prepare for so much human suffering?