http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/when-running-from-home-doesnt-have-to-mean-giving-up-a-home/406170
When Running From Home Doesn't Have to Mean Giving Up a Home
Bramantyo Prijosusilo | November 11, 2010
As evacuees from villages on Mount Merapi have fled increasing volcanic
activity in recent weeks, villagers in Banyuroto, on the adjacent slopes of
Mount Merbabu, have welcomed displaced people into their homes instead of
herding them to a public field or building. The idea emerged because unlike
most other areas receiving Merapi evacuees, Banyuroto has no such commons or
large building.
As fate would have it, Banyuroto's decision points to the direction where all
of Indonesia's disaster mitigation values and skills should be directed.
Bundling victims of disaster onto trucks and dumping them into public buildings
with pathetic facilities - our standard practice - is simply barbaric compared
with the compassion and good faith that the people of Banyuroto are
demonstrating.
By "adopting" victims into families in villages, the displaced are ensured
access to clean water, a kitchen, fresh company to cheer up the gloom and a
recognizable cultural identity that comes as part and parcel of a village's
daily routine.
Mornings will be broken by the sound of cockerels crowing rather than the din
of thousands of people stirring after a sleepless night in a camp, waking
exhausted, terrified and traumatized. In a camp, getting a simple thing that
could preserve one's sanity in times of crisis - such as a nice cup coffee made
exactly the way you like it - would be impossible.
Not so in a family's home.
Also, under this "village adoption" model, the money sucked into the whirlpool
that disaster mitigation operations tend to create would be flowing into a
village's economy.
Instead of cooking tons of rice and food in huge quantities, the same amount of
food could be cooked in kitchens of the thousands of village homes, and shared
together in the warm social setting of a home.
With the above thoughts in mind, earlier this week I started a Facebook group
called "Satu Keluarga Satu Sodara" ("One Family One Relative") in an attempt to
spread the idea that we need a paradigm shift in the way we handle displaced
populations during times of natural disasters - and to demonstrate that an
appeal to villagers' kindness anywhere in Indonesia would immediately receive
support.
Bureaucrats and academics might find it a nightmare to imagine organizing whole
cities or provinces to be absorbed into a neighboring region's homes, but
experience suggests otherwise.
When 1,400 people from Wonolelo arrived in Banyuroto, the host villagers
received them in their homes so that immediately the visitors could have a
rest, a warm drink and sympathy.
In my own village in Ngawi, East Java, I tested the idea of such a paradigm
shift by pitching it to my village chief.
He immediately supported it without reservation and declared that our village
would happily receive evacuees from Merapi.
The old puppeteer next door who overheard our conversation said that even he,
who has been disabled and cared for by his wife for more than 10 years, could
host a family with one child.
Most displaced people in the barracks and other public buildings are villagers
who would feel most at home in another villager's house.
For the host it would not be much more of a hassle than having relatives over
for Idul Fitri.
For the displaced population, it would allow a way to stay healthy and
productive; people could join in the village marketplaces and trade, or they
could work in the fields.
Official monetary aid, if there were any, would inject support into the
village's economy, directly contributing to the overall welfare of both the
host villages and the displaced persons.
If the government supported this idea it would be even easier to bring to
fruition, and if its values were internalized it could become our nation's
standard first response to displacement.
Some of the more self-righteous among us have callously accused disaster
victims of being immoral and less than faithful to God, and thus deserving of
their fates.
The truth is, even the most God-fearing and righteous among us cannot escape
the fact that we live in one of the most geologically volatile places on earth,
with crashing continental plates causing earthquakes and tsunamis, eruptions
and flooding.
Merapi will erupt and tsunamis will sweep over whole islands, but with more
compassion and a better understanding of our own values, we would be better
able to survive such catastrophes.
The reality is that we need to be able to calmly and quickly evacuate whole
cities, provinces and even islands because of the very volatile geological
nature of our country.
Imagine evacuating the area within a 30-kilometer radius of Merapi to public
spaces outside of the zone now.
Total chaos would erupt and traffic would come to a standstill.
After dumping evacuees in public spaces with minimum facilities, health issues
would surface quickly because most places do not have adequate clean water and
waste management facilities.
If evacuees instead were quietly absorbed into the homes of the host
population, such a gargantuan feat could be pulled off in a long and hard day.
It bears mentioning that the wisdom of the Banyuroto villagers is by no means
unique in history.
More than 1,400 years ago Muhammad's followers, displaced from Mecca, were
housed in the homes of the Anshar in the city of Yathrib, which later became
known as the city of the prophet.
Bramantyo Prijosusilo is an artist, poet and organic farmer in Ngawi, East Java.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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