This is Ibu Kasmabati and her Mother (70 yrs), amidst the ruins of their family home in Sungai Geringging, Indonesia. On 30 September 2009, the 1st of two earthquakes struck West Sumatra and destroyed the dwelling that had housed their extended family since 1965.
Kasmabati works security and cleaning at the elementary school while her husband, Wan, sells chickens in the local market and works as a day laborer. Kasmabati and Wan’s joint income falls below the average monthly income for the area of $70 USD. Almost all of Kasmabati’s wages go towards uniforms, books, and school supplies for their 3 children, leaving the family with only Wan’s income to rebuild and meet the rest of the family’s needs.
HODR volunteers worked with Wan to deconstruct the home and salvage valuable materials for rebuilding. The trauma of seeing their collapsed home is now over and the rebuilding process begins.
With your donations and support we can help more families like theirs. With $250 we can supply a team of volunteers with tools to deconstruct earthquake-condemned homes, providing a clean slate to rebuild and as many as two-months-wages’ worth of salvaged bricks. With $700 we can support 20 volunteers for one week – that’s more than 1,000 volunteer hours helping families in need! We’re developing a shelter program, and while we’re still hammering out the details, for about $1,500 USD we hope to be able to build a family a transitional shelter, providing a safe place to live during the long process of rebuilding – currently many families are still living in tents.
Please give us millions of dollars so we can keep helping families in need. Okay, I guess we understand if you can’t give millions. But we do hope you’ll do all you can in this season of giving to help us provide safe space and shelter to Kasmabati & Wan, and other families like theirs. Your gift makes a direct impact.
Wishing you and yours all the best this holiday season!!
Thanks for your support!
-The HODR Team
We started with it on Day 1 and we’re still busy with it – deconstruction of rural homes. During the earthquake homes shook violently and walls buckled, often leaving the roof intact. Although the affected population of Padang Pariaman is proactively working to reclaim their ruined homes, many are so severely damaged that it is beyond the community’s ability to deal with the unstable structure. So the homes sit as a haunting reminder, precariously waiting to fall. The HODR hard hat team analyzes the structure, creates a safe working environment, re-claims salvageable materials, then in a controlled fashion brings the roof to the ground. Once the overhead hazard has been eliminated, volunteers busily remove the corrugated metal (aka zinc/galvanized iron/GI), disassemble the wooden trusses, and separate usable brick/stone from mortar. To date we have assisted in the safe deconstruction of 21 homes and 1 elementary school.
The driving force behind what we are doing is not only the elimination of unsafe structures but also the salvage of rebuilding materials. Doors, windows, ventilation block, wood, and zinc are all high value items in this area and everything we salvage translates directly to a cost saving when rebuilding. We have seen families utilizing their salvaged materials almost as quickly as we create it, turning the recycled pieces into temporary shelters and kitchens. The local household income for our area is equal to about US$70.00 per month, and our brick salvage efforts alone equates to about 2 months wages!
One of the highest compliments to our organization is to have a volunteer repeat their service at another project. We are proud of our programs and the work our return volunteers enable us to do (38% of volunteers on this project). Project Sungai Geringging is breaking some new ground on our international front with a high percentage of 1st time volunteers (62% of volunteers on this project). It is an honor to have so many people willing to fly almost around the world to join us on their first HODR experience. Thank you!
Although, schools (particularly primary schools) suffered heavy damages in the earthquake, resources for temporary classrooms were quickly mobilized and many now sport rows of temporary timber/plywood classrooms – a more conducive learning environment than hot canvas tents! However these temporary classrooms are often built right next to a precariously damaged masonry school building. Our deconstruction team worked side by side with local volunteers to “safe” an elementary school in a neighboring korong (neighborhood). The work was complicated and the scale was much bigger than the single-family homes we have been working on. Nonetheless, we brought the huge trusses down and salvaged tin that was quickly used to construct new temporary classrooms. Now, a new 3-classroom school building is under construction on the very site we helped demolish and clear.
HODR is always looking for opportunities to help communities in need and for ways to engage our volunteers in meaningful programs, often in partnership with other organizations. One week ago, we started working with IBU Foundation, an Indonesian NGO at work in Agam (the district just north of us) where they are building an IDP (internally-displaced persons) camp. These families lost their entire community in earthquake-induced landslides, and now they’re working with IBU to build shelters, water systems, and latrines in their new home.