cASCADING PROBLEMS, CULTURAL BARRIERS
Recovery slow for orphans of tsunami
by Phil Hampton
ucla today
Decades of martial law are complicating humanitarian relief efforts
and are likely to prolong the emotional suffering of orphans and
other tsunami survivors in Indonesia, according to experts gathered
at Korn Convocation Hall Feb. 11.
“If you perpetrate violence on people, you can’t expect
people to trust you to lead a humanitarian response,” said
Geoffrey Robinson, associate professor of history and director of
the UCLA Center for Southeast Asian Studies.
He was among the experts in psychiatry, psychology, history, anthropology
and other fields who participated in a panel discussion on the children
and families who survived the killer waves that hit the Aceh region
of Indonesia. The panel was part of a three-day conference, “Four
Dimensions of Childhood: Brain, Mind, Culture and Time,” co-presented
by the Graduate Division and the Foundation for Psychocultural Research.
The Dec. 26 tsunami has killed an estimated 288,000 people, a death
toll that includes roughly 149,000 confirmed dead and 115,000 missing
and presumed dead in Indonesia, primarily in the Aceh region.
Before the panel discussion, representatives of two Indonesian aid
groups told heart-wrenching stories about children who watched their
parents being swept away. Thousands of these children, with no immediate
or distant relatives, are now housed temporarily in relief camps.
“When you talk about 16,000 people (orphans), it’s so
massive that you don’t know where to start,” said Helianti
Hilman, executive director of a Jakarta-based nonprofit group. “Unfortunately,
there are some who are taking advantage of the situation,”
she said, referring to human trafficking. She paused to maintain
her composure.
After the waves struck, rescuers found the region without critical
infrastructure such as communications. The regional conflict had
also kept nonprofit aid groups from working there. When help finally
arrived, government soldiers influenced who received help. “If
you are treating somebody from the separatist movement, and you
are discovered, you are likely to be punished,” said Livia
Iskandar-Dharmawanm, a psychologist and founder of a Jakarta-based
trauma recovery center.
Distrust for intruders is so strong that residents would rather
see a child remain in an orphanage in Aceh than be adopted by a
family outside the province, Hilman said.
Some children blame themselves for the disaster, said Iskandar-Dharmawanm,
who brought a poem written by an 8-year-old. “We know the
blame is ours. ... Oh, Allah, will you forgive us?” it said.
Hilman and Iskandar-Dharmawanm said their groups are helping to
train volunteers and approaching religious leaders in an attempt
to curb beliefs that may make emotional recovery more difficult.
Robert S. Pynoos, UCLA professor of psychiatry and co-director of
the National Network for Child Traumatic Stress, said many tsunami
survivors will suffer traumatic grief and focus on images of the
dying, preventing them from healing. “The world should stay
focused,” Pynoos said, advocating long-term intervention.
Melvin Konner, professor of anthropology, neuroscience and behavioral
ecology at Emory University, acknowledged the trauma, but also noted
that humankind’s evolution is based on successful adaptation
to stress. “People can triumph over adversity, and it’s
important that they be told that they can,” he said.
In a videotaped message to participants, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
(D-New York) praised the work of the Foundation for Psychocultural
Research and its members as a resource for aiding the young tsunami
survivors.
Robert Lemelson, president of the foundation and a UCLA lecturer
in anthropology and psychology who has done extensive work in Indonesia,
said the foundation would summarize the panel’s observations
and provide them to Senator Clinton.
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