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& EDUCATION
In my junior year, I was chosen to do a
study abroad program in Jordan. While
doing several research projects and
interning at the Jordan Career Education
Foundation (JCEF) in Amman, I also had
the opportunity to help organise training
programs for Jordanian government
employees funded by the King Abdullah II
Fund.
During my final year at Earlham, I won a
Davis Peace Project grant which allowed
me to start a non-profit organization in
the form of a craft-making and traditional
arts development centre, where I help
Acehnese mothers who lost their husbands
in the conflict or tsunami. http://www.
davisprojectsforpeace.org/projects/2011/
node/1634
This collection of experiences made me
understand my potential in leadership to
give back to my community.
What are you doing now?
I am currently working as a Management
Associate in Citibank, Indonesia. After
I graduated from Earlham, I was also
asked to take the position of the UWC
Committee Coordinator for Indonesia. I
have experienced how UWC can change
lives and I wanted to do the same for
others. Giving back is a big part of my
future goal, and I thought being involved
to help others find their paths through the Its aim was to provide long-term financial
UWC movement would fulfill this goal.
The above article was written by
Dr Linda de Flavis,
University Advisor UWCSEA
The rebuilding of SMP4, a Middle School
project enabled by UWCSEA’s Aceh Project
22 IndoConnect | Vol 4 No 4 2016 | www.indoconnectsingapore.com
The Aceh Project:
10 Years of Helping
Teachers, students, alumnus and even parents organised the aid
project to help for the long term and in a meaningful way
Determined to make a difference in the
aftermath of the Indian Ocean earthquake
and tsunami in December 2004, the
UWCSEA community offered immediate
support, but also wished to make a positive, to help with the long-term recovery.
long-term impact. Physics teacher Wayne
Fozzard wanted to do something to help
the victims and through discussions with
Anthony Skillicorn (then the Global
Concerns coordinator) and others, the
Tsunami Education Fund (TEF) was
established.
support to children who had lost their
parents in the tsunami. The plan was to
fund each tsunami yatim piatu (tsunami
orphan) through their high school
education, rather than provide short-term
or one-off payments. Modest payments
would be made directly to a bank account
in the child’s name; a sum not meant
to make students (or their new family)
dependent upon the funds, but to motivate
the students.
In the first few weeks after the tsunami,
Uchu Riza, an Indonesian UWCSEA
parent, travelled to Medan and then
to Banda Aceh to assess the situation.
She took photographs, looked into safe
accommodation, estimated prices for food,
fuel and transport, and delivered basic
supplies of clothes, shoes and food.
Three months after the tsunami, the first
of many UWCSEA teams— composed of
teachers and an alumnus—travelled to
Banda Aceh. There they saw the extent
of the disaster, but also that schools
had resumed operation—some holding
their classes in tents, while other schools
doubled up to share undamaged buildings.
Led by teacher Susan Edwards and Dave
Allen, this group also began planning ways
The Aceh Project, which encompasses
all of the work by UWCSEA in Banda
Aceh, commemorated its 10th year in
2015. Many people have supported this
work—teachers, students, staff, scholars
and scholars’ families, a Global Concerns
(GC) group, Project Week groups, alumni,
parents, as well as community members
from Banda Aceh.
The GC group began by raising awareness
and fundraising, then helping with record
keeping, and (in later years) maintaining
a Facebook page. The projects have
been learning experiences for everyone
involved—a chance to learn about relief
efforts, to witness the recovery of a
community from a natural disaster and a
30-year conflict, and an opportunity to get
to know a community through sustained
involvement in long-term service projects.
Lailul Ikram was one of the UWCSEA
students who helped lead student teams on
visits to Banda Aceh, and later managed
TEF financial accounts. He said, “I feel
most grateful to the many people who
were involved in the project. They used
their time and energy, to rebuild Aceh.
Their spirit inspired me to work towards
the community. It was this experience
that motivated me to continuously want to
make positive change, such as by doing a
peace project in Aceh funded by the Davis
Peace Project Organization.”