Angels of Aceh: Agony of Aceh

Resensi buku oleh Christopher Bantick
Dimuat pertama kali di Herald-Sun (Australia) - Sabtu, 21 Januari 2006

Judul buku: Angels of Aceh
Penulis: Sophie York
Penerbit: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1741147468.

THE call for help was immediate when the tsunami struck Banda Aceh one year ago. Australia's initial medical response, named the CombinedAustralian Surgical Team-Aceh, was among the first on the scene.

A new book, Angels of Aceh by Sophie York, presents an account of the role CASTA played in meeting the medical needs of the Acehenese. It should be mandatory reading.

The reason is simple. The CASTA team showed palpable and yet understated daily heroism. It was something York says did not come without costs.

York is the wife of Paul Dunkin, an anaesthetist who answered the call when the news broke. A barrister and mother of four young boys, she interviewed the 28 members of the CASTA team.

"What the team relayed to me when they left Aceh was that they had left the people behind," she says.

"In an acute disaster, such as the tsunami, it is not out of character for the participants to feel they are indispensable. This was a mind-numbing tragedy that was hard for people experienced in disaster relief to comprehend."

Written from the perspective of someone at home in Sydney while her husband was in the field, York's account is not only highly informative about the work of CASTA but offers a personal dimension on those who went to help. This is often little understood because the focus of the tsunami aid effort was, quite properly, on the victims.

Still, York says that as much as her husband and the CASTA team were experienced and hardened to disasters -- some had helped at Threadbo in the landslide, in Bali after the bombings, during the Canberra bushfires and other emergencies -- there was an impact, even though they were psychologically well-suited.

"When Paul got home he was not himself. He was struck with how in Australia people whinged about insignificant things. He, as did the team, saw horrific wounds. Some people had lost limbs, and in some areas their whole street and everyone in it had gone.

"In the face of disaster and indescribable hardship, the Acehnese were accepting. I think being in Aceh has affected him deeply. He is kinder, he is more appreciative of all in his life.

"We were, as a family, all changed by the tsunami. We all see our priorities differently."

The enduring pain of Aceh one year on is evident in the slow progress of the rehousing of the people. Statistics reflect that only about 8 per cent of foreign aid actually gets to its intended site. People are still living in abject poverty.

According to Associate Professor Damien Kingsbury, director of international and community development at Deakin University, from the $5 billion in pledged official aid, "most is still waiting to be approved for spending. Many roads are still missing and bridges are temporary".

York says rebuilding Aceh is a long-term prospect.

"The process will take five to six years," she says. "It is a little like what happened during Cyclone Tracy. Prefabricated houses are provided before the rebuilding can begin.

"But it is not only houses. The community structures are gone as well. This means local government, education, even counselling. The CASTA team saw for the first time diseases such as tetanus, and people dying from it."