Good Neighbors

By Sean Sprague

Darlina Usman lives right across the alleyway from Sofyan Yusuf. They're relatively new neighbors, each a new homeowner in the Banda Aceh suburb of Mon Ikeun. They share more than the same city block. Three years ago, before they knew each other, they were both grieving for dear family members and friends, a few of the more than 150,000 people in Aceh who perished after the 2004 tsunami.

Over the last three years, they have recovered in their own ways — dealing with the trauma, building back their lives, finding other means of employment and now having a new home. They carry on, leading lives that are very different from each other. In fact, their backyards are a good indication of their personalities, which couldn't be more of a contrast. Darlina's yard is a model of neatness planted with attractive potted flowers while Sofyan's backyard is a garbage dump. But they are the best of neighbors.

Darlina makes cakes and donuts for a living, and sells them to local coffee shops. She bakes them in an oven in her neat new kitchen. Sofyan makes his living by sifting through other people's garbage, looking for recyclable materials. He wheels home his precious loot in sacks attached to his bicycle, then sorts it in his backyard to separate piles of plastic, glass and metal. A scrap dealer calls at his place periodically to buy it. Sometimes Sofyan also goes fishing, when the fish are about.

The two new houses facing each other are identical on the outside: beige-colored with white corners and columns, and a white area under the roof gable with wooden boards and a red roof. Although small, the houses wouldn't look out of place in an American suburb and are probably much smarter and sturdier than anything Darline or Sofyan lived in before.

The Gift of Home

Darlina and Sofyan received the keys to their new houses, built by Catholic Relief Services, a month before my visit. They had lived meanwhile in temporary wooden houses which CRS had also provided, in partnership with International Federation of the Red Cross. Next to his new house stands Sofyan's wooden house, which he uses as an extra building.

"I will never tear it down or sell it because it was a gift!" says Sofyan about his wooden transitional shelter.

Both Darlina and Sofyan barely survived the tsunami's wrath. Their families are forever changed: Three of Darlina's five children are still missing, probably washed away to sea. At the time, she had been visiting another part of the neighborhood. She says she is only alive because she climbed a coconut tree and clung there in fright until the waves retreated.

Sofyan is a widower; his wife and one of their children also died in the tsunami. He and his other children survived by running to the nearby hills, where they stayed for five days without food or shelter.

Their new homes should have more voices filling the rooms, more laughter in the messy and neat yards, but Sofyan and Darlina are moving on, making the most of what life has given them.

Photojournalist Sean Sprague has reported on CRS projects around the world, most recently in the tsunami-affected regions of Indonesia.