FOR RELEASE: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Indonesian Students Describe Tsunami
Teuku Azhari Zakaria, from left, Dahlia Dahlia, Syarifah Dahliana, Dewi Fitriani and Teuku Tahlil came from Indonesia to study in the College of Education and Health Professions.
Dewi Fitriani is a slight young woman with a wide smile who laughs easily. She is studying to be a teacher. Like many University of Arkansas students, she left family members behind when she moved to Fayetteville.
But Dewi's family is a bit farther away than most. Her husband and small daughter are 10,000 miles away, a full 24-hour airplane flight away. They live in the Aceh Province of Indonesia, and Fitriani is one of nine students in the first cohort to study in the United States under the Tsunami Fulbright Initiative supported by the Bush-Clinton Fund. The two former presidents established the fund to assist in the recovery of Indonesia following the 2004 tsunami that devastated the continent.
Dewi and four other Indonesian students in the College of Education and Health Professions talked recently about their experiences during the tsunami. Three of the students are separated from their spouses as they study for advanced degrees in Fayetteville.
The scholarship program, sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the State Department, involves the Fulbright Commission in Indonesia, the America Indonesia Educational Foundation and the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta to recruit and select qualified students for graduate study at the University of Arkansas and Texas A&M University. A second and third cohort will be selected for academic years 2007 and 2008.
Students arrived on campus between March and June to pursue pre-academic training through the Spring International Language Center. In August, students moved into their graduate degree programs: Fitriani in elementary education, Teuku Tahlil in health science, Syarifah Dahliana and Teuku Azhari Zakaria in secondary education and Dahlia Dahlia in counseling. The students are expected to return to the Aceh Province to help in rebuilding efforts, but some have also expressed the desire to pursue doctoral degrees before returning home.
Collis Geren, vice provost of research and dean of the graduate school, welcomed the students in a statement earlier this year.
"This caliber of graduate students, whose studies here will have an impact on the future of Indonesia, uphold in the finest way the University of Arkansas' mission as a nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world," Geren said.
Survival
The five students related similar stories of being awakened by the earthquake on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004, the day the tsunami hit nine countries and killed more than 177,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province alone.
All described how they went outside after they felt the earth shake. They soon saw people running and shouting about the water coming. None of the five lost immediate family members in the natural disaster, although extended family members were killed. A nephew of Dewi, just 4 years old, died in the tsunami.
Chaos and confusion are common threads in their tales of the event. They all faced the bewildering decision of whether to run in hopes of finding a safer place or stay put, and it was hours before they could communicate with family members in other areas.
Dewi's husband broke ceiling tiles so her family could climb to a higher level in a government dormitory where they was staying to see an aunt off to a pilgrimage to Mecca.
Teuku Tahlil eventually made it to the hospital where he worked as a nurse, and he found the situation there out of control.
"More and more dead bodies were brought to the hospital, injured people, too," Teuku said. "The hospital staff lost control. People were breaking into the pharmacy."
Teuku Azhari Zakaria, known as Ayi, was working at a boarding school for children 12 to 18 years old. He saw people running, carrying their belongings and food, and another teacher told everyone to run. But Ayi said he was stubborn and didn't run.
"People were screaming, 'Water, water!'" he said.
He climbed onto a roof and later swam to another structure that was stronger. Only one child at the school died, Ayi said.
"I had one sister who was studying there," he said. "I was so scared for her."
His parents eventually made it to the school that day and took his sister and brother home with them, Ayi said. The school is being rebuilt.
Syarifah Dahliana was at a university complex when the tsunami hit and she found safety in the upstairs of a mosque on campus.
"We didn't know what had happened," she said. "We just knew the water came. There were many suffering people."
Dahlia remembered her husband calming her. She made waving motions with her hands as she talked, describing how the buildings swayed with the earth's movements.
"I thought it was the end of the world," she said. "I could see our car moving. Neighbors' cars were moving back and forth. My husband said to stay away from the electric pole. We held onto a fence for almost 10 minutes."
Dahlia and her husband considered leaving their home, but they could see the congestion at the street corner as scores of people fled coastal areas.
"We just waited," she said. "We sat together with neighbors on the road. Two hours later, a girl came with blood on her clothes. Her fiancé lived on our street. She said everything from where she had come was gone. She lost her family. She was safe because somebody helped her, put her on a roof.
"I asked her about our relatives. She said everything was in ruins."
Dahlia's husband eventually found out that his family was safe. They had gone to a mosque that was on high ground.
"My husband told me, 'Don't go anywhere. There are so many dead bodies.'"
Looking Ahead
Dahlia and Teuku worked with international aid agencies after the disaster. They had previously worked together on a university medical faculty and were the only two of the five students who knew each other before coming to Fayetteville.
Dahlia believes the master's degree in counseling she plans to take home will be very useful, citing the increase in post-traumatic stress disorder likely to follow such an event as the tsunami.
"It will take a long time to return to normalcy," she said.
The students are looking forward to a trip to Little Rock when they will meet former President Clinton. They remember his visit to Indonesia in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.
"He really cared about us," Dahlia said.
"He didn't request any special security," Ayi said.
"He was very humble," Dewi said.
In addition to missing their families, the students miss other things from home, especially the cuisine, which centers mainly on fish and is generally spicier. UA Graduate School personnel helped put them in touch with local people from the Aceh Province and those contacts have helped them acclimate.
Dewi hopes to return home next summer to pick up her daughter, who recently turned 4 years old. Her husband may be going to Germany on a yearlong scholarship, she said.
"Let it be to God what happens," Dewi said. "When we talked about me coming here, my husband said, 'This is a chance you may get only once in your lifetime.'"
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Contact:
Heidi Stambuck, director of communications
College of Education and Health Professions
575-3138, stambuck@uark.edu