Interviews
MY WORK WITH ADISTA
Report of Christel, currently on mission for CDE with Adista
After a dozen hours of travel I arrived in Banda Aceh on April 1.
At the airport, I was welcomed by Dedi, the representative of the board of directors of the association Adista, whom I will come to know and help during the six months of my mission for Chemins d’Enfances. Dedi is a young father of 25 who managed logistics and who now rents cars, among other occupations, because the trend is towards the diversification of economic activities. He is very enthusiastic about and involved in Adista, and is very happy to talk about the association.
The next day, I met the office team, which is composed of the program coordinator, the “community mobilizer,” the translator and the person in charge of logistics. They had no director and their administrative manager had just resigned! They were very pleased to welcome me and expected a lot from Chemins d’Enfances.
My first week was spent partly with my feet in the water, but not at the beach! Because Adista’s office was slightly below the drainage system, every rainstorm brought about 7 inches of flooding… Evacuating water together is as good a way as any to learn teamwork!
During the first month I met Adista’s full team of around 30 people, and visited the 6 centers and the mobile team that moves between 4 villages. These interviews, as well as the feedback from CDE’s previous mission in February, the discussions with headquarters team that had worked with Adista in the past and my daily observations led to my initial diagnosis. This was to help us to define the main lines of our work with the association.
The first thing was to recruit a director, an administrator and a translator and this was done between late April and early May. The office team of Adista is now complete, and everyone can focus more calmly on its activities. English courses for all the staff began in early May, and the teacher makes these lessons a time for exchanges of views as well as learning. The association’s organizational chart was restructured, and the office was moved in late May; working conditions are now excellent, although the computer system needs improvement. After that, we began work on the institutional strengthening of Adista, on training, fund raising and the means of ensuring its survival.
The needs of Adista do not stop at organizational support as problems with its structure are reflected in its activities, which are effective for children but need to be strengthened and developed. To do this, we have worked with Adista on the evaluation of activities and their impact. We have therefore collected and analyzed data from the centers; the formats used have been reviewed and each manager regularly comes to the office to computerize data. This required training the representative of the coordinators of the centers, who succeeded in mastering the software despite my poor teaching skills. She is now training her colleagues and it is a great success!
The Siron center was designed for children from Layeun, a community which was moved to the village of Siron after the tsunami. The houses were completed and the community returned to Layeun, a small village by the sea about an hour's drive on the south of Banda Aceh. So the center had to follow the community; it was disassembled and transported there, and has now been rebuilt.
The closure of the Siron centre was a sad event for the community because it was open to all displaced persons and victims of the tsunami as well as others, and the community of Siron was very attached to it. Adista allowed them to draw their conclusions about the time spent together and to make their requests. The mothers were particularly responsive and would like to continue the activities for their children. They are ready to take charge, have already identified a community gathering place and have asked Adista for assistance. The project is being studied and could be an interesting experience because the centers have a community-oriented vocation. It will be interesting to follow this up.
Aceh is a region that was devastated by the tsunami which took many lives. Physical scars are no longer so apparent, but each earthquake awakens anxious reactions and expressions of happiness or nervous laughter once it is past. Ghosts are everywhere; everyone hears and fears them, people flinch often and refuse to stay alone… Nevertheless, life goes on, and the Acehnese know how to take life with a smile – jokes are a local specialty.