30 May 2008

Dozens of children crowd excitedly around Juwita Kristina Zebua, a 24-year-old Indonesian Red Cross volunteer in Nias. They watch with fascination as she demonstrates cardiopulmonary resuscitation and first aid using mannequins.

“What will you do if you see somebody is injured?” asks Juwita.

“Help him!” yell the primary school students in unison. Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: In a conference on Nias architechture held in Vienna on October 2006, the participants of the Conference established the so-called Nias Island Research Network (NIRN). To know more about this Network, E. Halawa* from Yaahowu website requested an interview with the Ntework’s Coordinator, Petra Gruber. The following are Gruber’s the responses to Yaahowu’s questions. Read the rest of this entry »

By Ahmad Husein, International Federation’s communications coordinator in Indonesia

On Nias Island, an Indonesian Red Cross initiative has mobilized and trained more than 800 new volunteers in just ten months. Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, December 30, 2007

George Junus Aditjondro

Stone jumping (hombo batu) and surfing are the two most well-known attractions for tourists coming to the island of Nias, 75 miles west of Sumatera, which only take place in Teluk Dalam on Nias’ south coast. Young Nias men jump over 2-meters stone walls for Rp 50,000, in the village of Bawomatoluo. Meanwhile, surfing was introduced and developed by foreign tourists on the beach of Sorake. Read the rest of this entry »

By Aubrey Belford - Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA–When Kuntoro Mangkusubroto dashed in to lead reconstruction of Indonesia’s Aceh in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, it was with little immediate help from his own government. Read the rest of this entry »

Nias, Indonesia, The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and UN-HABITAT this week handed over 486 new homes to survivors of two disasters that left a trail of destruction in the region. Read the rest of this entry »

*total 102.063 houses for Tsunami and Earthquake victims in Aceh dan Nias

Banda Aceh, 31 October 2007- Director of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Executing Agency for Aceh and (BRR) Kuntoro Mangkusubroto announced today that more than 100.000 houses have been built till the end of October 2007 for the victims of Tsunami and earthquake in Aceh and Nias region. “Alhamdulillah, at this end of October 2007 we can finish building the 100.000th house or to be exact 102.063 unit of houses for our families in Aceh and Nias,” Kuntoro said. Read the rest of this entry »

*An Interview with Prof.Dr.med. Ingo Kennerknecht by E. Halawa & MJ Daeli

Editor’s note: On 10 Augutst 2007 Yaahowu sent 9 interview questions to Prof.Dr.med. Ingo Kennerknecht of the Institute of Human Genetics, University of Munster, Germany, regarding his research on genetics of Nias People (see article: Merunut Asal-Usul Orang Nias Berdasarkan DNA/Gen). On 17 October 2007, Yaahowu received Prof. Kennerknecht’ responses. The interview questions were compiled by E. Halawa from Yaahowu and M.J. Daeli, a Nias elder and an occasional article contributor to Yaahowu. Both the interviewers acknowldge the contributions from Yaahowu visitors who left their comments on a number of articles displayed in this website which proved to be of a valuable help in making this interview possible. Read the rest of this entry »

Note: In 2002 and 2003 Prof.Dr.med. Ingo Kennerknecht visited Nias for a research on the origins of Nias people. The preliminary results of this research was presented by Prof.Dr.med. Ingo Kennerknecht at the Conference on Traditional Architecture And Art On Nias at the Museum for Ethnology, Vienna, October 30th & 31st 2006. The following is the paper “The Genetics of Nias - Concepts and First Data” by Prof.Dr.med. Ingo Kennerknecht and P. Johannes Hammerle (with permission from Nias Island Research Network Coordinator, Petra Gruber. Read the rest of this entry »

ALOR STAR, Oct 9 (Bernama) — Mahathir Mohamad, an orphan whose parents died in the earthquake that hit Pulau Nias in Indonesia two years ago, today began a new life at the AlBukhary Orphanage here. Read the rest of this entry »