Medair Closes Indonesia Programme

Indonesia – After three years of rehabilitation work to provide access to health services, and clean water and sanitation to thousands of people in Aceh Jaya and Nias Island, Medair has now successfully completed its Indonesian programme.

In 2006, Medair staff conducted a needs assessment on the west coast of Indonesia’s Aceh Jaya province and discovered isolated communities who were still struggling to recover from the 2004 Asian tsunami. As a result, Medair launched a new programme in the country with a focus on constructing water points and latrines alongside completed houses so that families who had lost their homes in the tsunami could resettle.

When the work in Aceh Jaya was underway, Medair turned its attention to the vulnerable people of remote Nias Island, who had been recovering from the tsunami when they were hammered by one of the strongest earthquakes in history. Medair responded by working in partnership with beneficiaries to rehabilitate health facilities and improve access to safe drinking water on Nias island, while also promoting hygiene awareness.

Medair completed its final project in Indonesia on 4 July, 2009, concluding the programme with all objectives met. From 2006 to 2009, Medair faced and overcame a host of challenges in Indonesia, and ultimately succeeded in providing vital and long-lasting improvements for more than 40,000 of the most vulnerable people in this country, including Norima Bu’uolo in the village of Hiliotula.

“In my family, and in the village,” said Mrs. Bu’uolo, “hygiene practice has improved and continues to get better. Families are using the health clinics, the latrines, as well as the clean water provided by Medair.”

“The work in Indonesia was not without difficulty,” concluded Mark Screeton, Medair Programmes Manager. “However, the team showed resilience and made tremendous efforts. We can truly look back with thankfulness on what has been achieved with and on behalf of the people of Indonesia.”

For media, please contact Janneke de Kruijf – Media Officer Tel. +41.78.6353.095

Ource: Medair website.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 12:20 PM and is filed under Reconstruction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.