Heading into my second winter and dreading it. Summer was great, though much too short.
Still miss Indonesia.
Other blogs I like from Mongolia:
Skyetalks Blog - http://skyetalk.wordpress.com/
Peace Corps Mongolia - http://peacecorpsmongolia.wordpress.com/
Land of Blue Skies - http://blueskyland.wordpress.com/
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I used to think the word "shrimp" meant some little pink and white thing you'd see in a cocktail glass. So imagine the shock of seeing this gigantic breeder at a model hatchery in Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra. We called her Big Momma. A breeder like this can produce a million eggs.
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There's more about shrimp farming in Aceh in this photo journal:
(download)
Thanks to the Aussies for funding us!
Four years ago today, an earthquake triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean which devastated Aceh. Other places, including Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India, were also badly hit, but Aceh suffered the most. Of the 225,000 people killed, about 165,000 were in Aceh alone. It lasted about 30-minutes on a Sunday morning, leaving wreckage and corpses everywhere. The devastation is still hard to comprehend.
The Tsunami put an end to the 30-year conflict in Aceh, and led to the biggest reconstruction effort in history. I came in mid-2006, and remained for almost two years working on private sector development projects. It was one of the best times of my life.
Aceh is peaceful now, and is reintegrating with the world. But the holiday season will always be a little sad for me, in part because of the tragedy, and in part because I miss Aceh so much.
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When I lived in Aceh, which suffered the greatest losses in the 2004 Tsunami, I contributed to the World Bank's Private Sector Development blog. There was a category called Aceh Diary, started by my friend Shaela Rahman, who helped set up our office there. After I left there was nobody to take over, and I started writing for A Mongolian Tale. The Aceh Diary category no longer exists, but the posts are still in cyberspace. I've collected them here, mainly for my own ease of access, but also for anyone else who is interested.
My Posts:
Aceh Diary 2.0 ♦ An Indonesian Esperanto ♦ Ramadan ♦ A Visit to Nias Island ♦ Shrimp Day at IFC ♦ Risky Business: Bringing Seaweed to Nias ♦ Shoes (not) Optional ♦ Happiness is a full Bak Mandi ♦ Fighting Poverty at 25m ♦ I Left my Belly on Mount Seulawah ♦ An Acehnese Biker Chick ♦ Goodbye Aceh
Shaela's Posts:
First Impressions ♦ Photos ♦ Coordination ♦ Photos ♦ A Bisa State of Mind ♦ Aceh Diary on BBC Radio ♦ Commemoration ♦ Price Distortions ♦ Dining Out ♦ Banda's Beehive ♦ The Housing Hole ♦ Wolfowitz Visit ♦ Hazards and Risks ♦ On the Weekend, Work or...? ♦ The Staffing Challenge ♦ Handing Over the Torch ♦ An Aceh Veteran Speaks Out
Aceh has changed completely since Shaela went there in 2005. You can get an update of Aceh's economy and reconstruction efforts at the World Bank's Tsunami and Earthquake Reconstruction site. There is also an interesting article in the online publication Inside Indonesia about the return of the founder of GAM, the Free Aceh Movement.
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