As Indonesians came to grips with a natural disaster that would forever change their lives, Church World Service went to work helping communities to meet immediate and long-term needs.
In the initial days and weeks following the Dec. 26, 2004 disaster CWS worked alongside international ACT Alliance and other local partners to provide immediate help: emergency food, water, shelter and CWS Kits that helped bring some comfort in the chaos. Before long attention turned to the long-term: how to work alongside Indonesian communities where we’ve enjoyed long relationships in figuring out the future, together.
Ultimately the CWS efforts in Indonesia after the tsunami focused on housing reconstruction and rehabilitation, supplementary feeding, distributing medicine, CWS Health and Baby Care Kits, and items communities needed to get by. CWS also provided access to clean water and sanitation facilities, as well as trauma counseling, psychosocial support and child development programs.
A decade later, photojournalist Paul Jeffrey caught up with some in the communities we served to see how they’ve fared. It’s been 10 years, and the new beginnings we saw take root in the weeks following the tsunami have bloomed.