Getting
the Big C in focus
Cancer is a
word, not a sentence, say survivors who know that the vile disease can be
thrashed. All that’s needed is the
right treatment, limitless support layered with luck – and a powerful positive
attitude.
Being
confronted by a major task with a deadline also helps - like producing a book
ahead of the 10th anniversary of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.
“Publishing
requires huge energy,” said New Zealand geomorphologist Dr Noel Trustrum as he
red-inked text corrections and sorted page proofs in his hometown of
Wellington. He’d just returned from
another ten-day high-tech radiation treatment in Auckland, 650 kilometers
distant.
“But this
has kept me going. I’ve had no time to
think about my cancer.”
There’s
another factor in play: every page carries a story or picture of resilience and
recovery from appalling tragedy, courage in crises and the determination to
look ahead; the bigger picture shrinks individual problems.
Aceh
Revives – Celebrating 10 years of Recovery in Aceh is a then-and-now account of what’s happened
since the world’s third largest recorded earthquake struck off the west coast
of Sumatra, heaving the ocean floor and triggering a huge tsunami.
At least
230,000 people perished as a tidal wave up to 30 meters high smashed its way
through coastal communities in several Indian Ocean countries. Aceh took the
brunt; around 170,000 were killed and 500,000 of the province’s 4.5 million
population were left homeless, jobless and landless.
The city of
Banda Aceh was heavily hit. In the book
Imam Munandar recalls “a large black blanket creeping over the land” and his
desperate, but unsuccessful search, for members of his family.
Five weeks
after the wave Dr Trustrum arrived on an assignment from NZ Aid to report on
long-term needs. The small South Pacific nation had already provided emergency
support and now wanted to help prevent further tragedies.
He’d been
an irregular visitor to Indonesia on watershed management aid projects since
1988 but was unprepared for the “sensory overload” he encountered in early
2005.
“I soon
became overwhelmed by the full force of sights, sounds and smells,” he wrote
“It felt surreal to the point that I found myself being desensitised to the reality
of the situation.”
Geomorphologists
(“skin of the earth scientists”) are multi-discipline people who study
landforms and the forces that shape them. Dr Trustrum, who’d originally trained
as a geologist, had been selected because he was one of NZ’s leading
specialists with more than 30 year’s experience in Europe, Japan, Vietnam and
Pacific Islands.
In Aceh he
met conservationist Mike Griffiths another Kiwi and long-term Indonesian
resident. He’d established the Leuser
International Foundation in 1994 to protect the ecosystem around the
3,404-meter high Mount Leuser.
Griffiths
knew his way around and had the right contacts. By the time Dr Trustrum returned to his Wellington office in the
government-owned company GNS Science where he worked as a senior development
specialist, he already had the makings of a reforestation project to stabilize
the land and provide security for farmers.
He also had
gigabytes of photos, for he was a keen landscape photographer, a fascination
developed during his teen years when his father had a darkroom. The photos showed the devastation and led to
a small book called Scars: Life after the Tsunami.
He’d kept
the lens of his special panoramic camera mainly focused on the torn townscapes
and ripped lands rather than the numbed and battered people struggling to
understand what had happened.
Three years
later he organized a workshop on disaster risk management in Jakarta to
celebrate 50 years of NZ-Indonesia diplomatic relations. Also there was Indonesia’s famous Dr Fixit -
Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, then director of the Bureau of Rehabilitation and
Reconstruction in Aceh and Nias (BRR), now head of the President’s Delivery
Unit. He suggested Dr Trustrum’s photos be published to commemorate the
disaster.
Then fate intervened with a rare liver cancer. He underwent a major operation that went
wrong. Doctors reckoned he’d last six
months.. “But they didn’t know Noel,” said his wife Helen. “He’s determined.”
He recovered, but this year the disease reappeared – hence
the radiation.
Despite these traumatic events he was determined to revisit
Aceh in case the cancer made it impossible to travel. With the help of translator Kadek Krishna Adidharma and
photographer Udo von Mulert he set out to record the “inspirational stories”
and reshoot the scenes recorded in 2005.
Supported by NZ Ambassador David Taylor, Dr Trustrum
mustered eight corporate sponsors to back the 218-page book, which includes
poetry from people like award-winning Bali midwife Robin Lim who also rushed to
help in Aceh.
Aceh Revives, published by Saritaksu Editions in Bali (run by
another Kiwi, Sarita Newson) will be launched at the Ubud Writers’ and Readers’
Festival in early October and then in Jakarta at the NZ Embassy.
“Rehabilitation is still a work in progress, but overall it’s
pretty amazing,” Dr Trustrum said. “There’s now very little evidence of broken
buildings though the fear remains.
“Eight four-storey escape buildings have been built on
pillars allowing waves to rush through the lower levels, but many houses would
still be vulnerable if another tsunami hit.
“There’s also a huge need for a better evacuation strategy.
In April 2012 there was another big quake; gridlock followed as people trying
to get to higher ground were moving against those seeking to reach the escape
buildings (pictured right) closer to the sea.
“It’s been a fulfilling exercise to discover the
powerful untold stories of the recovery that demonstrate the ability of the
human spirit to endure, recover and rebuild.
“This isn’t just about Indonesia. It’s about what happened, how people coped,
what’s going on now and the lessons learnt– this is of international
importance.
“The resilience of the Acehnese people has inspired me
to move beyond my own personal struggle for good health.”
(First published in The Jakarta Post 29 September 2014)
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