A Bit of Conflict

There is a village here called Lhok Timon. If you live in Lhok Timon you have two vocational options; fish or farm. Since the tsunami much of the farmable land has been destroyed leaving nearly 100 residents without a steady stream of income. So the leader of the village has petitioned the Indonesian government for permission to relocate their village. Unfortunately this requires the slash and burn removal of about 100 hectares of the most beautiful jungle I've seen yet.

So yesterday David and I tagged along with Rizol and Esron to scope out the lay of the land. About 15 minutes off the beaten path we are greeted by a tragic wasteland. What once was flourishing jungle had been cut down mercilessly and set ablaze. The remains of this incredible natural sanctuary was still smoldering (and in a few places still burning)...evidence that those responsible were not far off. In fact, they were closer than we realized.

Esron explained to us that the leader of Lhok Timon (sort of like an informal mayor) approached him to ask for his help. Out of desperation he had asked the Indonesian government for permission to destroy some jungle so he could relocate his village onto farmable land. The government reluctantly agreed when GAM (a freedom movement that has been fighting the Indonesian government for Acehnese independence for the last 30 years or so) became hostile again, attacking area palm oil plantations. The people of Lhok Timon were allotted 100 hectares of jungle to relocate around 80 or so villagers. But that is all the budge the government afforded.

The villagers are asking FH to supply them with cocoa and rubber tree seeds so that they can reestablish their livelihoods. Without our help 100 hectares of jungle is simply lost. As Esron did his best (which is actually quite commendable) to explain in his broken english; FH faces a dilemma. We do not under any circumstances want to encourage the ravenous slashing and burning of the jungle. We hold firm to our relationship and responsibility to the resources we have been given to steward. But these people have very little choice. So do we supply the seed, or not? Rizol, having grown up in Aceh, had some feelings to share.

The first reaction he saw out of David and me was utter disgust. "Why would the government agree to allow this? This is terrible!" And on and on we went, if not out loud at least to ourselves. David mentioned the alternatives like shade grown crops. The government could have allowed them to 'thin out' the jungle and still farm the land. What about water supply? How do you get water to a village of 80 in this rugged environment? On and on... He (Rizol) calmly (but firmly) told us to imagine ourselves in the shoes of the villagers.

For years they have been delt the short end of the stick from the Indonesian government. And from the top of the hill (with such a beautiful view...I really can't wait to share pictures) that we stood on underneath the makeshift tree house which a handful of these villagers now call home, just 5km away, you could see a large scale palm oil plantation. Just before the tsunami hit the Indonesian government gave permission to a Chinese company to log 8,000 hectares of this very jungle. The company built a road through the jungle to haul out the valuable logs and used the clearcut area to plant their oil palms. And the least the company could do, from Rizol's perspective, was employ the local Acehnese people. But instead the company brought in (for the most part) workers from Medan and Java to work the plantation.

GAM rose up as a movement of desperation and began to threaten and even attack the plantation. In one confrontation between GAM and the Indonesian military, Rizol's uncle was killed. The company had no choice but to suspend operations. We drove through the temporarily abandoned plantation on our way out.

So Rizol challenged us and said "if you were in the shoes of the Acehnese, what would you do? You have no money. There is no land to farm. And the government says 'yes' to big Chinese corporations and 'no' to its own people?!"

I've had all of 12 hours to process this dramatic trip into the jungle. And honestly I'm going to need more time. While I often times rail on about injustice instigated by capitalist democracies etc.etc.etc. this time it's real. It's one thing to discuss this type of thing in a classroom...but to see the people, to smell the burning jungle, to feel the anger in the heart of a real person that has been so directly impacted by the conflict...this is very new to me. I'll keep you all posted on my thoughts.

Until then, pray for the people of Aceh. And pray for the government of Indonesia.

Also pray for our staff...those working with the Acehnese and those who ARE the Acehnese. Pray that David and I would approach this issue with humility and refrain from carelessly ladling our western perceptions/ideals into the ears of those who are living the conflict. Pray for Esron. Pray for Rizol.

And also a pray of praise for stable health. For David and I this place is riddled with health risks (mom...never mind this section :) ) But God has kept us 100% (more or less) You can imagine how much of a bummer it would be to fall sick for a week or two out of only seven.

Thanks again for all your support. It sounds as though we may have a deal worked out with our neighboring NGO (Canadian Red Cross) which would allow us to share their internet connection. Pray that that would go through as well.