It's been two years since the destructive Indian Ocean tsunami took the lives of more than 300,000 people in over ten countries, shattered the dreams of countless families, and shocked the world.

Seventy percent of the death toll was in Aceh, Indonesia. The area had been under military rule for a long time because of the local separatist movement, so outsiders could hardly get in. After the calamity, the Indonesian government allowed the world to pour in love and assistance to heal the injured people and land.

More than 700 days later, people with broken hearts are starting their new lives. Now they cherish every day and have the courage to dream about the future.

Sitting in the plane flying over the green island of Sumatra, we saw a giant blanket of green extending northward to the horizon. Once in a while, farmland, looking like a tightly woven spider net, appeared and waited for rain to moisturize the land. When we entered the sky over the great plain in northern Aceh, the scene changed: the spider net farmland was everywhere, and villages and forests appeared like isles in an ocean, dotting the land here and there. People lived peacefully in their villages.

The plane took a turn and descended over Banda Aceh, located at the tip of the island, where the rich land and the sea met. Instead of seeing the various colors of fishing villages along the coast, all we saw was a giant swath of dark brown land covering the beach; no other colors were there. Two years ago, a giant tsunami caused by a tremor measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale ruthlessly devastated the area by sweeping people and houses away and leaving ruins behind.

The place was vast and empty, but close up we saw life.

People were digging up soil filled with debris and seashells to build walkways and ponds. Giant trees knocked down by the tsunami lay next to the ponds, and thin mangroves grew in the wetlands. Fish swam in dirty water, and a group of fiddler crabs waved their large claws.

Laborers built a shrimp trap with tree branches next to a forest that seemed to have been burnt by fire, and not far away several beautiful houses and cement walls were being built.

The land that was once submerged by sea water was sprouting new life, like people with broken hearts starting new lives. People of Aceh cherished their days, and they are gaining the courage to anticipate their future.

Rebuilding education

Only 978 of 5,816 schools were reopened after the tsunami. The lucky students who can continue their studies are given hope to move forward.

In a fifth grade classroom in Panteriek Great Love Village Elementary School, 26 students were listening to their teacher, Hayatun Nufus, teach them math. Some were working hard on their math problems, while some were drawing in their notebooks, but none of them diverted their attention to us. They were concentrating intently.

Most schools along the coast in Aceh were destroyed by the tsunami two years ago. Heartbreaking information revealed that the earthquake and the tsunami killed over 200,000 people in Aceh, one third of whom were children. Among 5,816 schools, only 978 have been reopened. Many students thus had to go to different schools or else quit schooling altogether.

Under the shadow of the tsunami

This new school we visited in a new neighborhood had been open for five months. The new buildings and new equipment allowed the students to concentrate and study hard. However, Principal Dra Safariah observed that the tsunami had left an indelible impact on the students: 20 percent of them had only one parent left, and 60 percent lived in poverty. Although the school waived the tuition fees for the students and provided them with necessary materials, the teachers also had to do a lot of counseling.

"Many students who became orphans were adopted by their relatives," explained the principal. "Because they have to adjust to their new environment, their grades aren't very good. The teachers visit the students' families and report to me. Nevertheless, the new families may be too busy to look after them, and they often ask us to shoulder more responsibilities."

During this critical period of reconstruction, the teachers have to be very attentive to help anxious students regain their confidence.

Hayatun took us to visit a beautifully decorated classroom. The posters and paintings on the walls were done by her student Hendra. "The tsunami destroyed this child's home. Although his parents are alive, they've divorced and his mother took him to live with a relative. She supports them with tailoring. Hendra is very smart, but the disaster has made him lax with his studies."

Whenever Hendra was absent or had problems with his studies, Hayatun would talk to his mother. She told her, "I can take care of your child at school, but you need to pay more attention to him at home." She also reminded Hendra not to worry about his family. He simply had to concentrate on his studies so he could be successful in the future. Now Hendra's grades have improved, and he has become more mature and polite.

Nevertheless, many students were so traumatized by the tsunami that they become agitated whenever the sky turns dark. "I tell them stories and sing with them to calm them down. I also encourage them to look forward and write down their expectations for the future, instead of looking back."

New campuses for a better future

Aceh is 1.6 times the size of Taiwan, but its population is only four million. The earthquake and the tsunami killed five percent of the population and heavily damaged property. At least 200,000 houses still await reconstruction.

In addition to providing emergency medical treatment and distributing relief supplies, Tzu Chi also set up tents for survivors as temporary shelters and started constructing a total of 3,700 houses for victims in Panteriek, Neuhuen, Meuloboh, and Teunom.

At the end of 2005, the first group of residents moved into the Tzu Chi Great Love Village in Panteriek. To help the children receive an education in the village, the kindergarten, elementary and middle schools were completed in July 2006. Right now, there are 262 students in 37 classes.

Hayatun's house and school were both destroyed by the tsunami, and she and her husband moved to a shelter. Two months later, she was assigned to work in a different school before she came to work in the Great Love elementary school. She and her husband have also moved into the village. "I'm glad to live in the Great Love Village. The place is good and safe, and we have good neighbors who treat us as if we've known each other for years."

Although the students were mostly poor, Hayantun still encouraged them to donate 500 rupiahs (five US cents) a month to an emergency fund. "If any student has an emergency, we can use the funds to help him or her."

At this time class was over, and the students approached us and bid us farewell by raising our right hands to touch their foreheads. Hayatun also said good-bye to them with a smile. "I taught them to be polite to visitors. If you want someone to respect you, you have to respect him first." With 28 years of teaching experience, she hopes every child can grow up happily after the tsunami.

On December 16, 2006, 500 people including Indonesian government officials, Tzu Chi volunteers from Taiwan and Indonesia, as well as village residents and students gathered at the secondary school for a transfer ceremony when Tzu Chi transferred the completed school buildings to the principal and the government for management. It is estimated that the school will accommodate 1,000 students.

In her speech, elementary school principal Safariah thanked Allah and Tzu Chi for building the new school for children of Aceh, so the students and teachers could have a stable place for learning. The residents now have homes and the students have schools to go to. Their new lives are much brighter.

Rebuilding houses

Although 85,000 families have moved into their new homes, there are still 120,000 homeless families. Many non-governmental organizations are still working hard to let the world see the dire conditions in Aceh.

For the past two years, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been working hard for Aceh's future, by rebuilding homes, improving sanitation, and providing psychological counseling, career counseling, etc. However, rebuilding homes is the most urgent problem and also the most difficult one.

The European Commission and the World Bank have allotted money to help people rebuild homes. They stated that people could rebuild their houses at the same spots or elsewhere, as long as they had obtained legal land ownership. However, many people's land ownership documents were lost in the tsunami, and the problem was further compounded by administrative tardiness that slowed down the re-issuing of legal documents. Therefore, reconstruction was also delayed.

We visited Desa Pulot, a little fishing village in western Aceh. Dahlan, the village secretary, complained about the slow reconstruction process. The government had promised to complete all of the houses last year, but only half of them have been completed so far. When he inquired about the reason for delays, the reply had something to do with sending documents, but he wasn't sure what that meant. And there were also problems with the prefabricated houses: The government said that there was no more funding to build more houses even when a second group of residents had also signed up to live in prefabricated houses. The village then had to ask for help from NGOs.

Despite all the complications, Dahlan still maintained his optimism about the future. "The boats were crushed by the tsunami, so the fishermen have had to find jobs elsewhere, but they aren't very stable. The village's economy is in shambles, but orphans, widows and elderly people are receiving help, and they're given priority to receive foreign assistance. USAID has promised to build houses for us at the beginning of 2007, so we are hopeful that the village will become even better than before the tsunami!"

School and mosque

In every disaster area, we saw reconstruction work being carried out. Many new houses were painted with bright colors, and the shiny paint on window frames seemed to have just dried. We saw many construction projects being carried out in the same village. Different kinds of prefabricated houses erected by different organizations were built with wooden planks or metal sheets in areas scattered with weeds. It was a common scene where residents were sparse and the new buildings coexisted with the village's desolation.

The scene at the Panteriek Great Love Village was different. After entering the main gate, we saw a mosque to our right that was still being renovated. Each residential house had white walls and blue roof tiles. There were also flowers and shrubs in front of many houses. The little trees planted a year ago have grown taller than an adult.

Every morning, people left home in their vehicles to go to work. The women then started cleaning their houses, chatting with their neighbors, or sitting in front of their houses and nodding to visitors.

"I'm happy to move into the Great Love Village, because it is very organized and safe, the place is beautiful, and the neighbors are nice," said Gustriana Sofyan (Igus for short), who once lived in the Jantho Tzu Chi Tents Area. She held her four-month-old son, Deryansyah Putra, in her arms and there was a motherly smile on her face.

After the tsunami, Igus helped look after the health of women and children in the Jantho Tzu Chi Tents Area, and she was also in charge of distributing goods. She met her future husband there, and they decided to get married. One week after moving into the Great Love Village, she set up a small shop at her house.

When asked if she was still a Tzu Chi volunteer, she replied shyly, "Now I've been nominated as the secretary of the village's loan cooperative, and we give loans to women for small businesses. I guess I could be called a volunteer too."

The money for the cooperative was provided by an NGO. It encouraged women to be financially independent and bring more income to their families by providing loans with low interest rates. Already, 54 people have taken loans, each one bringing hope for a new life.

While playing with her son's little hands and feet, Igus continued: "The income that my husband makes by selling vegetables on his bicycle in the village and from my own little business is enough to support ourselves. At home, I can look after my son, my house, and my business. Whenever I'm tired from my secretarial work, I feel satisfied just by looking at my son."

Having finished cleaning up her tidy home, Igus continued: "People in the village are from different races and backgrounds, but we don't have any differences. My neighbor is Chinese, and we are like sisters. Many people want to move in, and some even ask me how to apply."

What Igus described was the epitome of daily life in the Great Love Village. Supandi, who helped with distributions after the tsunami and has now managed the Great Love Village for over a year, mentioned that the major difference between the Great Love Village and other villages was the sense of identification among the village residents.

"Not long after these residents moved in, we held tea parties to introduce to them how Tzu Chi volunteers from around the world were mobilized to provide free clinics and distributions and to build tents and Great Love villages for survivors. We hoped that the new villagers would appreciate this place and maintain it thoughtfully, so the community could become even better."

For this purpose, Supandi even held a community cleaning competition to encourage residents to keep their homes clean. Every Sunday morning at seven o'clock, he also assembles volunteers to clean up the public areas.

Reborn with Great Love

Although the sun had only just risen, several villagers wearing volunteer vests were inspecting the public areas in the village. Most of them were Chinese. Xiong Shou-ding, who moved in just two months before, showed up every weekend. He trailed behind the group, but he cleaned up the area very thoroughly so that he would not miss even weeds hidden under shrubs.

He said humbly, "I ran a little business before the tsunami, and now I sell cakes to stores. I take the weekends off so I can clean up the place." His two children were studying in Medan, and he was very satisfied with his life.

Another volunteer, Wu Qing-shan, lived outside the village. He joined Tzu Chi after the tsunami. Many of his friends had their lives changed because of the tsunami, but they were lucky to have moved into the Great Love Village, so he also wanted to help. He told us that the majority of Chinese in Aceh either worked in offices or were tricycle drivers, and none of them were rich. "They lost their homes in the tsunami, and their rental houses were expensive. It was good for them to move into the Great Love Village. Now everyone is trying to get back to his previous lifestyle, and financial conditions are improving."

The Panteriek Great Love Village has 500 families, and among them over 90 Chinese families were assigned by lottery to houses in different parts of the village. Supandi said, "I think it's perhaps due to the fact that everyone in the village has survived the tsunami, so it's the first time I've witnessed such harmony between the local Chinese and Indonesians."

Over 1,000 of the planned 3,700 Great Love houses have been completed. The villagers of the Panderiek Great Love Village had a very good start: When an earthquake struck Yogyakarta, the villagers voluntarily donated money to help the victims. Master Cheng Yen once said that a single good thought can expel countless calamities. If the villagers can maintain and spread their good thoughts, I believe there will be no more disasters.