Art Traditionnel Javanais

Yogya: Candi (temples)

Sur la route de Yogya a Borobudur, de nombreux petits temples se cachent dans les villages. Bien que Borobudur leur fasse de l'ombre, ces petits "candi" sont tres beau a voir, surtout lorsqu'ils sont toujours utilises pour des prieres comme un de ceux ci-dessous.

Le Premier temple et son arbre magique

A moment of spirituality inside the temple

Deuxieme temple

Jogyakarta: Borobudur Temple

We left the hotel at 5 am to avoid the crowd... it was a great idea as we were able to walk up through all levels without nobody there! Borobudur is amazingly beautiful as it overlooks the mountains. From the very top, we got a heavenly view of the horizon. At 7 though, trouble arrived in the form of two Indonesian classes of ten year olds... the rest of the visit was spend taking pictures with adolescents and trying to escape a hord of uniforms...

UNESCO description:

This famous Buddhist temple, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries, is located in central Java. It was built in three tiers: a pyramidal base with five concentric square terraces, the trunk of a cone with three circular platforms and, at the top, a monumental stupa. The walls and balustrades are decorated with fine low reliefs, covering a total surface area of 2,500 m². Around the circular platforms are 72 openwork stupas, each containing a statue of the Buddha.

Christmas at our place, december 19th

Homemade xmas tree...

Benoit et mesdames les tomates farciesXmas goodies...

Anne-So, Abel et Nick

New goggles for Alex...oh My!Alex, is that a spiderman present???Debalage de cadeaux pour Adele et Momo

Halloween with the crew

Group picture: Do we look ridiculous or what..

You have to see it to believe it.. From left to right, Nick, Ed, Monica and Abel

Monica and Georgina looking sexy

social violence in aceh

You can feel the difference between a peaceful society and a post-conflict one... there is no such thing as social peace and order here... and for once, let's get out of Banda Aceh to get a real sense of what's going on here.. I don't know if some of you remember pictures and stories from Lhokseumawe, a town six hours from Banda where we have a field office... I was down there to conduct field surveys...

Well, my collegue is currently down there to close our office there.. Our programs are finished. Late last night, a group of twenty men from the "village" (actually just a bunch of violent idiots who probably came from all over town) showed up at the office where the moving truck was and started threatening our staff. They wanted to be hired to "move" us (meaning filling in the truck) for 1 million 500 thousand rupiah. We already had someone doing it for 500 thousand. They became violent and angry when our staff told them that off course they would not pay three times the price. This morning, they came back, and stopped all activities in the office. They went up towards our drivers and other staff carrying things and threatened to beat them up if they did not stop immediately. Our staff closed the gates and locked themselves in the office and called the police... The "police" came, meaning two officers who started negotiating the amount instead of immediately telling the people to leave. This group of men have NO rights whatsoever... But they are putting pressure on other people and getting what they want from it.. In the end, one of our staffs agreed to give 200 thousand rupiah more and therefore paying them 700 thousand roupiahs. It was accepted, and that group carried the office furniture into the truck, not forgetting to steal several things on the way.

It's scary how groups of people can have such a power on others.. The threats are still very much taken seriously, probably as much as during conflict times. Of all people present, even the police, nobody reminded these people they had no business being in our office and that they had no revendications to bring.

The wounds of a post-conflict society are hard to heal. And actually, after the blissful immediate post-peace agreement period, I'm scared Aceh is getting back on the wrong tracks.. Only time will set that record straight.

Let's end on a much more positive note: here are some of my GTZ colleagues!

Intant, Nanda and Hani

Matthias, far right, Hani, center, and another Matthias behind the camera...

Field trip to Lhokseumawe

Me revoila revenue a Banda Aceh apres trois semaines a Lhokseumawe (bon je l'avoue.. je rentrais les week end..) pour superviser une etude d'impact de deux de nos projets "Back to Business". C'etait au final tres chouette de decouvrir une autre ville et aussi d'aller a la rencontre de nos beneficiaires dans les villages... Lhokseumawe se trouve a cinq heures de Banda Aceh, et a souffert differemment (peu de Tsunami, mais enormement de problemes lies au conflit arme, encore maintenant...)
Voici donc des photos, de notre equipe d'interviewers aux gens dans les villages.... que du bonheur!

In the villages



Interviewing our beneficiaries...







During the training I conducted on team building and how to do a survey... The "Back to Business" Survey team!

Anecdote: La Rage au Ministere

Discussion rapportee par ma collegue, lors d'une discussion avec un de nos partenaires sur notre nouveau projet en Aceh, le partenaire etant le Ministere de l'Elevage/Betail. Apres avoir parle du contenu du projet dont une des activites est la relance de l'elevage telle qu'elle etait pratiquee avant le tsunami dans les trois villages cibles, le responsable du ministere au niveau de la province d'Aceh intervient sur la vaccination:

"Anne So: Oui bien sur, nous prevoyons de faire une campagne de vaccination en coordination et cooperation avec le ministere.
Le Fonctionnaire: Tres bien! Nous sommes tres motives! La population de ces 3 villages ont ete durement touches et peu aides. Et puis ils sont tres isoles sur cette petite ile.
- Oui. On compte sur vous, c'est chouette, blablabla...
- Et il y a beaucoup de chiens sur cette ile?
- euh oui, enfin non, oui...
- Si vous voulez, le Ministere peut organiser et gerer une campagne contre la rage, pour limiter les risques.
- ah bah oui pourquoi pas.
- Nous pouvons organiser une battue et tuer tous les chiens de la zone.
- ...
- ...
- Euh pfff oui enfin non, quand meme, je sais pas... Mais il y a la rage sur cette zone?
- Non.
- ..."