Rotary to
Build Youth Complex in Banda Acheh
by
Howard Chang
April 26, 2006
—— Rotary clubs have
launched an ambitious project to build a children’s village and a
youth center in Banda Acheh for orphans of the Tsunami. The project
will include accommodations, medical and education facilities and a
mosque. When completed, the youth center complex will be able to
house 150 children and 500 boarding university students at any one
time.
 onstruction
began in January and the opening of the Rotary Youth Centre is
planned for December 2006. The Centre will include a children’s
village, called Gampong Anak, which will have 15 homes that each
house 10 children and an adult caretaker. The total cost for the
entire project is estimated to be more than US$5 million. To date,
more than $2 million has been provided by Rotary International and
Rotary clubs in Australia. The land is being provided by the Acheh
local government. The local government in Acheh and five
universities in Banda are project partners.
Rotary clubs in Australia, key partners of the
project, have committed US$1.5 million to build the children’s
village. In addition to construction funding and expertise, they
will provide living expenses and operation of the orphanage for five
years.
“The building design and construction drawings
will be tasked to students from the universities in Sydney and the
five universities in Banda Acheh,” said Ritje Rihatinah, co-chair of
National Committee for the Solidarity South Asia Fund of the Rotary
Foundation, the disaster relief fund set up immediately following
the Tsunami.
Five students from Acheh will spend 4 weeks in
Sydney working with their counterpart to design the student
dormitories and facilities for the center, and in return students
from Sydney will participate during part of the construction phase
of the project in Banda Acheh,” he added.
The Rotary Foundation, through its Solidarity
in South Asia Fund, is distributing US$5 million for reconstruction
and rebuilding. Rotary club leaders in the affected countries,
including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand, are coordinating
distribution of funds to rebuild schools, hospitals, and homes.
As a community-based organization of business
and professional leaders, Rotary works through its network of 32,000
volunteer service clubs in nearly 170 countries. Rotary has
hundreds of clubs and thousands of members in the countries hit by
the tsunami. Rotary clubs in Indonesia are supporting the
rehabilitation of the badly damaged coastal communities of southwest
Acheh.
For more information on this report, please
contact Howard Chang (Rotary Clubs) at 001- 847-866-3408; Email:
Howard.chang@rotary.org
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