Sunday, 24-April-2005, 15:38:55
Pidie, Indonesia-Relief – Fishermen from Reudeup village, Panteraja sub-district of Pidie District has finished workshop on their fishing community recovery. With help from Jakarta based ACT Dompet Dhuafa in organizing all resources, and with support of first 35 new boats from LAZ Peduli Ummat Waspada, Medan based Islamic fund agency, three fishermen groups are ready to get back into their business as fishermen, with better resources.
The Reudeup fishermen grouped into three sub-groups: Bidadari (angels), Bahagia (happiness), and Doa Bersama (Community Prayer). During the workshop, they finalized three principles regarding the sustainability of their business. First, the fishermen agree on how to work together and scheduled the use of the two-person boats. Second, they commit on ways to share their fishing income. Three, they agree on how to maintain the boat and other resources, such as engine and fishing net.
”After three months, at last they agree on those principles. It was a hard and long process because in the beginning they tend to close themselves from each other. Now they without any hesitation actively share their idea and finalized it into agreeable principles that can be implemented as their long-term program of action,” said Jajang Fadli, ACT Dompet Dhuada Recovery Program Supervisor, referring to the last Monday workshop.
Abdul Kadir Kaoy, head of Bidadari sub-groups, said, ”we are proud to become the subject of this efforts. Without their help in facilitating this workshop, it won’t be easy for us to submit and share our ideas on how to rebuild our fishing community. Now we can build a better future based on our shared principles on this fishing business.”
In the beginning, support for the ‘Bangkit Samudera Pasai’ (Revival of Pasai Ocean) program has come from LAZ Peduli Umat Waspada, which has collect zakat (Islamic tax) and tsunami donation through Medan based daily of Waspada. Later similar support has come from another paper in Java and Kalimantan, which also raising fund through their paper, including Solo Peduli (10 boats), Radar Banjar Peduli, and Swadaya Umah. While ACT Dompet Dhuafa is DART group belongs to Dompet Dhuafa, charity arm of Jakarta based paper Republika.
”All the first 35 boats has been constructed by local boat builder, while the fishermen has made the fishing nets. So, apart from directly recovering the fishermen itself, we try to recover business activities of other fishing community members like the boat builder,” said Pandapotan Simatupang, head LAZ Peduli Ummat Waspada. The boat will be delivered completes with engines and fishing nets.
With 35 boats from Waspada and 10 from Solo Peduli, 90 house hold will have an opportunity to get back on their feet. Two family will share one boat to sail out to the sea. wan
(Source: http://www.indonesia-relief.org/mod.php?mod=bank&op=readnews&bankid=110&artid=753)
