On 26th Dec. 2004 a gigantic earthquake attacked Sumatra in Indonesia.
5 years passed by now- We visited Banda Ache in Sumatra, going to full recovery,
and took photos of positive children's smiles.( 22th. June~2nd. July 2009)

1) Smiles like the sun
Like fruits in southern islands.
There are sweet and energetic children's smiles.
The equatorial sun shines in Banda Ache.
In villages, Red Cross supports, in a park, wishes a recovery from the tsunami,
in orphanages,every smiles we saw were pure and beautiful.

Once we started photo session, more and more people got together,
saying senyum! senyum!（smile! smile! in indonesia) Mother said " My kid is first!"
Girl's smile with jilbab( Islamic headdress) is exotic, beautiful and fantastic.



Everyone was shy, but once they opened out they became merry quickly
and laughed a lot. In lamcot a girl screamed " I love Ache!".
In an orphanage a boy did'nt smile easily but because of his friends he smiled finally.
In Desa layeun a handicapped boy showed us his power.
In Tsunami park we'v met sister and brother with single-parent three times.

Their smiles are filled with love and seem to let the earth swing.
So the earth rounds with love and smile!
We did Clean Up too with children, wishing Ache will be a more beautiful town.

When we asked them " What is Merry for you?" as usual, they answered with smiling.
" Tsunami? was hard, but now to live happy is my Merry."
Her eyes saw tomorrow strong with a hope.



2) Tsunami and Red Cross, and for the future
We were surprised when we saw there are a lot of colorful new houses and mosques
on the coast in Banda Ache.They made a little bit strange sight coupled with the
southern island's sun.

There are many marks of tens of meters of waves attacked the town.
Ships were washed out 5km from the sea,
some of them are on the roof of houses still now.
They became monument tell us the power of tsunami;tourism industry.

In the town we saw a lot of marks of Red Cross from the world.
Supports from the world with Red Cross help people in Ache
and there's going to full recovery.
We traveled with Red Cross's press card this time.
People thanked and welcomed us everywhere.Red Cross is wonderful in the world.



On the last day I gave a tutorial to staffs of PMI( Red Cross of Indonesia).
We hope Ache will be more and more nice town,
people there do active for that and they become more and more Merry.
Thank you for all staffs of Red Cross and volunteer people.



3)Ache,crossed Islamic culture and southern wind
The sublime azan vibrates like in the world.Women wear colorful jilbab.
Fresh fishes and fruits are so delicious!( Coconuts!)

Banda Ache( the provincial capital of Nanggro¨e Aceh）
locates in the northern end of Sumatra.Most solemnly Muslim live there in Indonesia.
On Fridays they worship for two hours.
They have religious police controls people, contrary to Islam.

In last 30 years they repeated conflicts and signed a peace agreement
because of the tsunami.But with the recover from the tsunami,
some worry about that conflict may boil up again.
The important thing is wishing peace of people in Ache anyway.

Anyway people are really wonderful.
They are friendly anywhere and have clear heart.
There's a big difference between information by media and a real one.

Merry smiles shine against the tsunami.
The 25th country of our Merry project.
We want to meet more merry smiles from now on too,
hope that the world will be full of Merry smiles.


MERRY IN ASIA Live Report From Sumatra
→1st day：Love Save the Earth
→2nd day：Smiles of Children from The Corner of A Small Road
→3rd day：On The Way To Aceh
→4th day：Senyum！Senyum！
→5th day：A Merry Sun and Rainbow
→6th day：A Gift of The Rain: An Encounter in A South Island
→7th day：On The Beach!
→8th day：A Dramatical Reunion
→9th day：856 MERRYs
→10th day：Building A Town Full With Merry Smiles


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