Mission Trip to Padang

It was the time to clear my annual leave. As I was torn between Japan and New Zealand, that Sunday, I took the bulletin from OLPS and saw a post for this mission. The dates were good, the price was right, so I sent an email the next day. A couple of days later, I got a response. I was in! 

After the first briefing and the formation, I felt mentally prepared for the trip to Padang. Being vain, I brought only 3/4 and long sleeves, to prevent patchy tanning, old trackpants and old sports shoes as my site-gear. It was gonna get muddy. The time to meet was a ridiculous 5.30am, but I made it. After check-in, we went to grab some breakfast. We were going to have Indonesian food all the way, so I had O'Briens. Sharon, my ex-coursemate from Poly, was my roommate. It was a real coincidence! So we had breakfast together, and just about did almost everything together. We were also the youngest in the group. Winie was a few years older but she was very soft-spoken. Marion and Naomi were a little older. Nick, an architect, was about 36. And there were quite a few in their 40s. The rest were 50 and above. Gender-wise, it's 6 guys and 10 ladies.

On the first day, we received a warm welcome from Habitat for Humanity (HFH). They gave a very informative presentation about how and why they were helping the local community. About the same time last year, a 7.6 earthquake rocked this town, causing much devastation. More than 1,000 people lost their lives and approximately 250,000 homes collapsed or needed much repair. 

On our official "first day of work", the 1-hour drive to the site felt like 2 hours. I tried to take the sights in, then started to notice the passing houses were in all states of construction and destruction. The ones with blackened walls were probably caused by fire. There were ones with no roof and some had roofs but didn't have walls. Some had wooden frames waiting to be filled in with bricks. Some already had bricks, but waiting for doors and windows. And some looked so fresh and bright, you would think they moved in just yesterday! 

At the site, Wilson, the construction supervisor, gave us a brief summary, split us into 3 groups and even handed out a work intinerary. However, being Singaporeans, we got bored easily and rotated, so everyone did a bit of everything. Eventually, we just called out to one another wherever help was needed. There were local workers to guide us every step of the way. 

In the next 5 days, we dug holes for the vertical columns. We cut thick wires which the workers then bend into rectangles. We will then string these rectangles to longer wires to form columns. We shovelled cement and sand, mixed them, created a depression in the middle and added water. To do that, we used wheelbarrows and formed human chains for easier transportation. After letting this puddle of water stand for 10 minutes or so, it was then mixed again, from the outside-in, with shovels, till it became a paste, wet concrete. After foundation was laid, bricks were laid to level and frame the perimeter of the house. Then more concrete was added to reinforce this perimeter, as well as into the vertical columns to form pillars. When all these were done, we laid more bricks until it was waist-high. 

Breaks were always encouraged and we were reminded not to over-exert ourselves. Aunty Emily, actually fainted on the first day, due to constantly getting up and down to push a lever for cutting the thick metal wires. After a good hour of rest however, she bounced back to help with stringing the columns. Among the aunties, Aunty Chris and Aunty Susan had such great stamina, they put me to shame. They just kept on going, digging holes, shovelling wet concrete, even lifting the wheelbarrows of sand and bricks. With each day, we all got the hang of it. The local workers also started to mingle with us in a mixture of English and Bahasa. Some stuff did crop up though. One of the owners did not like the layout of his house after we had dug the holes. Thankfully, he was okay with it in the end. Another said we built too close to the edge of the boundary, although he agreed to the position before. 

After each day, after a shower, we made our way to one of our hotel rooms for reflection and sharing. Each session was led by a different person. These helped us to bond and relate to the different life and culture we had witnessed on this trip. There was some rest and relax, too. The HFH guys, Andry and Wilson were very hospitable. After a few days of hard work, they brought us to Padang town to play some pool while others went for a much-needed massage. We also shopped for kerupuk and sang a bit of karaoke. On the last day at the site, we went out to buy some household items and distributed evenly to all 25 families. We also donated many of our soiled clothes, socks, shoes and even hand towels. Any unused gloves and ponchos were given to HFH for their future use. 

That day however, ended bittersweet. We took a long drive to the epicentre of last year's earthquake. A lot of gaping holes in the slopes were the work of landslides. From the other side of the mountainous region, we could see collapsed houses and skeleton houses, burnt out by fire. Having a vivid imagination, I could imagine this as it happened. But the local community had taken this in their stride, slowly rebuilding their lives with smiles on their faces. As foreign as we looked to them, you could tell they are glad we helped a little, that we cared to come all the way here, that we know they are people like you and I. And with this, we ended our little journey to Padang, Indonesia. Hoping and praying that we can be just as happy and thankful with what we have, and that none of the houses will ever collapse again.