Name : Helmi Caesar

Towards the end of the English language training program, there was an event (City tour) prepared
by the committee to release our fatigue in the learning process. There had been a lot of interesting
experiences that we get in the tour period which takes almost 10 hours. Starting by recalling the
tragedy of the tsunami that had befallen our hometown, getting to know the history of our ethnic
and the struggle of our heroes in fighting the invaders as well as maintaining Aceh as the only area
that did not occupied by Dutch, and also know the true meaning of teamwork bundled through a
fun game. It is such a memorable day.
Before the tour begins, we prepare the things that are needed on the tour such as dry clothes, we
know that at the end of the event we will visit waterpark and the tour will take almost half of the
day. At the opening of the city tour, we visited two attractive and impressive museum in Banda
Aceh. One is Tsunami Museum the other is Aceh Museum, in my first time arriving in Tsunami
Museum I feel a little unpleasant because of the trauma that still stuck in my head when the disaster
occurred and I don’t want to reflect on my past. But my inner self wants me to face that, so I
embolden myself. As we arrive at the front yard of the museum our tour guide explained to us that
this building had two different perspective purposes. If it is seen from the sky, the museum will
reflect the tsunami waveform, while from the ground it will look like a savior ship with the large
deck set to be an escape building. At the outside of the museum there is also a police helicopter
wreckage displayed which driven by the wave for almost 7 kilometers away, then one my friends
say abruptly in a funny and sarcastic tone “It’s a police karma for always ticketing us” at that
moment I roar with laughter as my sense of discomfort diminished. The feeling of goosebumps
approached me when I visit the diorama spot and the chamber of blessing which I saw the name
of the Tsunami’ victim carved into the wall until the name of God was engraved at the top. It’s
struck me down for still becoming ungrateful for life given by the god and once again made me
realize that my life will return to its creator someday. An interesting story that I got when I visited
the exhibition room about Simeulue Island where the victims who died were only 7 people when
the tsunami occurred despite that the island is directly facing the Indian Ocean, the people there
turned out to have been given a tale called “Smong” this story told in a poet that in 1907 an
earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale was followed by a tsunami had hit the island thus
allowing that the people of Simeulue Island became more aware of the signs of a tsunami. It
inspired me with an educational idea about the importance of disaster simulation traditionally and
uniquely especially for children.
Arriving at the museum of Aceh, we were welcomed by Aceh likok pulo traditional dance and
then a speech art delivered poetically. In this place I learned that Aceh has a long story, starting
from when the Portuguese began to colonize in 1511 which also at that time The Samudera pasai
kingdom grew rapidly as the center of Islamic trade until Aceh was freed from the conflict in 2004
after GAM and the Indonesian government signed an MOU in Helsinki. I realized that Aceh had
gone through various trials, making Acehnese people regardless of gender are very strong in
maintaining their sovereignty. With all the sacrifices that have been given by our heroes, I feel
inspired to make more contributions to the development of Aceh.
At the end of the activity, we are allowed to know more about our friends from another class by
playing various games which needed strong bond and teamwork. This last session gave me a lesson
that competition will not break the bonds of friendship that have been built.
This experience gained by this event make me one step ahead to complete my objective as the
future leader.