Jakarta/Banda Aceh, 11 December 2005
Ref. nr. J5.10944.CH
Re.: Support to the Community Home in Lampaya, Aceh – construction of a traditional
Meunasah
Dear Sir / Madam,
Through this letter we would like you to consider a donation for a much needed Meunasah next to our community home in Lampaya village, Aceh. Allow me to briefly introduce our Foundation and its activities, and to zoom in on this specific project that was identified by the community of Lhok Nga.
Lambrineu Foundation
The Lambrineu Foundation was established in 2005, only a few months after the tsunami hit Aceh. The initiators were, among others, the Indonesian-Netherlands chambers of commerce in Jakarta (INA), the Belgium Rotary Club in Brussels, and several European private companies with roots in Indonesia. The Foundation Board consists of prominent members from Aceh and Indonesia, such as the former Minister for Human Rights (Mr. Hasballah M. Saad), the former Chairman of Muhammadiyah (Prof. Dr. Syafii Maarif), and the former ambassador of Indonesia to Australia (Mr. Sabam Siagian).
The goal of the Foundation is to provide social and economic support to the community of the Lhok Nga sub-district. For this it constructed a community home in the village of Lampaya, Lhoknga sub-district. Mr. Hans Nijhoff was appointed director of the community home after he gave up his position as market economist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He provides management and expertise to the Foundation’s projects in Aceh.
Project activities
Lambrineu’s projects focus on economic and social issues. From the community home a team of six local experts works on the rehabilitation of 350 ginger farmers and 50 chilli farmers. The projects are financially supported by UNDP and Dutch organizations. With the support of a Dutch bank Lambrineu will set up a micro-credit project bank to continue to support these farmers and other entrepreneurs in the Lhoknga sub-district as well. Social projects that are presently being carried out are the following. Our children centre in the community home provides trauma relief and kindergarten facilities that are operated in close coordination with UNICEF and the Ministry of Women Empowerment (KPP). Through a water supply project we aim at providing clean water to the community, by connecting approximately 500 homes to the water network and providing water to the remaining families through public taps. And finally, our community home houses a medical and dental clinic to serve the great need for medical services in the project area.
Purposes of the Meunasah
As a result of these activities the community home has large numbers of visitors on a daily basis. It truly became a home for the community. Meetings are organized by community leaders, mothers bring their children for the child activities organized by UNICEF, and parents and children visit the doctor and/or dentist. On an average day between 50 and 100 people visit the home.
The community home can presently not offer these visitors a good facility to wait while children play or family members are being treated by the doctor or dentist. For this reason, Lambrineu proposes a project to IABC for the construction of a traditional Acehnese Meunasah. This typical wooden building on poles will have the following purposes:
- Waiting room for people (mothers, children) coming for the services provided by the community home, and for women to feed their babies
- Meeting room for community leaders
- Information centre, where travellers meet the community with news from outside
- Guest house for visitors and travellers
- A place to sleep for young children when their house is not suitable for the night
- Local court where, by tradition, a community panel decides on legal issues
- Paying and distribution of the Islamic tax, e.g.10% of farmer’s income for the poor
- And a place for praying, for reading the Koran during the fasting month, for learning the Koran by young children at early evening, and for religious parties from the village.
As such, the Meunasah is an important multi-purpose building. Standing next to the community home, which itself is a multi-purpose building as well, the Meunasah will serve a great number of people and purposes. In fact, at this moment the absence of the socially-oriented Meunasah is the main missing link between the community and the community home. Constructing the Meunasah will ensure that the community home is not a foreign NGO project, but a truly local project for and with the people.
The Meunasah and the costs of construction
The Meunasah is a cool wooden house which is mainly open on each of the sides. It has a traditional roof made of the leaves of the palm tree and stands on wooden poles, about 1 meter above the ground. It is 2 meters high on the sides, with the highest point of the roof at 3 meters. The poles are dug in the soil and strengthened with a concrete foundation. It will have a surface of 10 by 8 meters and have traditional carvings in the roof.
To realize the project the following costs are foreseen:
- Land from neighbour: 500 meters, at 250,000.- Rp / meter: 125,000,000.-
- Construction: material (wood) + labour: 50,000,000.-
- Water supply: traditional well (concrete rings): 4,000,000.-
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Total costs (in Rp.) 179,000,000.-
Total costs (in US$) 17,900.-
The Meunasah will carry the name of the donor carved in the wood above its entrance. To summarize this proposal, the donor will support the construction of a much-needed social building with a guarantee for success, since this project is linked to the already successful and much visited community home. The main beneficiaries are women and children, the main visitors of the community home. Secondly the contribution will enable community leaders to meet in a central place to discuss new efforts to further support the community with the rehabilitation of their destroyed lives.
Lambrineu would kindly ask you for a donation of 179 million Rp. (or 17,900.- US$) to support this proposed project.
We are looking forward to receive your positive response. Thank you in advance for your consideration.
Sincerely yours,
Hans Nijhoff
Director Community Home, Lampaya, Aceh