Acehnese children play on a tree in a makeshift tsunami refugee camp in Banda Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. (Reuters)

Aceh, Indonesia —Helpless and stricken by sadness over the loss of their fellows and fear of a recurrence of the killer waves, children in the tsunami-hit Indonesian province of Aceh wrote poems, praying to Allah.

  Oh Allah, the most compassionate and merciful
  We are subservient to You and we are weak
  Don’t bequeath this ordeal anymore
  Don’t deal out this suffering again
  As we know the blame is ours

  Oh Allah, You have put us to the test
  We don’t want to see our people cry anymore
  And the cries of our little brothers and sisters
  Oh Allah, will You forgive us
  Only to You can we plead and only to You can we pray
  Amin Ya Rabbal Alamin

Acehnese children used such a simple way to express their sympathy with their mates who lost their families, friends and homes in their ravaged town of Meulaboh, hoping that poems would inspire the stricken children to look for a better future, according to Indonesian daily, The Jakarta Post Thursday, February 3.

Praying to Allah

Reading the poem, titled “Our Prayer”, with her soft voice, Cut Nurfajria, a 13-year-old student in the eighth grade at SMP 3 junior high school—also writer of the poem—said the poem was a prayer to Allah that no more tsunamis would occur, not only in Aceh, but also everywhere around the world, according to the daily.

“I’m sad as many of my friends were victims of the tsunami,” said Cut after reading the poem.

Cut and her family were lucky to survive the monstrous tidal waves as her house in Lapang village was located far enough from the beach, however, she can feel the pain that her schoolmates and their families went through.

Cut was not the only Indonesian student who wrote poems to express grief and sadness over the impact of the disaster, the paper said.

With horrible experiences of the devastating disaster still fresh in their minds, other children diligently wrote poems to express their feelings.

Among those children was Hendri Rizky, a 13-year-old student, who wrote a poem titled The Cries of My Relatives.

More than 200,000 people were killed, over half of them from Indonesia, and millions were rendered homeless in southern Asian countries following monstrous tidal waves spawned by a killer 9.0 magnitude earthquake.

Back to School

After a one month off after the tsunami disaster, students in the Meulaboh town were happy to go back to school, showing a growing interest in continuing their studies, the daily said.

“I’m glad to return to school and get back together again with my friends here,” Furqon Muttaqin, an Acehnese student in the seventh grade, told the paper.

The students were studying under the trees around the school compound as a section of the school has been used as a relief post by the French military for the past week.

Students formed circles and some also sat in lines facing each other, while teachers sat on one side.

“Come, let’s sit in a cooler place, or you’ll be sick,” a teacher told some students who were sitting in the sun.

Meulaboh was chosen as the place to announce Education Awakening Day in Aceh and Nias, North Sumatra, after twelve teachers were killed in the area by the tidal waves.

Some 99 schools were also damaged in the West Aceh area.