utri Msyitah is a 15-year-old girl who lives in Bakoi TLC with her mother and 5 other siblings. Her father died in the tsunami. Before that, they lived in a 2 story house in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, about 5 km from the waterfront. They were saved from the tsunami by huddling on the rooftop while the water blew out the windows and walls below. The family owned 4 other houses which they rented out.

“Now, it’s all flattened. Just the earth. Nothing else,” Putri said.

Her father had had a good job at a construction company, and was working on a bridge project on the west coast of Aceh province. He had told the family he would be home by the night of 25 December 2004, but then he called that day to say no transportation so would return instead the next day. He never came back. Only 2 people survived from the construction site her father was working on, and he wasn’t one of them.

Putri is studying at a Unicef junior high school held in a temporary structure and says she never misses class. She wants to continue to high school and beyond. She said that it is difficult to concentrate sometimes. After school, she likes to go to recreational activities for kids that are held at a children’s center Unicef built and operates. The activities are very fun, she says, and the kids all like it. There are arts and crafts, music, sports. She always goes with her best friend, Haritai.

Putri also works at home after school, helping her mother bake cakes to sell, and also run a snack stall just beside the barrack. Before the tsunami, the family was well-off. Now they all live in 1 room in a temporary barracks facility and her mother barely scrapes a living and has to rely on the labor of her children to help with the small business. Unicef has also helped the family with food, clothes, and milk for the children.