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Whistler children raise funds to help earthquake victim

Myrtle Philip kids hope to make a difference
1323indonesia
This Myrtle Phillip Grade two class is collecting pennies to send to UNICEF for Indonesia quake relief. Photo by Clare Ogilvie

The children in Myrtle Philip’s Grade 2 class are putting their pennies together to help those affected by the quake in Indonesia.

"It’s important to help the poor children there," said Kayley Turner, 7.

"They have no homes, no food and no schools. So I thought if those children could be helped by other children who are richer than they are that would be a good thing.

"I think other people should help. One dime would help, just one dime."

The class, taught by Irene Makelke-Way and Susan Hamersley, will be collecting the kids’ donations for the next two weeks. The money will then be given to local businessman Jay Wahono who will send off a cheque to UNICEF. The United Nations children’s agency is providing relief for the tens of thousands of youth affected by the quake, which happened on Saturday, May 27.

The agency said:

• $100 can provide a basic family water kit for ten households, with detergent, soap, wash basin, towels, bucket and water purification tablets.

•$250 can provide one "School-in-a-Box" kit containing basic education supplies for 80 children during times of crisis. $500 can provide emergency health kits with medical supplies and drugs to cover the basic health needs of 50 people for three months.

"I am quite happy because the children are taking the initiative," said Wahono, who along with wife Julie owns and operates the Taman Sari Royal Heritage Spa in Whistler.

"I was quite surprised in the morning when I came into the class last (week) and (a student) came up to me and gave me their change. I was touched."

Wahono’s son Pandu is in the class and just days before the quake both had told the class all about their Indonesian homeland.

"In their minds Indonesia is a beautiful place that they would love to go for a vacation," said Wahono.

" Then a week later there is a disaster and so there is a connection there and they now feel it is close to their minds and their hearts.

"I am hoping that the children in Whistler and all across Canada can see how other children live across the world and they will grow up as citizens of the world. We live in a very small world after all and we are all connected.

"Indonesia is not a far away land anymore. That culture is close to the children now, the people they know from there are close to them."

Fortunately none of Wahono’s family were killed or injured but the 6.3 magnitude quake has closed the family’s spa in the Sheraton Mustika Hotel in Yogyakarta.

It is particularly devastating, said Wahono, because that spa was the first one when it opened in 1997. It was specifically located in Yogyakarta because it is an ancient city and the cradle of the type of healing the spa services are based on.

The earthquake reduced more than 135,000 houses to piles of bricks and wood in less than a minute. It also destroyed about 835 schools.

It is estimated that over 5,000 were killed and about 500,000 left homeless due to the quake. Many of the displaced are living under plastic sheets near their former homes, in rice fields or on roadsides, their misery compounded by days of intermittent rain and blazing sun. Others are staying with relatives or friends.

Meanwhile Mount Merapi, which means Fire Mountain, spewed streams of lava and clouds of gas, raising fears of another major eruption. The volcano is approximately 20 kilometers from the quake affected area in Yogyakarta.

The volcano has been erupting for months, but activity has increased since the quake struck central Java Island.

While lava poured down the mountain's southwestern slope, the government stepped up relief efforts for quake victims, sending some 200 truckloads of rice to hard-hit areas.

Yogyakarta is a city and province on the island of Java in Indonesia.

It is the only

province in Indonesia that is still formally governed by a pre-colonial Sultanate , the Sultanate of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat. The city is known as a center of classical Javanese fine art and culture such as batik , ballet, drama, music, poetry and puppet shows. It is also famous as a center for Indonesian higher education.

To date Canada has pledged $2 million for relief efforts, of which $500,000 will go the International Red Cross.

Some 22 countries have contributed or pledged assistance so far said the UN Office of the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva.

Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, is prone to earthquakes because it sits along the Pacific’s ‘Ring of Fire’ of active volcanoes and faults. It has 76 volcanoes, the largest number of any country.

In 2004 a 9.1 earthquake struck near the Island of Sumatra producing a tsunami that left more than 230,00 people dead or missing in countries around the Indian Ocean, most of them in Indonesia. An 8.6 quake last March in the same region left 1,300 people dead.

To donate go to www.unicef.ca.