Mennonite Weekly Review

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Three former participants of a Mennonite Central Committee International Visitor Exchange Program are the backbone of MCC’s efforts to assist victims of the Dec. 26 earthquake and tsunami.

From left are James “Jimmy” Yoshua Harso, Ika Widhiana and Dwi Budiarto, all former participants in MCC’s IVEP program who now are the backbone of MCC’s tsunami response in Indonesia. — Photo by Emily Will/MCC

Given hours, in one case, or up to a couple of days to choose whether to leave their comfortable homes and jobs on Indonesia’s island of Java, the trio didn’t hesitate in deciding to come to the devastated area in early February to help MCC establish its relief efforts.

For them, northern Sumatra was as foreign as it was to non-Indonesians, a hot spot the government had closed to outsiders in 1970 while its army fought a separatist movement.

Even the Acehnese language was unfamiliar. They would, however, be able to communicate in Indonesian, the archipelago’s common language, which is spoken by a majority of people and all those with formal schooling.

The three young adults harnessed their relational, organizational and even shopping and cooking skills to convert a large, rickety house into an office and home for themselves and other staff from abroad.

Drawing on their experiences with IVEP, which brings students from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America to Canada or the United States for a year, these three Indonesian Mennonites created a cultural and linguistic bridge for MCC’s short-term workers from North America.

Now, the work of Ika Widhiana, James “Jimmy” Yoshua Harso and Dwi Budiarto has grown into more defined, complex jobs.

Widhiana is in charge of logistics. Harso and Budiarto help develop and manage tsunami response projects and work with local partners, including an Islamic imam and a group of university faculty and staff who feel called to respond to tsunami victims.

Harso said he had the chance to break out of the expectations imposed on him by his native Javanese culture. He explains that Javanese children are taught to fit in quietly, without drawing attention to themselves.

While still a quiet man, Harso, 35, exudes a calm poise he attributes to his 1992-93 IVEP experience. He worked at an MCC thrift shop in Telford, Pa., where he helped repair small appliances donated to the shop. But he was also expected to serve customers. He was surprised to discover he enjoyed the interactions, and some of his shyness melted away.