Students work for peace

Juanda works for CAFOD partner, the People's Crisis Centre in Aceh, Indonesia. [CAFOD]

A student in Aceh who questioned the violence that plagued his country is now running the People's Crisis Centre, which educates children affected by conflict

When Juanda was growing up in a small village outside Aceh’s capital city, he would sometimes ask his father about the violence that plagued his country. His father, a rice farmer, told Juanda it was too dangerous to ask questions.

But Juanda carried on asking questions all the same. He wanted to understand the situation that had torn his country apart since before he was born.

Thousands of people had been killed and even more people forced to flee their homes to escape fighting between rebel Free Aceh Movement fighters and government forces.

Mobilising others

As a student, Juanda felt he could no longer stand on the sidelines and watch as Aceh descended further and further into a spiral of violence.

In January 1999, he and some of his fellow students set up a group to help victims of the Pusong massacre in which seven people had died in a demonstration against the military government.

Since then, it has grown and now helps thousands of people across Aceh. Between 1999 and 2003, the group set up camps for 75,000 people who had been driven from their homes.

Now officially known as the People’s Crisis Centre, the group is implementing a recovery and rehabilitation programme for people returning back to their homes in Aceh.

Educating children

The programme aims to educate children who have missed out on vital years of schooling and to set up small-scale income generating projects for the thousands of women who have lost their husbands to the conflict.

“The main focus is on education, because children are the new generation and they have to get education,” says Juanda, who explains that more than 600 schools were destroyed in fighting.

“I want to help the people of Aceh and give them education so they will have the skills to think and develop.”

Another important element of the People’s Crisis Centre’s work is peace and reconciliation work in the region, bringing together local communities to discuss their problems and share them.

“Until now, we have forgotten the involvement of people in the peace process,” says Juanda. “When both sides still use guns as part of the peace process, we will never make any progress. The Acehnese should be involved in the process.”

“When many organisations have withdrawn help, it’s important that CAFOD is helping us."

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