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“It's
a long-term plan, but we'll start from now,” Kalla said.
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JAKARTA,
February 6 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Driven by fears of
increasing proselytizing attempts, the Indonesian government will build
orphanages to cater for thousands of traumatized and vulnerable children
who lost their parents to the killer tsunami, The Jakarta Post reported
on Sunday, February 6.
“It's
a long-term plan, but we'll start from now. We need 50 orphanages that
could accommodate 50,000 orphans,” Indonesian Vice President Jusuf
Kalla said during a ceremony for the construction of an orphanage
compound.
The
ambitious project, expected to cost around 434.78 million US dollars,
will be carried out by the government in tandem with the private station
Trans TV on a 3-hectare plot of land.
Designed
to accommodate up to 1,000 orphans, the compound will include eight
dormitories, two areas for dining and cooking, a multipurpose building,
a playground, a football field, a basketball field and a mosque.
The
project is expected to see the light within four months.
Kalla,
who is also chairman of the National Disaster Management and Refugee
Coordination Board, said that 150,000 people have been confirmed dead in
Aceh and North Sumatra, both hard-hit by the monstrous tidal waves
spawned by a killer 9.0 magnitude earthquake on December 26.
The
Health Ministry on Sunday raised to 240,774 the number of people dead
and missing.
Traumatized
Children
Kalla
said the planned orphanages would provide an environment that would help
the tsunami orphans recover from their ordeal.
Coordinating
Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab, who also attended the
ceremony, said the orphanages would mostly be developed in Aceh, which
bore the brunt of the disaster.
North
Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin said a total of 19,601 people,
including 4,108 children under the age of 17, have been displaced in
Aceh.
“Some
1,985 child refugees are staying in Medan. These children will be given
priority for places in the new orphanage,” he said.
The
government’s move came after many organizations warned of busy
missionary work by a plethora of western Christian groups that poured
into the Muslim province after the killer tidal waves.
On
Thursday, January 13, The Washington Post reported that a US missionary
group plans to christianize
300 Achese children, all under 12.
British
Muslim groups are to build children's
villages in the devastated areas to counter proselytizing
efforts.
Turkish
Houses
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Erdogan
speaks with an Acehnese child at a clinic run by the Turkish Red
Crescent near Banda Aceh. (Reuters)
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In
a related development, Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday
made a brief visit to Aceh and offered to build at least 1,000 homes for
survivors, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
After
arriving on a special flight from Istanbul, Erdogan immediately left to
visit a center for the displaced at Kueh village, 10 kilometers south of
Banda Aceh, at which the Turkish Red Crescent is helping.
“The
need we see here regarding housing, schools as well as hospitals, we
will do our best to assist as much as we can,” asserted the Turkish
official.
He
said his government plans to build at least 1,000 houses as well as
hospitals and schools to help victims in Aceh.
Erdogan
also pledged to help revive the fishing industry in the province by
providing equipment.
He
then visited a social affairs building in Banda Aceh which had been
rehabilitated by Turkish volunteers.
Erdogan
will visit Malaysia next week as part of his tour of several countries
struck by the tsunami, including Thailand, the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Kosovan
Muslims have joined the world’s biggest ever relief campaign to
help the survivors of the monster tidal waves.
Leading
Muslim organizations in North America and Britain have launched online
donations and appeals to people worldwide to immediately send
contributions, raising millions of US dollars and sterling pounds.
Muslims
in the Gulf region have also donated generously. A telethon in Saudi
Arabia raised so far 82 million dollars, drawing donations of cash,
tents and blankets, even diamonds.
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