The Story So Far

About the saney school, Indonesia 

The village of Saney is located in the sub-district of Lhoong, within Aceh Besar (Greater Aceh District). Being on the west coast, facing the epicentre of the earthquakes and the tsunami, Saney Primary School and its two villages, Saney and U Tamoeng, were heavily hit and the communities and the school were completely destroyed. Only 220 of the 700 residents survived, including just 42 of the 130 pupils of Saney Primary School.

Saney School and the local community have been largely left out of the relief and construction efforts because of their remote location in the south west corner of the district. But now, thanks to Study Group, the first bricks of a replacement school are about to be laid down.

Budget breakdown
The estimated cost of reconstructing Saney Primary School is £56,365 which breaks down to include:

• Six classrooms (£32,475)
• One office (£3,884)
• Two bathrooms (£778)
• Three Teacher/Headmaster boarding huts (£12,928)
• One School Musholla, prayer building (£6,300)

Equipment, furniture and supplies
Plan field staff are currently negotiating with local construction and education specialists to compile an estimation of costs for equipping the school.

School construction
Originally the school was built of cement and concrete. The new school will be built in accordance with new, strict governmental standards. It will be a tougher school, designed to tolerate the extreme stresses associated with natural disasters.

School population
The school, if built as before should accommodate over 120 students. Currently, only 44 of that original 120 survive. Plan staff will discuss this with the community and consider their demographics and traditional migration and birth rates for the next ten years. The expectation is that people will return to their communities as they are rebuilt and it is likely that there will be a "baby boom" which often occurs in nations soon after periods of strain and war.

Livelihood
The majority of families were previously supported by a father who worked in subsistence and small-market fishing, and a mother who may have worked in small home industries - often secondary economies in support of the fishing. Additionally, many families owned small farms, again mainly subsistence and small-market crops. Currently, the economy is ruined as most fishing boats and equipment were destroyed, as were the livestock and farming equipment. Shops and home industries were also destroyed.