ADRA:

Five Years Later - ADRA's Thailand Response (5:05)

When the tsunami struck on December 26, 2004, ADRA was already working in each of the affected countries. Our large presence throughout the world allows us to provide immediate relief to survivors who lose homes, livelihoods, and family members. ADRA ensures that your gifts provide food, emergency relief, medical aid, education, and development assistance for those who need it most — especially for the most vulnerable: women, children, and the elderly.

This holiday season as you think about the celebrations you will be attending, and the gifts you will be giving, I ask you to prayerfully consider a sacrificial gift to the children, women, and men that ADRA serves today and who we will be called to serve tomorrow. Your gifts make the difference.

Headmaster Zakaria

After the immediate emergency response, ADRA repaired and rebuilt schools in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Zainun Zakaria had been a school headmaster for 34 years when the tsunami struck. That day, he was driving his motorbike when suddenly water started pouring onto the land. After an hour of struggling in the fast current, he was finally able to grab the roots of a Beringin tree. Pulling himself up onto the tree, he found that a civet with three of her kittens, two mice, and a chicken were his companions. For hours, they clung to the tree, not seeing another living being. When the water finally receded, he wandered the town till he found his wife and daughter.

At the ceremony marking the new beginning of the SMP4 Junior High School, headmaster Zakaria challenged the 545 students. "I am grateful to ADRA," said Zakaria. "We must learn from ADRA and the other NGOs that have come from the other side of the world. The world cares about you and your future. Therefore, you must work hard to rebuild your lives and not let the tsunami destroy you."

Iron Lady

At 79, Lofia still dreams about the day the tsunami struck, and she prays that it will never happen again. For more than half her life, she has had problems with her knees, which makes it very difficult for her to walk. The day the tsunami struck, she was home alone, and everyone ran away and left her. Her house collapsed around her. "I don’t know how . . . It had to be Allah who allowed me to hold on to a floating tree through the swirling water," says Lofia. "I almost drowned four times; the water was always right up to my mouth, but for some reason my life was spared." Everything in her coastal village was washed away. The village has been rebuilt a mile inland, and Lofia lives in a house that ADRA built for her. "I am the only elderly person who survived; they call me the iron lady," Lofia says with tears in her eyes. "I praise Allah for my life and for ADRA."

Your gifts of compassion continue to make a difference in these communities and in others around the world where ADRA is present.

Five Years Later - Memories of a Tragedy (4:03)

What sets ADRA apart from so many other humanitarian organizations is that we have stayed long after the tsunami has left the headlines. ADRA responded with more than $36 million for emergency aid and rehabilitation of communities and livelihoods. Five years later, ADRA still has ongoing rehabilitation efforts and is even developing new projects to reach the children, women, and men who are still struggling with the lasting impact of the tsunami.

Join ADRA in our continuing work to transform communities. Long after waters recede and storms pass, efforts to restore communities continue.