Im writing on behalf of my mom today, because in all this disaster to my mom, our family and friends, I thought it would be a good time to tell some of my moms other disaster stories, where the disaster struck others and she ran to their aid. Ive mentioned it before in some posts about her volunteering efforts, but a lot of people dont know what she actually did. So Ill be sharing stories every few days or each week (because there are too many to post all at once obviously!) My mom has given well over 10,000 hours of volunteering to others!!! So, Reason #1 Why Planet Earth Needs Kimmie, goes to her innate motivation in life to go to the aid of others and her story of getting into Banda Aceh after the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami. She was watching the news with the rest of the world and she turned to Bear and said “I’m going.” The rest was a matter of logistics. She needed a travel partner with skills, so Shirlee, her 72 year old mother in law went with her. She was a nurse that has been on relief missions all around the world. They were able to collect donations from various companies for medical supplies, tents, water purifiers, baby kits, etc. I remember packing up huge totes jammed packed full of supplies in our living room with my little sister Ashley while I was in middle school. They flew for what seemed like days to them, first to LA then Seoul, Jarkarta, and finally Medan. There were no commercial flights into Banda Aceh, the city of about 300,000 people who had been hit head on by a tsunami 10 meters high, traveling at the speed of a jet. With 200,000 people dead or missing, they certainly did not have any commercial way of getting an airplane in there. The only way to get in was to beg your way onto a military plane. They went to the airport in Medan, only to see a flurry of aircrafts in the sky that seemed to block out the sun, and many people try to get on any flight they could. Mostly local military personal with machine guns and a severe persona, and a jaunty cap just above one brow. Banda Aceh had been in civil war for thirty years and the border was closed, only a select few were allowed in. They put their names on a dozen different lists, trying to get on a transport. They waiting in the hanger for two days, treating victims as they came in on helicopters or plucked from far out at sea. Many countries were there lending a hand and specific expertise. At the hanger, there was enough rice and clean water to touch the top of the hanger, but it was going nowhere and it was day 6 after the Tsunami hit. There were local military personal standing around with their machine guns, being tough but doing nothing about it. My mom has told me that she’s never been so proud to be an American than on that day. With all the other countries there, about a dozen American Marines were getting it done, and about 200 people were watching them do it. By about 4:00 pm on the second day she was there, those Marines had cleaned out that hanger and gotten those supplies out to where they needed to be. Afterwards, they were laying in the shade on the last few bags of rice on a half-full pallet, it had been about 106 degrees and at least 100% humidity for two days. My mom saw they needed help, so she grabbed a box of electrolytes and started handing them out by the fistful to the exhausted marines. They were undyingly grateful and her chest welled with pride for them. About an hour later, their Colonel, an M.D., came up to my mom and thanked her for the electrolytes. He asked her if she had any more for his afternoon crew and she said she did and he could have as many as he needed as long as she was on “THAT” plane, as she pointed to the Hercules C-130 cargo plane that was being loaded as they spoke. He came back 15 minutes later and asked her if the 6 giant Rubbermaid totes full of supplies belonged to her. She indicated that they were and a half dozen Marines proceeded to take them away and load them onto the cargo plane. The Colonel said “You’re going, this Lieutenant is going to take you to the plane. Keep your head down, don’t look at anybody. And whatever you do, DON’T get off that plane.” She had a purpose for being there and needed to get in the heart of the chaos in order to be of help, and she did! So in the middle of disaster, waiting for days to even GET to the disaster, my mom bought her way onto a Hercules C-130 with electrolytes... #awesome
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 22:21:16 +0000