Cut Resmi
Despite losing her husband and two children to the tsunami, Cut Resmi, 40, has become a community leader and a beacon of hope for her neighbors.
Age: 40 years old
Location: T. Teungoh village in Lampulo, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
When the tsunami hit, Cut Resmi was planting flowers in the yard of her home in Banda Aceh. The waves swept away one of her two children and destroyed her house, leaving her, her husband and their surviving son homeless. After the disaster, Cut says she felt devastated and hopeless.
"I gave up and never imagined that we would have a home again,"she says. "I just tried to think about my son, who was still very young and needed me to be strong."
Cut and her family found refuge in temporary shelters built for individuals displaced by the disaster. Soon after their arrival, Cut joined the American Red Cross and Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) Psychosocial Support Program, which helps individuals cope through creative and social activities. Actively engaged in community life before the tsunami, Cut soon became a psychosocial community facilitator, organizing supportive activities in her community and providing solace to those who were still grieving.
"Survivors really needed this kind of assistance," she says. "It allowed us to come together and begin healing, even while we were still unsure about the future and mourning those we had lost."
Four years later, she and her family have moved into a new home on the land where their old village once stood. Cut has started a small business selling clothes and remains active in her community. So when the American Red Cross and PMI Community-Based First Aid program began working in her village, she was eager to get involved.
"Other mothers often ask me questions about their children, regarding nutrition or how to detect if there is a serious problem, like dengue," she says. "I am glad that I can provide information and help people, as it could be a matter of life and death. Before, I would have been scared and might have panicked," she says. "But now I know exactly what to do if someone is seriously hurt and needs help."
