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Women take on non-traditional role of plumber to earn a living and conserve water
Teaching about the Constitution
A couple occupies the corner of a room in the emergency department at Zanoel Adidin Hospital in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Indonesia's Aceh Province. The young woman on the cot is hooked up to an intravenous drip, and her husband sits on the floor. They speak to each other tenderly as they eat lunch.
Nearly four weeks after the 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a massive tsunami along the coast of northern Sumatra, Suryani is still recovering from her injuries. Not as apparent as the bruises is Suryani's emotional pain and loss. She was with her two-and-a-half year-old child at home in her village in Aceh Jaya District on the day of the tsunami. She felt the tremor, then a powerful sound almost 50 minutes later. When she went outside to see what was happening, Suryani was engulfed by the wave, battered by debris and hit in the chest by a log. Swallow-ing large quantities of mud and seawater, Suryani thought she was going to die.
Somehow, she survived. But her baby and nine other family members were lost. Suryani's husband, Samsulmasli, who was working his stall at the local market that day, managed to es-cape uninjured, but the tsunami destroyed his business-along with the market and the entire village. Since reuniting, Samsulmasli hasn't left Suryani's side, even when she was sent to Banda Aceh for further medical care for persistent and increasingly serious respiratory problems.
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