Bjork comforts Suci Lestari, a UNICEF officer near the remains of her house where she lost her family to the tsunami.
UNICEF/2006/Josh Estey

The remains of Suci’s family home.
UNICEF/2006/Debbie Kavanagh

A mass grave at Tempat Pemakaman.
UNICEF/2006/Debbie Kavanagh

Day two

Suci's story

Suci Lestari a Communications Officer from UNICEF’s field office in Banda Aceh, showed Björk around for the two day visit.
Suci lost her mother and siblings in the tsunami. She survived because she was away for a few days. Her father was out at sea fishing so also escaped the waves.
Suci’s family all lived in this same fishing village in Aceh. When her father returned from his day of work he found devastation everywhere and his house razed to the ground.

Suci showed Björk the remains of her house – a roof and tiles on the floor. She pointed out part of a cushion they would sit on to watch television and pulled a scrap of orange fabric from the rubble. “This was the dress my mother would wear to religious festivals” she said. If she finds pieces of her family’s clothing, Suci takes it home to wash. Like most Acehnese, Suci does not consider leaving the area, “The sea is like blood to me – I grew up in it all my life”.

Suci then took Björk to an enormous mass grave nearby in Tempak Pemakama. Here there are buried at least 46,000 bodies. Bodies had to be buried quickly and were taken to the grave pit by truckload. Suci imagines her mother may be here although she will never know for sure.

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