September 2020. During the Covid pandemic, the YACAN children had online lessons using Zoom, Youtube and WhatsApp. In this video Saut takes us around the children during their home school lessons and asks them how they are getting on, and if they prefer home school to normal school. Royen gives a teacher's perspective; Jehin, Friska, Okto, Aldi and Icha demonstrate their excellent English speaking as they respond!

YACAN grow crops at the children's home to supplement their diet; the boys show us around their vegetable garden in this video.

August 2020 - Preparing chillis, composting, growing flies for fish food, and the new enterprise selling cooking gas.

This video shows the YACAN children going about some of their tasks.

30th May - Working in the garden

23rd May - Harvesting fish, and making new mattresses.

YACAN Children's Home, Deli Tua, Medan, Indonesia, is a Christian home, currently housing approximately 50 children, most of whom are earthquake and tsunami victims. The home is purpose built, and includes a fish farm and areas to grow fruit and food in order to be as self sufficient as possible.

YACAN in ACEH

The wave that hit Banda Aceh on Boxing Day 2004 was over 90 feet high, it took the top off this Coastal Beacon

The wave destroyed virtually everything in it's path

The debris built into a huge dam in the town centre, which slowed the wave. The rest of the town was flooded

Thousands of people were killed, and many injured. Here are some survivors' stories of their experiences as told to BEATS:

Mother of three children (K, Z & F): I feel like an angel helped me because I was pregnant (with F). I was floating in the water. Z, who was 18 months old, was held by a neighbour, floating. They stayed on the roof. I found Z and the neighbour after a week! I found K the same day. His clothes were torn. I remember their father said "Run away to a high place - to a roof". My house was near the beach so the water was very fast. The small wave became bigger and bigger and from different sides it became one big block of water. I was waiting to deliver a baby. A neighbour stayed safe with us, but my husband was not safe - after three days we knew that he had died. I was asking about Z. I had no news except that someone thought they saw her near the mosque. I went to Ketapang and found her there. I was thinking that she had died, but some people said they had seen her and our neighbour. I was looking at the victims on the street for four days after the tsunami but I didn't see her. I praise God that I held onto K and ran away and that the baby was safe. We kept trying to find Z - walking far, and then three days later we found her and went back to Sigli. My husband's brother kept looking for him, but he was not found. After delivering F I went back to Laksana and stayed with my mother-in-law. When I met Z she already had help but she had stress trauma. K was scared but not as bad because I met him the same day. (Z born in 2003)

R and his sister S lived with their family close to the water. They had been sent to their uncle's house for the night so they did not annoy their older siblings. Their uncle told us he had to choose whether to try and get to R & S's family or save his own. None of R & S's family survived.F & M: F stayed on the roof opposite her grandmother's house all day. She & M were reunited that evening and were told that both their parents had died. Their parents were near where the mass grave is now situated. M was at the main mosque when the tsunami occurred; he dreams about his parents.

Approximately 1,000 NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) went to Banda Aceh and helped with emergency aid, clearing up and rebuilding. Most have now left; BEATS is continuing to support orphaned children who are living with relatives.

The State Governors have expressed their gratitude for all the assistance rendered, by erecting monuments thanking all the countries that came to their aid. The Central Park has a tear drop shaped plaque for each country, like the United Kingdom shown here.

This Generator Barge was washed approximately 2 miles inland by the tsunami; it has now been converted into a tourist attraction. The photo below was taken from it looking back towards the coast; the sea can just be seen in front of the distant hills. All the buildings seen have been built since the tsunami, apart from a few wrecked buildings left as a testament to the destructive power of the sea.

One of the reasons the tsunami caused the deaths of so many people both in Aceh and in other countries was the lack of any advance warning. DART buoys have now been installed out in the Indian Ocean which monitor the movement of water in order to give a vital warning should a similar situation develop.

A tsunami disaster research facility has been built in Aceh so that in the future more will be known about them and how to respond better when such emergencies arise.