Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – More than a month after a hydrometeorological disaster swept across northern Sumatra in late November, children can be seen begging on the roadside in Aceh, carrying empty cardboard boxes and seeking a helping hand from passersby due to limited humanitarian aid.
One of the children, Bustaman, 12, said he was forced to beg to fulfill his daily needs.
He, two siblings and his mother were evacuated to Tanjung Rambut hamlet after a flash flood destroyed their family's home in Kota Lintang Bawah village, both in Kuala Simpang district, Aceh Tamiang regency. His father was killed in the disaster.
"I once did not eat for three days. That was the start of me begging on the roadside," Bustaman told The Jakarta Post on Jan. 8, explaining that he had first asked his mother for permission to do so.
According to him, begging a single day can produce relatively decent results.
"Some people give money while some give food. There are also people who give clothing," said Bustaman, emphasizing that his family's needs would not be met if they relied solely on supplies distributed via an evacuation post.
He added that children at evacuation centers had yet to eat proper meals, only eating instant noodles every day, sometimes salted fish.
Agustina, a mother of five from Al Ikhsan hamlet in Kota Lintang Bawah, said she had no choice but to allow her children to beg. She added that what they brought back from begging in the streets was very helpful due to limited assistance from official channels.
"The [evacuation] command post rations 1 kilogram of rice and cup noodle per family," she said.
Agustina recalled when she asked for sleeping mats from the command post, only to be told that they had run out.
Meanwhile, humanitarian workers have expressed concern about children begging rampantly across the province, with their parents' permission.
"As a volunteer, I am concerned seeing the displaced children. Behind their innocent faces, they carry a huge burden they should not have to bear yet," Maimun bin Lukman from Syiah Kuala University in Banda Aceh told the Post on Thursday.
"Post-disaster, the children really need safe space to study again and experience childhood joys," he said.
Maimun said the phenomenon of child beggars started increasing in the third week after the flooding and landslides that struck on Nov. 26, and noted that some adults were also engaging in the activity.
Without proper and serious handling, he said, displaced children could be exposed to mental harm and potentially lead to a new pattern, that of children used to surviving on the streets who have lost access to education as well as their childhood.
"This is a huge job for the government, the public and volunteers so that assistance given today will not prevent them from [having] a better future," said Maimun.
Contacted separately, Aceh spokesman Muhammad MTA did not deny the presence of child.
He said the provincial administration had provided psychosocial support services (LDP) to take the children to learning and playing spaces so they could interact and develop with other children.
Muhammad added that the Aceh administration was also ensuring that the basic needs of people at evacuation centers were being met.
"The distribution of basic commodities such as rice, cooking oil and other needs will be continuously sent to public kitchens [at evacuation centers]," he said.