Tsunami survivor - Khalfawi

Tsunami survivor - Khalfawi

Khalfawi M. Amin, a fourteen-year old boy, is the soul survivor of the family of eight. His younger and older siblings, from 2 years old to 17 years old, as well as both parents were all gone. With a low tone, he retold his experience that day.

Water came all of a sudden after the earthquake. He was able to cling to the roof of a two-story-house. He stayed there for a couple of minutes, only to be hit by the second wave which collapsed the two-story house. Khalfawi noted that he went under the water again, until he finally hung on to logs of wood, and tried as best as he could to hold on to it. It was God’s miracle that pulled him up and with last energy he had he hang on to the log.

The water wiped him out about 1.5 kilometer away from where his house located. He never found the remains of both of his parents as well as his seven siblings.

One of his extended family lives near Dayah Babulilmi, and brought him there. He has been living in Dayah Babulilmi orphanage boarding school ever since.

His bitter experience just crushed me. I admire his unbelievable strength and his spirits to move on.

I asked him to write a letter to a friend in the U.S. He nodded and gave me the letter about an hour later. "Please send my regards and my thanks to friends who donated and who were thinking of us here" – he stated.


Ina Nasution