Aceh visit/Saltonstall grant: Local novelist Sorayya Khan will be
traveling to Aceh, Indonesia, May 3 – 18 as part of her Constance
Saltonstall Foundation Artist Grant in Creative Non-Fiction. During
her visit Ms. Khan will conduct interviews of tsunami survivors and
conflict survivors as part of her ongoing research on the relationship
between trauma, memory, and loss. "I'm interested in this relationship
in my fiction, although I've previously thought about it in the
context of war and not natural disasters. I see the interviews as part
of a larger project as well, though, one which records the words of
tsunami survivors as "history." The creation of an oral history
archive some time in the future would, in fact, be the very best
monument to mark the tsunami."

Aceh Relief Fund: Ms. Khan's close connection with Aceh is tied to her
involvement with the local not- for- profit ACEH RELIEF FUND . Founded
in December 2004 by Indonesian and Malaysian scholars at Cornell
University together with Ithaca community members, Aceh Relief Fund
has successfully initiated and continues to fund a mobile library, a
revolving micro-enterprise grant program, and the construction of a
community center as well as ten homes designated for non-landowners in
the village of Punge Jurong.

Sorayya's journal: During her travels in Aceh, Ms. Khan will be
posting journal entries to the Aceh Relief Fund web site,
http://www.acehrelief.org/journal. Ms Khan will be traveling with Lisa
Loomis, a journalist and editor of the Vermont weekly newspaper, The
Valley Reporter. Ms. Loomis will write articles and take photographs
for her newspaper, as well as the Aceh Relief web site, on her travels.

Please come back to ARF's website to check Sorayya's journal from Aceh.

Saiful