In all Christian countries, December 26 is a time when families come together as part of the Christmas period to celebrate, as the new year approaches.
However, for Indonesia’s Khairani, the date has meaning for a different and tragic reason; the anniversary of the last day he saw his mother alive.
On December 26, 2004, Khairani had just moved to Banda Aceh City. He was in his early twenties and dreamed of graduating from college with his loved ones by his side.
Full of ambition and positivity about her future, Khairani had no idea of the devastation that would soon ensue.
The deadliest tsunami in history claimed the lives of more than 227,000 people, including 151 UK citizens, after hitting densely populated Asian destinations including Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
It was caused by a massive earthquake measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale that occurred at 7:58 am on December 26, 2004, 150 miles from Banda Aceh. The city received no advance warning of the disaster that was about to hit 300,000 people.
Speaking to FEMAIL, Khairani, now 40 and a mother, said being trapped in the catastrophic tsunami felt like “the end of the world.”
She managed to get away from the waves on a motorcycle, but the tsunami followed close behind, just five meters away.
Khairani, now 40, said getting caught in the catastrophic tsunami felt like “the end of the world.”
‘It was a miracle that we were saved. “I thought it was doomsday,” he said.
While Khairani was lucky to have survived the catastrophic natural disaster, some devastating news was just around the corner for her.
She remembers: ‘One day after the tsunami, I finally found some relatives and asked them about my mother. They told me that she died, that my town was destroyed.
‘I saw bodies floating in the sea. I was crying. I thought maybe it was my mom.
“My world became an incredibly dark and sad place. (It was) the biggest loss of my life when my mother passed away.”
The mother of one added that she was unable to give her mother, named Rohani, a proper burial because she could not find her body; which she believes was lying among the piles of corpses that had been left in the streets of her city.
“I saw countless bodies scattered throughout the streets of Banda Aceh, with shapes and conditions so unnatural that they were incomprehensible,” he recalled.
Khairani was terrified to find Rohani’s body in a terrible state, as she had seen many other members of the community.
He added: “I prayed to God: ‘Dear God, please don’t let me see or have to accept the sight of my mother’s body if she has passed away. If she is still alive, please meet us. And if she is gone, please place her in Your most beautiful paradise.”‘
A photograph taken on December 26, 2004 shows the aftermath of the tsunami in Banda Aceh.
A helicopter image shows the damage sustained in Banda Aceh on January 8, 2005, a couple of weeks after the tsunami.
Khairani is pictured with her daughter Alifa in 2014, who was around seven years old at the time of this photograph.
Khairani, who lost her father when she was still in kindergarten, believes that God heard her prayers, as Rohani’s body has not yet been found; nor those of his extended family who died in the tsunami.
“Perhaps if I had seen their bodies, I would have suffered serious trauma, since my mother was the only person who became not only my mother, but also my father and my best friend,” she said.
‘I am grateful and have learned a lot from my prayer, even though there is no grave. My mother will forever be in my memory and heart. Half my thoughts are still filled with her.
‘Until this moment, I still live with the best memories and motivation of my mother.’
Khairani said he doesn’t even have photographs of his late mother left as they were all destroyed by the tsunami.
When the tsunami hit Banda Aceh, waves reached 100 feet high and traveled across the Indian Ocean at 500 mph, the speed of a jet plane.
The Earth was so affected by the natural disaster that the earthquake caused a change in the world’s changing rotation.
A year after the heartbreaking event, Khairani, who is an only child, returned to her studies and graduated from university in 2005.
She was able to get through this different time by remembering Rohani’s hopes and dreams for her to have a good future.
In 2006, Khairani married her husband Surdirman and the couple had a little girl.
A year after the heartbreaking event, Khairani (pictured this year) returned to her studies and graduated from university in 2005.
Khairani said: ‘She had prepared and provided me, her only daughter, with the best education.
‘Even after my father passed away when I was still in kindergarten, his love for me never wavered. With the support of my mother’s extended family (my uncles, aunts and other relatives) I was able to recover and successfully complete my studies.
“My mother’s hope and dream was for me to be a teacher, and I was able to fulfill that wish.”
She then joined World Vision’s emergency response team and became a child-friendly spaces facilitator, helping children overcome the trauma of the tsunami.
She participated in activities with them that included singing, dancing, and playing with them, which, in turn, also helped her heal.
Khairani said: ‘I am determined to help children and people around me with the skills I have. They also need someone to trust.
“I want to help children who have lost their parents and people who have lost a loved one, as I have experienced myself.”
The following year, in 2006, Kairani married her husband Surdirman and the couple had a daughter, Alifa.
Then she realized she had a new mission in life: to make sure she made the world a better place for her newborn daughter.
A man sits in front of a boat dragged onto the roof of a building on December 26, 2004.
A motorist watches boats that were swept onto a street during the 2004 tsunami in Banda Aceh.
Kairani joined one of World Vision’s women’s savings groups, which is where people from vulnerable communities come together to save cash in small amounts and lend to each other when needs arise, such as when a family member falls ill. .
The group supported women starting their own small businesses, and World Vision helped them obtain legal status and accounting training.
These women would continue selling snacks, baking cookies, and serving coffee to earn extra money.
‘Now a mother who has just finished her primary education can earn money to make sure her children go to school.
“Through their businesses, women are adding rooms to their houses and are no longer dependent on their husbands to earn all the money,” Khairani said.
‘Abuse in families is less than before the tsunami. Women are more respected by their husbands. (Men) want to hear women’s opinions now. Things are better. They can listen, not just talk.
‘Before the tsunami, only one girl could go to university here. But then the same number of boys and girls go to university. Almost all people after high school now go to university.’
Kairani said she is proud of what she has accomplished when she looks back at her life over the past 20 years.
She said she wants to be an example for her daughter and feels more connected to her late mother as she watches her grow up.
‘It’s like I’ve been given a second chance at life with my mother. I want my daughter to be happy and receive all my love and affection.
‘I want to give him the best education, better than what I had. I want to support her growth and development to become a strong, independent woman who can achieve her dreams.
‘Then when she is older and understands the meaning of life, she will understand how much I wait for her and love her, just as I received love from my late mother.
“And one day, she will proudly tell the world about me as her mother, just as I remember mine, and I will share her story with the world.”