Staff Profile – Mona Lisa in the Mentawai

SurfAid has its own Mona Lisa and she’s just as valuable to the team as the more famous one hanging on a wall in the Paris Louvre.

Our Mona Lisa, 25, has been part of the E-Prep Program team in the Mentawai Islands since June 2007.

E-Prep staff member Mona Lisa (left). Photo: Kirk Willcox / SAI

Born on the northernmost Mentawai island of Siberut, Mona Lisa lives in Katurei village in South Siberut and she works in the hamlets of Tiop and Sarausau.

She is one of 12 dedicated E-Prep Community Facilitators who live together with the target communities, speaking the dialect and understanding the local culture and customs.

“I enjoy my work very much because I’m working closely with people in the villages on SurfAid’s Program Siaga Bencana (E-Prep program) and I am helping them to prepare if there is an earthquake or tsunami or some similar disaster,” Mona Lisa said.

“The team is very good and there are many things to do every day and I am learning a lot. Because of our work the people know what to do if there is a disaster and they know they are safer having this knowledge.

“In case of an earthquake it includes getting away from buildings into the open space with your head covered, and if the earthquake is longer than 50 seconds there is also the chance of a tsunami so they know they need to run to higher ground along evacuation routes that they have prepared. Being prepared means saving lives.”

The E-Prep Program is sponsored by AusAID, as part of the Australia-Indonesia Partnership, and Mona Lisa recently learnt traditional Mentawai dancing for an exhibition in the hamlet of Tiop during AusAID’s mid-program review. 

She plans to continue her dancing. “We had a dance teacher for the performance and I enjoyed it very much and will continue to learn more. It’s a good way of sharing time with the women in the community.”

E-Prep staff member Mona Lisa, third from left, performed in a traditional Mentawai dancing exhibition in the village of Tiop, on the island of Siberut Selatan, during a ceremony on the AusAID program review visit in April. Photo: Kirk Willcox / SAI

E-Prep Program Manager Jason Brown said: “What I really love to see are community facilitators becoming true members of the communities in which they are living and being accepted by these communities.

“This is the first major step in becoming an effective facilitator. Whether it’s joining in local dances, cultural events or celebrations, or helping out on village clean-up days, these activities help to form the trust that is so important in any community development program.”