Faith Raises Above
15·02·2006 | Permalink | Comments
- photographer
- Eddy Chew
- Eddy Chew aka LeoChimaera lives in Penang. He's a corporate advisor, and run his own advisory and training company firm based in Penang and Singapore.
He first experienced photography when he was 9 years old and fell in love with it ever since.
During his free time, he'll seek out new photo opportunities, whenever he is at home or abroad.
Presently, he's coaching his 7 years old daughter photography as she has shown interest in the field as well. She accompany him in his photographic outings when in Malaysia.
- loc.
- Tanjung Bungah, Pulau Pinang
- tags
- mosque, tsunami, village
info
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This picture was taken today at a former fishing village at Tanjung Bungah, Penang. It is along the road I used to travel to the city regularly. TSUNAMI visited this little village on 26th December 2004.
I always wanted to stop and see the destroyed village and the view of the Masjid Terapung from the destroyed village perspective, but never actually found a good compelling reason to do so, until today, thanks to dailyMalaysia, even though I’ve taken many pictures of the mosque, which minaret can be seen in the background and the focus point of this picture.
I used what was left of the frame of what used to be a door to the living room to put the minaret in perspective.
Narrative:
Since the Tsunami paid a surprise visit to this little village one peaceful sunny morning slightly more then a year ago, life in this quiet fishing village was no longer the same. The villagers encountered many challenges, from saving their own life and the lives of their love ones. Stories of fear, strength and heroism of the villagers was in the newspaper for many weeks. But I felt their real story have not been told…The villagers’ biggest challenges was to rebuild their life, their home and most importantly their livelihoods from all this destruction, and I sometimes wondered where the villagers were able to find the patience (especially when dealing with government’s bureaucracy) and the strength to live and rebuild their life amidst this destruction.
One day, as I was driving towards the city and was behind slow traffic, I saw the minaret standing in the background, overlooking the destroyed villages, I suddenly realised, it could be faith – the villagers’ faith in god could have helped them see through the challenges.
Is it not faith in the almighty, we human, a mere mortal turned to – in time of challenges, rightly or wrongly?
I find this image of the minaret, standing strongly, proudly and beautifully in the background among the ruins and destructions so thought provoking and as I stroll around taking pictures, I am thankful and appreciate what I have, thanking god the almighty for his grace.
Ending this narrative…
The villagers are presently housed in a temporary housing village, known as Tsunami Village, built by the government on land loaned from private corporation, while their new permanent home, a multi-story low cost flat is being built for them a few hundred meters away from this village. Many of the villagers have seeked new livelihoods away from the sea, however, some still believe mother nature will take care of them.
AND by the way, the state government and the various authorities, in the guises of kindness, humanity, and the all “authoritative feel good word” – development, actually “condemned” this quiet village to it’s death. Though the tsunami left behind a fair bit of damages, it is man, who actually signed this little village’s “death warrant”!
...nice framing
— unsunghero 16. February 2006, 11:23 #