We cried for you..........!!!

Roza,.....

Mahdi...

....Luthfi

Maureen..

.....Tazkia

Roza,.....

Mahdi...

....Luthfi

Maureen..

.....Tazkia

Roza,.....

Mahdi...

....Luthfi

Maureen..

.....Tazkia

 

 

Roza,.....

Mahdi...

....Luthfi

Maureen..

.....Tazkia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

       

(It was the NEW YEAR evening of 2005)

Dear All:

On behalf of the whole family, I would like to thank you all for your sympathy and support ....... We really appreciate all your e-mails, SMS, phone calls, visits, prayers.... all of which were really helpful to lighten our burden of sadness.

 

  

I would like to share with you a couple of lines about my youngest sister Roza. She was born in June 19, 1965 when the country was about to face a deep trouble. So she was not even 40 years old when  she died last week. 

She met her husband Mahdi Abrar when they both were taking their Masters degrees at Oregon State University, Corvallis OR. My sister continued her study in Corvallis, OR, and got her Ph.D.in 1994. Her husband is a veterinarian, completed his Ph.D. in Bogor later after they got married in 1992. They both took teaching positions at Syiah Kuala University in the city of Banda Aceh (look at the pictures taken from the satellite above, Banda Aceh before and after the tsunami), where all Mahdi's close relatives resided. 

A couple of days before Christmas, Roza and Mahdi went to Jakarta for a research
seminar or something. They left their three children (their 10 years eldest son Luthfi and his little sisters Maureen and Tazkia) with Mahdi's sister in Banda  Aceh. After the seminar, they spent a couple of days with my dad in Bogor.When we called them from Makassar on Christmas Eve, my brother, my two sisters
and their families were having dinner together with my dad. They were very
happy ...... My daughter Dhika was among them, she was the only one from my
family who joined the happy moment, because her sister Rena was in Malaysia.

On Christmas Day, Roza and Mahdi left Bogor, took the plane in Jakarta flying to Banda Aceh via Medan. Mahdi decided to stay overnight in Medan because he got something to do there on Monday.He planned to go home to Banda Aceh on
Tuesday. My sister Roza went right away to Banda Aceh. She spoke with my dad in
the phone short after she arrived atBanda Aceh. The children missed their 
mom very much because it was the first time she left them for rather a long time.

Well, we are not sure what happened next, but most probably Roza spent
the whole day and night with her children, opening gifts she brought home from Bogor, etc. When they got up in the morning, their house was suddenly
shaken by the earthquake. They went outside like everybody else, but then people were running and screaming because the tidal wave was after them. In panic, Roza took her children into their car just to make a try to protect them from the water.
But the water came to fast and to strong,Luthfi did not even make it to get into
the car. The door probably was slammed by the water, and Luthfi was thrown and 
swept away.......miraculously, amazingly, unbelievably.... God Almighty has saved
him through someone's hand, and apparently survived the disaster. 

A couple of days later we heard that
they found my sister's dead body still 
in the car with her children. Mahdi's 
extended families who lived in the 
neighborhood, including his parent,
his brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces,
cousins,..... all died. When they collect
all the bodies, only two were missing.
One is Mahdi's, who was in Medan when it
happened, and the other one was first 
thought to be his brother, but turned 
out later to be his son Luthfi. The father
and son are the only survivors among
their extended families who lived in the
neighborhood. 

I believe that my sister Roza has done
all her main duties as an academician,
a daughter, a wife and a mother, in 
the last days of her life. She 
presented her research paper to fulfill 
her academic duty, then she visited 
her father and made him happy,
went to her mother's grave, then went
home to spend the night with her children.
And at the last moment of her life, she
was trying hard to save the lifes of her
two little daughters. She also miraculously
"sent" her son to her husband, so that
the generation did not stop there .....
May all their souls rest in peace, may
God Almighty accept their deeds and
forgive their sins....

Life goes on, right or wrong, loosing
and gaining, ....... so let's just start
another New Year.

Best Wishes,
Rhiza Sadjad
rhiza@unhas.ac.id
rhiza_sadjad@yahoo.com
http://www.unhas.ac.id/~rhiza/


PS. My sister's dissertation is found here,
her maiden name was Roza Sjamsoe'oed:

Author Sjamsoe'oed, Roza. 
Title The use of logistic regression for developing habitat association 
models / by Roza Sjamsoe'oed. 
Imprint 1994. 

Location CALL # STATUS 
Valley LD4330 1995D .S52 AVAILABLE 
Storage Vault LD4330 1995D .S52 c.2 LIB USE ONLY 

Descript 72 leaves, bound. : ill. ; 29 cm. 
Note Typescript (photocopy) 
Thesis Thesis (Ph.D.)--Oregon State University, 1995. 
Bibliog. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-63). 
Subj.,lc Habitat (Ecology) -- Mathematical models. 
Regression analysis. 
Local subj Theses, OSU -- Statistics

        
Author Sjamsoe'oed, Roza.
Title The use of logistic regression for developing habitat association models / by Roza Sjamsoe'oed.
Imprint 1994.
Location/CALL #/STATUS
  ValleyLD4330 1995D .S52 /AVAILABLE
  Storage Vault/LD4330 1995D .S52 c.2/  LIB USE ONLY
Descript 72 leaves, bound. : ill. ; 29 cm
Note Typescript (photocopy)
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Oregon State University, 1995.
Bibliog.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-63).
Subj.,lc Habitat (Ecology) -- Mathematical models.Regression analysis.
Local subj Theses, OSU -- Statistics.







Link to additional information.
Link to additional information.