When Fahmi returned home to witness the destruction, he found that his house, nearly eight miles from shore, was completely destroyed. But the real tragedy was felt days later, when he realized that his parents, his wife (pregnant with their first child) and many relatives, perished in the storm.

“It was hard to believe the amount of damage that was done,” Fahmi says.

Fahmi took his work experience in community economic development and began slowly putting the pieces of his life back together. With a vision for an economically self-reliant Aceh as a driving force, he applied for and received a scholarship to attend Southern New Hampshire University’s School of Community Economic Development. SNHU made available several scholarships to community economic development practitioners impacted by the tsunami. Fahmi, urged on by his sister, arrived in Manchester with a heavy heart and the spirit, beyond all odds, to make a difference.

After completing classes this past summer, he returned home to begin creating a mobile school. Rebuilding Aceh’s academic infrastructure and finding new teachers are his main goals. Fahmi will return in May to SNHU to complete his master’s degree and update the CED community on the mobile school project.

“The tsunami destroyed many buildings and many children now do not have a school,” he said. “Education provides a future for our community.”