On my drive in from the airport this week, I immediately recognized the site of a mass grave, where bodies had been tossed off Army trucks, cartwheeling into the muddy abyss last January. There was no time for the usual rituals; too many were dead, piled by the side of the road, inside collapsed homes, floating in the water. I still dream about it sometimes.

But now that mass grave is covered over. Green grass covers the entire thing, flowers are growing, items of remembrance have been left by the side of it. It was a metaphor for all of Banda Aceh. Memories of the tsunami horror are still here, but there is new life and visible progress.

This morning, I travelled with Federal Way based World Vision to visit Acehnese residents who have been granted housing since the tsuami. I met a grandmother, a former English teacher, Syurifa, who lost her husband and 9-year old grandson in the tsunami, then floated unconscious for 3 kimometers before waking up in the next village. Her kind eyes feared with tears as she told me of their loss, and she said she still trembles when the aftershocks happen. Ten months later, there are still aftershocks here from that massive earthquake of December 26, 2004.

Syurifa grasps my hands and asks me to tell everyone at home how grateful she is to World Vision for her shelter, food, water and medical care. World Vision and other groups have offered education, work, help to recover land titles, support for children. Without the aid, she says, she would still be hungry and still be living in a tent, and does not think she could have survived.

Like grandmothers everywhere, Syurifa is wise and loving. She is grateful for her remaining family, who had been away when the tsunami hit. Her 4-year old grandson comes with us as we go to see what's left of her house, the house she loved, the house she shared with the husband she had met in college. There is only a foundation and some tiles on the ground, but she remembers every inch of the place and shows me around.

The first anniversary of the tsunami comes the day after Christmas this year. I will be thinking of Syurifa, and praying for the gentle people here in Banda Aceh who have suffered so much. Whatever I donated last year, I will donate again this year, because recovery is a multi-year reality in this part of the world. It's hard not to succumb to 'donor fatigue' with so many tragedies around the world in 2005, but Syurifa will not let me forget her. Ever.