Tierney Davis said she felt an urge to help victims of disaster after she watched waves crash on the shores of Southeast Asian countries on television following December's tsunami.

"I was probably like every other American," said Davis, a health communication graduate student. "I was on my couch, I was far away. I thought, 'That is so terrible.' Then the possibility to work with it came up and it really caught my attention."

Davis had participated in the Peace Corps in Paraguay after completing her English undergraduate degree at MSU and was working on her master's degree when the tsunami hit.

She said she heard about a position last April in Indonesia with Christian Children's Fund, a non-governmental organization, from a Peace Corps friend and right away, she was packing her bags and heading overseas.

"I feel very comfortable traveling from country to country," Davis said. "When I was given the opportunity to go, I went in two weeks."

Christian Children's Fund, an organization based out of Richmond, Va., works with more than 34 countries, assisting more than 10 million families and children regardless of religion, race or creed, Communications Director Toni Radler said.

"When we start an emergency program, we start out with medical supplies, food, the basic necessities," Radler said. "Then we open up child-center spaces, where they can talk about what happened to them if they want to. It's a place where children can resume normal life, while at the same time, parents are scrambling around trying to figure out where they are going to sleep that night."

Caring for children

Davis helped in the organization's child development efforts in disaster-ridden Indonesia for about four months, arriving back in the United States in early September. When she arrived in Indonesia in April, she said she was surprised to see — even months after the tsunami — that signs of the disaster were everywhere.

"It was horrendous," she said. "You would see a tree was down, and all tangled in it was clothes, wire, clothes line, children's toys. It was like a house that was torn apart, turned inside out and exposed."

Although Davis traveled around different parts of the country, she was first stationed in Banda Aceh, a location she said was hit hard.

"It was so striking to be on ground zero of the tsunami — it was like a bomb went off," Davis said. "Nothing was left standing. There were no people around. It was a little bit overwhelming, and I didn't get there until April."

Davis said she remembers seeing a line of about 20 crushed cars on a country road that had been towed there by police, adding that she couldn't believe a wave had crushed the vehicles.

Davis said many people's lives were destroyed by the tsunami. Everyone she encountered had experienced loss in some way and as local people began to rebuild their homes, she said, they were dealing with the trauma.

Davis' job with the Christian Children's Fund was working to deal with the children's healing process and getting them back to their normal lives.

She said volunteers gave the children creative outlets, such as performing or making art projects, to express emotions they could not put into words.

"We had poem readings about the tsunami," she said. "They would scream during the middle of it. They were very able to deal with their grief."

Davis also started a snack program that provided nutritional content to children, when potable water and essential nutrients for a young diet were hard to find.

"I found that dealing with children, they are really resilient, they bounce back," she said. "It showed up with their art. They are still dealing with these grieving processes."

Discovering a country

Outside of work, there were a lot of issues Davis said made her experience abroad more difficult. Indonesia is in conflict with a rebel group called the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM.

"Something that we were always trying to look for was child soldiering," Davis said. "If a 14-year-old's parents were gone, he didn't have any family — it was like a gang mentality."

Across the country and cities, there were military checkpoints everywhere that Davis said would sometimes take advantage of the relief organizations. She said she remembers some people trying to steal the food the Christian Children's Fund was giving to people in need.

Despite the harsh conditions in Indonesia, Davis said she learned a lot about respecting other people's values during her time in a Muslim society.

"Men don't have to shake women's hands," she said. "If we were going to a meeting or if we went out to a community to talk with people about projects, (the men) wouldn't even shake my hand. That was a huge challenge."

She said she really enjoyed opportunities she had to experience the Indonesian culture. One of her favorite experiences was watching a traditional dance.

"They beat on these drums and it started out real slow," she said. "They leaned forward and leaned back. Then it gets loud and rowdy and really fun at the end."

Living and learning

Kari Marciniak met Davis as an undergraduate at MSU and has remained close friends with her throughout the years. They were able to stay in touch throughout the time Davis was in Indonesia via instant messaging, which Marciniak said made her feel a lot closer to her friend's experience.

"She was really excited about the work when you could tell that things were progressing," said Marciniak, who earned her bachelor's degree in 1998 and her master's in 2002. "She learned a lot about non-governmental organizations and international work while she was over there. She learned a lot that she didn't expect to learn."

When Davis came back to the United States in September, Marciniak noticed the difference between when she came home from Indonesia this fall and when she returned from the Peace Corps a couple years ago. Marciniak said she has noticed Davis' relief to be home from Indonesia, which she didn't see when she came home from the Peace Corps.

"At least from my perspective, it seems like her idealism has turned more towards realism," Marciniak said. "She realized what she can actually change and that you can make a difference, but not in the way you may have thought before."

Now, Davis is starting a new adventure by moving to Seattle, where she can pursue work with more international development programs that are domestically based. She is considering returning to MSU to finish her master's degree at some point in the future, but for now she said she wants to continue to help people in need.

"People are people all over the world and they live differently," Davis said. "It is fascinating. It is so rewarding to be in a service-related career, because you know you are making a difference. You are able to help people hands on. You can see the difference."