This last weekend I traveled to Aceh with coworkers from Tifa’s Governance and Democracy Program in order to visit some of our partner organizations there, monitor the progress of their work, and discuss how to strengthen democracy in the upcoming local elections. Over the course of three days we met with a group of religious leaders, anti-corruption activists, political activists, and a school for democracy training. We drank copious amounts of the uniquely brewed coffee for which Aceh is famous, but none of the special coffee that is ground up with Aceh’s other famous locally farmed good. (Think what crop is usually grown to fund violent separatist movements). 
With the group of Ulama from one of Indonesia’s largest Islamic groups, Nahdlatul Ulama, I listened to them lament the corruption and money politics that has taken hold in Aceh and how they envision Sharia-based democracy thriving in the future. Afterwards we gathered for lunch and coffee with a group of activists who discussed goals and plans to strengthen local democracy as well as specific projects for this fall’s election. Friday, after two cups of strong coffee and a bowl of lontong Aceh for breakfast, we met with an anti-corruption NGO and listened to their progress conducting community discussions and hearings to create awareness of the government’s budget management. Afterwards we continued on to the Saree School and sat in on the first day of a group training on peace and democracy. While the school offers trainings on topics such as starting home businesses for women and organic farming, these attendees were both young and old, men and women; all invited because of their leadership at the local level.
Getting out of Jakarta again was both reinvigorating and reinforced my sense of purpose here. Working in a donor foundation office everyday makes trip to the field such a treat, as well as necessary to see actual conditions and progress.
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