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In Indonesian, “laga” means beautiful, and Laga handbags — which you can find on the arms of many celebrities — are absolutely worthy of their name. We remember seeing these bags on Oprah, and “ooh”-ing and “ah”-ing not just over the gorgeous designs lovingly embroidered by the women of Indonesia but also over the amazing backstory of the couple who founded the company. Roy and Louise van Broekhuizen, Californians of Indonesian descent, were called upon to help out when the devastating tsunami hit in 2004, and while they were there, they came up with a brilliant way for the local women to use their skills to rebuild their community and create a sustainable economy. We were so moved by their story, we asked Louise to tell us more. You will be so inspired by her words — and the harrowing tales of the tsunami survivors, which you can read on the Laga website — you will want to own one of these handbags. Go ahead and buy — this is a no-guilt purchase. By shopping Laga, you are empowering and giving hope to people who have literally lost everything else.

“It’s not about you.”

These are the first words in the book, The Purpose Driven Life, written by Rick Warren, who happens to be my pastor. They are words that made a huge impact on my husband Roy and me. But, as we learned firsthand, it takes more than just words to truly make a difference in the lives of others. It takes action.

And so Roy and I were compelled to say “yes” when we received a call from our church’s Missions Department in January 2005, two weeks following the Boxing Day tsunami whose epicenter was nearest to Banda Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia, to participate in the initial relief work.

We’d never been there. We didn’t know what to expect. We knew nothing about disaster relief or what we were supposed to do. And we didn’t know that this would turn out to be the worst disaster known in our lifetime.

At first, Roy led medical teams to the affected area and we had no communication between us. Working at my job, underwriting mortgage loans, helped keep me busy instead of letting my mind trick me into thinking that something might go terribly wrong since I hadn’t heard from him for weeks on end.

When he returned home from a trip, I would hear finally hear the heart-wrenching stories about the people he was helping that left us both crying many nights. And then he would be gone again, taking another team on another mission to help provide medical care and food and water and housing for those who were left behind.

After a few weeks we were able to start communicating, and I would sit at my computer, tears streaming down my face, as I read his emails:

“… children taken to orphanages daily; many parents don’t know where their kids are or if they even survived …”

“… large puddles of water, stagnant, not safe so people filling by hand with buckets …”

“… children are collecting bricks and knocking off cement and selling for 100Rp (.01 cent) so families can buy fuel to cook …”

“… 10 year old girl has been bleeding from her nose for two days and the family didn’t have funds to take her to the clinic; we were able to assist and she is now better …”

“… Red Cross volunteer was shot today …”

“… all fuel costs have increased in country by 50-100%, protesting breaking out – please pray for everyone’s safety …”

“… draining system totally broken, dangerous for travel …”

“… bodies still being recovered, 250-300 per day …”

“… mass grave with estimated 36,000 unidentified bodies, some stacked 20 deep …” … read full story →

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