Ida has changed in the past two weeks: color has returned to her cheeks and the vegetable seller who trades outside the Hotel Amans in Ambon is now doing brisk business. "Even Christians are now buying from me just like in the past," she said light-heartedly.

Ida, like the rest of Ambon—the troubled capital of the South Maluku province—is gradually regaining her normalcy. People are beginning to forget the bomb explosion