Classic Example

Well, it’s 3.45 on a Friday afternoon and I find myself at home eating Oreo’s. Why? I’m glad you asked.

Being Friday, this morning was Limpeza (cleaning) in the office. I decided not to go to work as I’ve been out of action for most of the week with a bad back and thought that weeding the ground, picking up cigarette butts or whatever else constitutes cleaning might not be the best idea for me.

I texted my counterpart (the preferred method of communication) to say that I wasn’t going in this morning, but that I’d be in this afternoon and I was looking forward to speaking with him. Why was I looking forward to speaking with him? Well, on Monday morning he is heading to Darwin on a study tour about Career Guidance in Australia (which is great), but unfortunately I’m not able to go with him. I wanted to speak with him before he goes, and last Monday morning he received a phone call saying that he had to go to Dili "immediately", so I haven't seen him all week.

So, this afternoon I get to work and notice that Leandro’s motorbike is not there. Hmmmm. Not a great sign.

“Where is Leandro?”
“I don’t know.”

“Do you know where Leandro is?”
“No. He was here this morning but hasn’t come back after lunch.”

Hmmmmmmmmm.

So, I pick up my phone…
“Hi Leanrdro, where are you?”
“Oh, Mana Susan, I’m in Dili.”
“You mean that big city 3 and a half hours away that you just returned from yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I got a phone call to say that I needed to come urgently.”
“And you didn’t think to text me and tell me?
“No.”

Ok, so there goes basically my entire plan for the afternoon. Not to worry – it’s not the first time, nor will it be the last time that happens.

So, back to the drawing board.

“Guys, where is Silvino?” (The only other person in the office that I work with since two of the other staff got moved into different positions.)
“Well, you see, this morning the police had a motorbike check point…”

Pause. (For them to just look at me as if this is enough explanation…which to be honest it was. I had an idea anyway, however, I raised my eyebrows and indicated I didn’t understand, just to make sure.)

“…and they seized his motorbike so he’s at the police station sorting it out.”

Oh, help me God.

(and, this was after one of the admin staff greeted me with, “Mana, you didn’t come to work this morning. Me either – my sister got married this morning so I went to the Church.”)

After a minute of silent swearing, some anger at the idea that it’s ok to go to weddings and get your motorbike back from the police on a work day, and some quick mocking of the so called organisation of my department…I shook my head, took a deep breath and smiled (well, I smiled in my mind – it may not have reached my lips).

And that, my friends is a classic example of a day at work for me.

Of course Leandro was going to Dili – his boss had told him to go. One of the multitude of things that East Timorese people do well is respond to the demands of their superiors. Wouldn’t you, if you and your ancestors had been taking orders from other people since the early 1600’s? And it’s likely that Leandro’s boss's boss told him to get Leandro to Dili. And he wasn’t going to say no to his boss, so why would Leandro?! (And neither would I, let’s be honest.)

And why, when you motorbike has been seized by the police would you not try to get it back? Financially, it is the most valuable thing that Silvino owns and is likely to own for a long time. Apart from that, it’s his only means of transport and a means of transport for his immediate and extended family to go to market, school, visit family in the mountains and lots of other things. Besides, it’s his independence. I would try to get my car back as soon as possible too!

And, of course, when family is the most important thing in Timorese culture of course you would skive off work to go to a wedding. And weddings don’t work the same way here – they’re not the big pre-planned events that we have. They happen at short notice (like pretty much everything here), and you need to be able to just go. I’d have gone if I were her.

Timor Lesson: It’s not your country, it’s not your culture.
You can get cranky and grumpy about things not going to plan (even after you’ve spent days talking about it and think it’s a sure bet), but the only person who’s going to be upset is you. So take a deep breath and move on. It’s really not that big a deal. It’s just the way it is.

Tunu Bibi

Continuing on the theme of goats there is a village just outside Maliana that is called Tunu Bibi. I asked Leandro why it was called that, “well, Mana, it is called that because a long time ago there were a lot of goats there and that is all the people ate – tunu bibi – barbequed goat.”

Love it.

It’s simple, has historical context and it is about food.

And it’s about goats, and lets face it – goats are cool.

Bibi bibi everywhere!

Bibi (goats) are every where!

They are so much a part of my everyday life - when I look out my window, when we drive to Dili, when I ride to work in the morning, when I ride back home at lunch time, when I ride back to work after lunch, when I ride home at night, when I go to the market, when I go for a run in the morning, when I'm sitting on the balcony reading, when I'm sitting in my office working, when I'm just hanging out with my mates, when I'm crossing the road, when I'm going to the airfield for the helicopter, when I'm sitting in a restautrant...just all the time, they're there!

The kids are so cute - I love them!

But just like the pigs, once they're beyond their childhood and turn into adults they get a little less likeable.

But, all in all, they're interesting animals and they're always around!

...and in Tetun the word for goat is Bibi. Say it - it's fun.

A little hard to see, but these bibi are making a dash across a main road of Dili

The goat is on the left.

From my balcony, they love this spot and there are often bibi just hanging around.

This one is from the back of a motorbike on one of the district roads, I don't know what it is about this photo, but I love it. Maybe because this is what they look like when you're driving past them after they've scattered from the middle of the road!

Words words liafuan

Haveyoueverfeltlikeyouhavesomanywordstumblingaroundinyourheadand

you’renotquitesurewhattodowiththem? SometimesIhave English words

sometimesIhave Tetun words andsometimestheyareallintheretogetherlikebananamangopineappleand

guavainamixedjuice. WhenItrytomovefromEnglisttoTetunorviceversamy

braindoesn’tlikethat,mywordsgetalmixedupandIendupspeakingastrange

mixtureofEnglishandTetunweliketocallTenglish. OthertimesIwanttosay

thingsandmybrainwon’t

work so
it
takes


a long

time
to form a sentence.

And I feel like an idiot because I can’t speak in either English or Tetun properly!

Beep beep

At home it takes a lot for me to beep my horn, but here in East Timor, it's a little different. Honking your horn is part of everyday life, in fact its a big part of everyday life. On my 5 minute ride to work I beep my horn at least a couple of times - it is strange if I don't get at least one in during the morning. It's taken me a while to work out what the beep can mean, but really, the list of meaning is endless...here are just a few that I've figured out...

• Hey there, how are you?
• Hi!
• Just letting you know I’m here
• You’ve got white skin and I think that’s weird
• Just wanted you to know that I can see you
• Goats, seriously, I would move if I were you, otherwise you’ll be road kill bibi
• I’m going to overtake you
• You might think I’m going to move over but I’m just going to continue hogging the road until you are forced to drive into the scrub…ha ha ha, I made you drive into the scrub
• Just felt like honking my horn
• Look out dog, I’m coming through whether you move or not
• Thanks for letting me overtake you
• You beeped, so now I'm beeping. Nice teamwork!
• Nice day, isn’t it? I hope you have a good one!
• Look out I’m coming around the blind corner
• See you next time
• Get out of my way you bloody idiot
• Oops, I accidentally hit my horn but nice to see you anyway
• Yay for life!
• I’m not quite sure why I’m doing this, it just seems to be the right thing to do. Isn’t it fun?

No more rain

So, the wet season has finished, finally. Almost every afternoon since December there were massive storms. Sometimes, the rain was so loud on the roof we couldn't hear each other speak. The land was so lush and green, the air turned cool just before the rain came, and the kids would play in the rain.

The end of the rain means the land has already started to go brown and dry up. What little grass there was is dying, all the rice has been harvested and smell of smoke is in the air as the farmers burn their waste. People are preparing their yards to plant gardens, the dust is beginning to return and the winds have picked up to gale force speed everyday.

I miss the sound of the rain on the roof, the kids playing in the rain and the insistent remark that "udan boot mai", a big rain is coming. But, the weather is cooler and I find myself cold throughout the night. The roads can be fixed in time to be damaged again next wet season, and clearly, riding a motorbike is easier when you don't have to carry an umbrella.

Baa Dili ho avion

Sometimes, instead of the gruelling three and a half hour drive avoiding goats, cows, buffalo, dogs, goats, pigs, chickens, motorbikes, gangs of goats, (occasionally) monkeys, motorbikes, potholes the size of small towns, crazy UN drivers, goats, people sitting on the side of the roads, cliffs that beg you to fall over the edge, school kids, toddlers playing on the road, buses laden down with a ridiculous amount goods, the occasional witches hat or drum full of rocks, convoys of cars that drive down the centre of narrow roads transporting important people at high speed, other cars and goats I am lucky enough to jump on the 20 minute scenic flight that is the UN chopper.

It's not every day you get a free ride on a helicopter!

This is the helicopter….it’s hard to tell in the photo, but this thing is HUGE! It lands just outside of town, not far from my work. When I first arrived I would go out and watch it every day, but now I’m so used to it that sometimes I don't even hear it. Didn't think I would ever get used to a massive UN helicopter land 200m away from everyday.

Sometimes it feels like the chopper came just for me. They are big old rattly things...but i don't think it's going to all apart. At least, I hope it doesn't.

This is the Nunaro Plain, which Maliana is located on the edge of. Bobonaro (the name of the District) is one of the biggest rice growing regions in Timor, as you can probably see! This was taken in the middle of the wet so there are lots of “natar” – rice paddies.

Just on the right of the photo you can see part of the UN Compound (the blue roof). The building with the red roof is right next to my office.

Natar and mountains in the distance mostly surround us. It is beautiful. A quick walk outside is a good way to calm down when things get a bit much!

I went for a ride with a friend of mine down this road one day to visit her family’s rice paddy. It just goes on and on and there are heaps of people walking and riding between their homes and their natar. If your family owns a rice field and you don’t have a paying job you have to work the fields. The vast majority of people here (90% of rural poor) rely on agriculture to survive. Depending on the season sometimes they have some spare to sell and make money, but mostly they eat it. If there is not enough rain, too much rain or any other crop damage there are serious food security issues. For families in the Bobonaro district this season is not looking good. Many crops have failed due to the too much rain.

You can just see the meeting of two huge rivers. During the wet these river beds usually have some water running through them (which you can see on the left), but are not normally full, unless there has been a series of days with big rains...and if that's the case there are most likely several families who have lost homes because of flooding.

Mountains mountains mountains. They are spectacular and never ending. I am blown away anytime I head into the mountains with how beautiful it is here.

The north coast of East Timor flying into Dili.

Yes, I really am that lucky.

Hau nia kolega sira mai visita hau!

My friends have come to visit me!

At the beginning of April (a long time ago now!) I was lucky enough to receive two lovely visitors in the form of Alissa and Steve (who came bearing Hot Cross Buns all the way from Melbourne). Al and Steve are very good friends of mine from Melbourne. We met several years ago when Steve and I worked together and he became insanely jealous of my poster making abilities.

Al and Steve had arrived for an 8 day tour of East Timor, and of course, to hang out with me!! I was so excited in the lead up to their arrival – I could barely concentrate on work and kept annoying all of my friends with stories about Alissa and Steve and how wonderful they are. We had a whirlwind tour of East Timor traversing the East-West extremities of the country and heading into the centre of the country to visit Maubisse.

It was so fantastic to have them here, and rather than bore you with words, please enjoy some photo's from our trip!

It was nice to be reminded of how fantastic my family and friends are and how important they are to me. I had a great time. Much laughing, some great chats, several beers, a beautiful bottle of wine from home, and lots and lots of fresh and delicious fish!

Fresh fish! Delish! We bought these beautiful fish off some of the local fishermen whose livelihood is dependent on the tourists that come to this far flung corner of East Timor (Jaco).

I don't have any photo's of Jaco...but it is spectacular! (Sorry, I'll do better next time!)

Our hotel room. Incredibly cheap, amazing views, and a free wake up call.

Just a few minutes after this a boat came by with that mornings' catch...so we bought some more fish for lunch!

The road from Jaco up to Tutuala. This stretch is pretty good...some of them are terrible.

The road from Baucau to Dili...beautiful, isn't it?

The town of Maubisse

Steve shopping in the Maliana market!

Steve and Alissa on the Risky Balcony enjoying a beverage.

Thanks for coming guys.

Kapaas loos

Every week my counterpart Leandro and I try to have a meeting to talk about work issues. Because there is no privacy at our office we go to my place and sit on my balcony, drink a cup of coffee and talk about things we couldn't talk about in the office.

I commented to Leandro one day that I love the view from this balcony. It's wonderful to see the mountains, or to watch big rains come in - sometimes you can be forgiven for thinking there are no mountains there they are completely obscured by the clouds. Almost every day the sunset is reflected spectacularly on the mountain, and the light is amazing. I love that it's a corn field and that I have watched it grow from when it was planted, and how people use it as a thoroughfare. Sometimes I just sit there and watch people come and go. I told him it is "kapaas loos", very beautiful.

He agreed, "Sin, Mana, kapaas loos."

A few days later we were standing around at work and he said to me, "Mana Susan you know that corn field opposite your home that you like to look at everyday?"
"Yes, Maun, I know it."
"In 1999 my best friend and a group of others were shot there."

A little history lesson

I realised the other day when I was thinking about Timor that I am still learning so much about its history, and not just it’s recent history. I thought you might also be interested in learning a little bit about East Timor and what has been happening here for the last few hundred years…

In the 1500 and 1600’s the Dutch and the Portuguese were taking a look around this little patch of the world and both wanted a piece of the island of Timor. After some scuffles the island was divided up by treaty in 1860. The Portuguese got the East and the Dutch got most of the west, all except for a little enclave on the coast of the western part of the island, Oe-Cusse. The Portuguese held on to that. Apparently it had good Cod restaurants and the Portuguese weren’t willing to give those up. No, Oe-cusse was the first Portuguese settlement on the island and they wanted to hold onto it.

During World War II Australian and Japanese soldiers fought in East Timor. Around 50,000 Timorese died as a result of a Japanese occupation from 1942 - 1945, which was a staggering 13% of the population (or thereabouts). My friend Kirra tells me that she met people in the mountains near Baucau that tell stories of the Australian Soldiers, this is I guess the beginning of a great affinity between the Timorese people and the Australian people. Near Venilale in the mountains in the East there are caves that the Timorese were forced to build for the Japanese to store ammunition.

In 1949 the Dutch withdrew from its colonies in the region and Indonesia was born! East Timor remained a Portuguese Colony until 1975, when a change of Portuguese government meant a change of policy, and so, after around 450 years of colonisation East Timor was left to defend for itself. An independence movement had begun with East Timor (Fretliin) and an independent East Timor was established on the 28^th November 1975. Portugal, Indonesia and Australia did not accept the Declaration of Independence…

Nine days (yes, 9 days) later East Timor was invaded by sea and air in a brutal and bloody operation by the Indonesians (using equipment supplied by the US). This invasion was sanctioned by many countries, including the USA and the occupation lasted until 1999. During this times many Timorese died, estimates are in the vicinity of 180,000 people dying from massacres, torture and starvation. (Considering the current population of East Timor is hovering around the 1 million mark, and this in the middle of a population boom, this number is astounding.)

East Timor was officially annexed into Indonesia in July 1976, although the UN never accepted this annexation.

While the Resistance Movement for freedom continued in East Timor with support in may other countries, the world continued on its merry way not thinking too much about what was happening on half of a little island 800kms north of Australia… until November 12 1991 when footage from the Santa Cruz Massacre was smuggled out of the country and shown to the world. The Massacre occurred at the Santa Cruz Cemetery in Dili at a memorial of a young man who had been killed by the Indonesian troops several weeks before. 270 East Timorese were killed.

This event was a turning point in many ways, as it captured the attention of the world.

In 1996 Jose Ramos Horta and Bishop Belo received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in seeking independence for East Timor, and with the departure of President Sueharto from Indonesian politics in 1998 the Independence movement gathered momentum, resulting in the UN run referendum in August 1999. The year or so leading up to this referendum was marred with incredible violence and horrific fighting and murders. However, at the end of August 1999 98% of the 451,000 registered voters turned up to vote in the face of significant intimidation and threats of violence from the militia. 78% of the voters sought to sever ties with Indonesia and be an independent nation. The result was a outbreak of violence by the militia, to which the UN sent peacekeepers to try and restore order.

In the weeks and months leading up to and following the referendum thousands of Timorese were killed across East Timor. There were several massacres and many smaller attacks. Approximately 200,000 Timorese people fled to the mountains or crossed the border into Indonesia as they were understandably scared for their life.

Indonesian troops withdrew from East Timor from East to West destroying almost everything they could in the process - the scorched earth policy. I see the ruins of buildings everyday, and often my friends will tell me stories about different places around Maliana.

20^th May 2002 is the official date for nationhood of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, (or Timor Leste or Timor Lora’sae). Timor Leste has since faced a myriad of challenges…which need several entries on themselves!