love from timor, June 19th
Sorry for the mass email, but I just wanted to say hi to y'all and let you know I've arrived in timor safe and sound. I don't think a blog is feasible for me now, so only keep reading if you're interesting :) and I'm rushing, so please forward to anyone I've missed!
It feels like I've been here more than three days, but it's general been relaxing thus far... I've been staying with Sierra, the ngo director, and Sean, her boyfriend. Yesterday we went to the beach, and just had a slow day. Sean has recently opened a restaurant/bar here, so we were there at night watching the world cup. Seen more soccer lately than I've ever seen in my entire life!! I got to meet people in the international community, which was nice, even though I was really too tired to small talk. It's very different to my introduction in kosovo, just because I already knew Sierra (from sydney that past few weeks), and am already meeting the expat development community... At the same time, I think I'll be happier actually working with the timorese community once that gets rolling.
I haven't really done much thinking about what I see around me here, or taken many pictures yet, but here's the basics: it's hot and humid... the rainy season was apparently late this year, and it's therefore still on and off wet. Raining now, even though the beach was beautiful. But, I'm sleeping under a mosquito net, and wearing my repellent, and there's lots of fans to stay somewhat cool with.
It is definitely the poorest place I've ever seen... not like pristina, where the infrastructure was crumbling, but most people spent a lot of time and $ on their appearance (funded somehow by the albanian diaspora). Here, I've seen lots of people without shoes, and kids running around without clothes. Lots of kids, who are really sweet and like to smile and wave :) We drove by the market today, to buy some fruit, but there was no market where it was supposed to be -- all the stalls were deserted, and half were burned. I haven't been to see any of the big temporary camps where people are staying, but tent communities are clearly visible in one of the main city parks, and in some of the protected buildings (embassies, ets)... Lots of people lost their homes, or are still just extremely frightening of the violence returning.
In the neighbourhood were sierra and sean live, the local boys stand guard at night, and have set up a roadblock of trees across the main road so cars have to slow down and can be watched going through.
But really, I haven't seen or heard of a single incidence of violence since I've arrived. I've been told that the streets are unusually quiet during the day, but at least some (small, and large) stores are open, and there are some streets were people sell fruit and veggies, etc. Let's hope that it stays calm like this.
I met the three Timorese staff here in Dili today, discussing the ngo's new plans to start doing part of their peacebuilding program in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps.... The focus will be doing activities with kids to help them process the past few weeks, and deal with loss, trauma, and grief.. maybe also stuff on non-violence and conflict resolution. But, while we wait to get confirmation from UNICEF of funding for that project, we're going to visit the other half of the staff, who are now working in a city in another district, maybe 4 hours drive away... These girls are from the east of the country, and with recent conflict being based on east-west divisions, they don't yet feel safe returning to the capital (which seems to be mostly populated by westerners). Aye.
But, I'm looking forward to the drive, and meeting the rest of the staff, and watching them do part of the program in the district, and seeing another part of the country.
I hope to be able to write more eventually, and will try to send photos at some point as well.
take care kids
love m
It feels like I've been here more than three days, but it's general been relaxing thus far... I've been staying with Sierra, the ngo director, and Sean, her boyfriend. Yesterday we went to the beach, and just had a slow day. Sean has recently opened a restaurant/bar here, so we were there at night watching the world cup. Seen more soccer lately than I've ever seen in my entire life!! I got to meet people in the international community, which was nice, even though I was really too tired to small talk. It's very different to my introduction in kosovo, just because I already knew Sierra (from sydney that past few weeks), and am already meeting the expat development community... At the same time, I think I'll be happier actually working with the timorese community once that gets rolling.
I haven't really done much thinking about what I see around me here, or taken many pictures yet, but here's the basics: it's hot and humid... the rainy season was apparently late this year, and it's therefore still on and off wet. Raining now, even though the beach was beautiful. But, I'm sleeping under a mosquito net, and wearing my repellent, and there's lots of fans to stay somewhat cool with.
It is definitely the poorest place I've ever seen... not like pristina, where the infrastructure was crumbling, but most people spent a lot of time and $ on their appearance (funded somehow by the albanian diaspora). Here, I've seen lots of people without shoes, and kids running around without clothes. Lots of kids, who are really sweet and like to smile and wave :) We drove by the market today, to buy some fruit, but there was no market where it was supposed to be -- all the stalls were deserted, and half were burned. I haven't been to see any of the big temporary camps where people are staying, but tent communities are clearly visible in one of the main city parks, and in some of the protected buildings (embassies, ets)... Lots of people lost their homes, or are still just extremely frightening of the violence returning.
In the neighbourhood were sierra and sean live, the local boys stand guard at night, and have set up a roadblock of trees across the main road so cars have to slow down and can be watched going through.
But really, I haven't seen or heard of a single incidence of violence since I've arrived. I've been told that the streets are unusually quiet during the day, but at least some (small, and large) stores are open, and there are some streets were people sell fruit and veggies, etc. Let's hope that it stays calm like this.
I met the three Timorese staff here in Dili today, discussing the ngo's new plans to start doing part of their peacebuilding program in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps.... The focus will be doing activities with kids to help them process the past few weeks, and deal with loss, trauma, and grief.. maybe also stuff on non-violence and conflict resolution. But, while we wait to get confirmation from UNICEF of funding for that project, we're going to visit the other half of the staff, who are now working in a city in another district, maybe 4 hours drive away... These girls are from the east of the country, and with recent conflict being based on east-west divisions, they don't yet feel safe returning to the capital (which seems to be mostly populated by westerners). Aye.
But, I'm looking forward to the drive, and meeting the rest of the staff, and watching them do part of the program in the district, and seeing another part of the country.
I hope to be able to write more eventually, and will try to send photos at some point as well.
take care kids
love m
posted by melissa at 1:30 PM
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