back to basics
Earlier this week, the Australian Embassy here in Dili sent out a text message to all registered foreign nationals (which includes me, in lieu of any Canadian office in this country). It read: “Travel advice has changed. Overall level reduced to reconsider your need to travel at this time due to uncertain security situation”… And, yes, that is good news ☺
I’ve again missed most international news this past week, but the new Prime Minister was signed into office without incident. Although it still remains to be seen how the new government will fare, life is definitely seeming more normal on the streets. After writing a lot about nasty politics, homes being destroyed, and general mass chaos and uncertainty – the word of choice even for an international office! – I figure that it’s time for some more mundane observations about ordinary life in Timor-Leste.
Where else to start but the basics: food.
I have yet to find any dish or preparation that is particularly “Timorese.” It seems to be a difficult thing to pin down. The roadside stalls (or the more “upscale” $2 -$3 lunch places) serve a mix of Indonesian and other Asian foods: rice with stir-fried or pickled vegetables, roast chicken, stewed fish, etc. But, as with any location that is home to its own UN mission, you can find a range of restaurants here including Indian, Western-style places (burgers, fish & chips, pastas), and one an amazingly good Japanese place given the circumstances. Timor is a former Portuguese colony and aside from some earlier cultural influences, many Portuguese also moved here in 1999 post-Indonesia… The two nicest (and most expensive) restaurants in town are both Portuguese. Earlier this week I had a prawn and crab seafood pot at one of them, and it was pretty decent. Not quite a West Coast bouillabaisse, but, again, given the circumstances…
The vast majority of the country is involved in subsistence agriculture, and even those who have regular salaries make a very small amount of money. Well-trained, educated ngo staff make between $200-300, while restaurant staff will make $90-100. Yes. A month. Lunches here are incredibly long because people generally go home to eat… Even the $2 lunches would be too extravagant for every day, especially considering there are usually at least 10 children per family to feed and support! I’ve actually heard that Timor has the world’s highest birthrate. Although I haven’t confirmed that figure, it wouldn’t be surprising: it’s an incredibly poor, almost entirely Catholic, country.
There are 4 popular Western-style grocery stores, but with so much small-scale agriculture, a lot of locally grown produce is sold at roadside markets. Before I arrived, the four main markets were entirely burned down, but new stalls are slowly being established in new locations. Even in the city you can see small rice paddies and watercress fields, and a seemingly endless numbers of banana, papaya, and coconut trees. You can find lots of other tropical fruits for sale in the markets -- tangerines, pineapples, jackfruit, durian, mango -- although not every stall will have them.
If you want something a bit more substantial than fruit and vegetables, men walk around town selling freshly caught fish tied to strings and hanging from both ends of a large stick. I’ve also seen strips of red meat being sold in the same fashion, though I don’t honestly know what type of meat it is… Goats and pigs mosey freely down the streets alongside the stray somewhat-emaciated dogs. Outside of Dili, large horned cows (bulls? water buffalo? I can’t tell!) are common. The pigs are bloody huge and long-snouted, and spend their days eating garbage out of the trash piles that get burned on a nightly basis. Apparently, the really big pigs are worth $75-$100, which is an exorbitant price compared to a possibly monthly salaries. Yummy: $75 of your own garbage, digested, hung from strings, and walked around a hot, dusty city. Honestly, I wasn’t already a mostly-vegetarian, I certainly would be now!
Garbage is really – surprise! – a large problem here. There is no collective method for dealing with inorganic waste, so, in Dili, it gets places in large brick boxes on the streets, for the pigs, and then burned. In the districts, outside the city, people chuck things wherever it’s out of sight, often “on the other side of the mountain” (literally: our staff in Baucau walk over the hill behind their house!). The collective garbage collection method probably worked decently well for many years because, until quiet recently, almost all waste was organic and “composted” by animals. Then, as in so many underdeveloped places, there was no system capable of dealing with the sudden introduction of non-biodegradables… plastics, metals, excessive packaging, our favourite material objects… And, of course, it’s not that we don’t have the same problems at home, but we’ve just managed to hide it better.
Anyway, while garbage is garbage everywhere, sewage is another thing all together. Alas, though the Indonesians put in roads and schools, there is no functioning sewage system! Instead, all the roads are lined with small trenches and filled with water, which we affectionately call “cholera city” or “malaria town” depending on the mood. It’s not that the entire city smells or anything. It’s just unfortunate. I mean, you can regularly see kids play-fishing in the ditches. It makes me shiver every single time…
…just like I do when I see meat being sold on the streets in the heat!
Seriously, it's a good thing for Timor that the beaches are amazing and the kids are so cute :)
I’ve again missed most international news this past week, but the new Prime Minister was signed into office without incident. Although it still remains to be seen how the new government will fare, life is definitely seeming more normal on the streets. After writing a lot about nasty politics, homes being destroyed, and general mass chaos and uncertainty – the word of choice even for an international office! – I figure that it’s time for some more mundane observations about ordinary life in Timor-Leste.
Where else to start but the basics: food.
I have yet to find any dish or preparation that is particularly “Timorese.” It seems to be a difficult thing to pin down. The roadside stalls (or the more “upscale” $2 -$3 lunch places) serve a mix of Indonesian and other Asian foods: rice with stir-fried or pickled vegetables, roast chicken, stewed fish, etc. But, as with any location that is home to its own UN mission, you can find a range of restaurants here including Indian, Western-style places (burgers, fish & chips, pastas), and one an amazingly good Japanese place given the circumstances. Timor is a former Portuguese colony and aside from some earlier cultural influences, many Portuguese also moved here in 1999 post-Indonesia… The two nicest (and most expensive) restaurants in town are both Portuguese. Earlier this week I had a prawn and crab seafood pot at one of them, and it was pretty decent. Not quite a West Coast bouillabaisse, but, again, given the circumstances…
The vast majority of the country is involved in subsistence agriculture, and even those who have regular salaries make a very small amount of money. Well-trained, educated ngo staff make between $200-300, while restaurant staff will make $90-100. Yes. A month. Lunches here are incredibly long because people generally go home to eat… Even the $2 lunches would be too extravagant for every day, especially considering there are usually at least 10 children per family to feed and support! I’ve actually heard that Timor has the world’s highest birthrate. Although I haven’t confirmed that figure, it wouldn’t be surprising: it’s an incredibly poor, almost entirely Catholic, country.
There are 4 popular Western-style grocery stores, but with so much small-scale agriculture, a lot of locally grown produce is sold at roadside markets. Before I arrived, the four main markets were entirely burned down, but new stalls are slowly being established in new locations. Even in the city you can see small rice paddies and watercress fields, and a seemingly endless numbers of banana, papaya, and coconut trees. You can find lots of other tropical fruits for sale in the markets -- tangerines, pineapples, jackfruit, durian, mango -- although not every stall will have them.
If you want something a bit more substantial than fruit and vegetables, men walk around town selling freshly caught fish tied to strings and hanging from both ends of a large stick. I’ve also seen strips of red meat being sold in the same fashion, though I don’t honestly know what type of meat it is… Goats and pigs mosey freely down the streets alongside the stray somewhat-emaciated dogs. Outside of Dili, large horned cows (bulls? water buffalo? I can’t tell!) are common. The pigs are bloody huge and long-snouted, and spend their days eating garbage out of the trash piles that get burned on a nightly basis. Apparently, the really big pigs are worth $75-$100, which is an exorbitant price compared to a possibly monthly salaries. Yummy: $75 of your own garbage, digested, hung from strings, and walked around a hot, dusty city. Honestly, I wasn’t already a mostly-vegetarian, I certainly would be now!
Garbage is really – surprise! – a large problem here. There is no collective method for dealing with inorganic waste, so, in Dili, it gets places in large brick boxes on the streets, for the pigs, and then burned. In the districts, outside the city, people chuck things wherever it’s out of sight, often “on the other side of the mountain” (literally: our staff in Baucau walk over the hill behind their house!). The collective garbage collection method probably worked decently well for many years because, until quiet recently, almost all waste was organic and “composted” by animals. Then, as in so many underdeveloped places, there was no system capable of dealing with the sudden introduction of non-biodegradables… plastics, metals, excessive packaging, our favourite material objects… And, of course, it’s not that we don’t have the same problems at home, but we’ve just managed to hide it better.
Anyway, while garbage is garbage everywhere, sewage is another thing all together. Alas, though the Indonesians put in roads and schools, there is no functioning sewage system! Instead, all the roads are lined with small trenches and filled with water, which we affectionately call “cholera city” or “malaria town” depending on the mood. It’s not that the entire city smells or anything. It’s just unfortunate. I mean, you can regularly see kids play-fishing in the ditches. It makes me shiver every single time…
…just like I do when I see meat being sold on the streets in the heat!
Seriously, it's a good thing for Timor that the beaches are amazing and the kids are so cute :)
posted by melissa at 10:57 PM
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