Leaving Timor Leste

 My regular lunch - all for US $1.50








I am very sad to be leaving Timor Leste and the wonderful people I have met.  But, I am heading to Bali to catch up with Rebecca and Amy and am looking forward to seeing them again and excited to be spending some time with them.

Today (Monday) is the Presidential elections and things (so far) are very quite - lets hope they remain that way!! 
The two candidates vying for the President are Francisco Guterres Lu Olo and Taur Matan Ruak (Independent).   Taur Matan Ruak is a former leader of the resistence against Indonesia and became the chief of Military after independence.  He has the backing of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.  Guterres Lu Olo is a former resistence fighter, former President and Fretilin Party candidate.  He won the most votes in the first round of elections.

Whatever the outcome of the election, I hope that the successful candidate does something to improve the life of the Timorese people.  They have such a poor life expectancy (51 years (female) and 49 years (male); extreme poverty with unemployment rate estimated to be high as 70% and as mentioned before 3rd in the world in malnutrition.  Meanwhile there are billions of dollars flowing from the oil and gas resources. 

I have met some wonderful young Timorese who are fortunate and motivated to seek university education overseas.  Hopefully they will return to the country to improve the situation here.

The volunteers at Bairo Pite Clinic enable the clinic and hospital to function.  Without these volunteers flowing through, the clinic would not be able to function as the volunteer doctors and nurses allow Dr. Dan & Dr. James to attend to (up to) 300 outpatients daily, while the volunteers look after the hospital and mobile clinics. 

Rotary Club from Melbourne, have just donated $40,000 to rewire the entire premises and are undertaking further fundraising to provide other facilities and upgrades. A shipping container organised by Rotary, with donations from many services, arrives regularly and provides the clinic with hopsital beds and medical supplies. 

It has been a wonderful experience and Dr. Dan keeps the dream alive of having free quality primary health care for all.  I hope for the people of Timor Leste that this dream can come true.  

Boanoiti!

Atauro, Arte Morris and more

Have just arrived back from Atauro Island. A beautiful piece of paradise 30 km north of Dili.  We caught a water taxi over and back, but the ferry also runs weekly on a Saturday.  We stayed in a wonderful, beautiful, relaxing place called Barry's Eco-Lodge - right on the beach where the taxi berths (well doesn't berth - where it stops and you unload into knee deep water).  The lodge is run by an Australian (Barry - hence the name) and his Timorese family.  We stayed in thatched cabins right on the beach.  Food was magnificant and relaxation was all you could do - unbelievable snorkling, reading, eating.  This is one place I would love to come back to and spend much longer.  All for $30 per night. 









This is the view from our Tent.  The tent was in a raised thatched cottage and at high tide was two metres from the water (thats my feet - I was lying down)

Sunrise Atauro Island

Easter was really busy at Dive Timor Lorosae (where I stay in Dili) as lots of people flew in just to scuba dive over the Easter holiday period.  I was talking to a  couple of guys from Darwin who said the scuba diving off Atauro Island was magnificent, so clear and the coral and fish was just like the movie "Finding Nemo".  So, I guess, if you are into scuba diving - this is the place to visit.  The cheapest way of flying here is to fly to Denpasar and catch a connecting flight to Dili.  

Before going to Atauro Island, have spent time around Dili.  Visited Arte Moris which is an Art Gallery and Artist Colony set up in the remains of an Indonesian-era museum.  Art students live there while they train and study.  One of the resident artists showed me around the gallery and also to their studios.  There are plenty of pieces I would like to buy, but there was a beautiful painting of a Timorese women on Tais - it was magnificent and from a recent exhibition they had.  Would have loved it - but of course the problem of getting it home............  Also had some fun sculptures outside.  Enjoyed this immensely.

 

Teapot - made from wire frame and thongs

Yesterday we visited Chega! - (Chega - Portugese for NO MORE, STOP, ENOUGH!) An exhibition which is housed in a former Portugese Fretilin and Indonesian prison where countless human rights violations occurred and hundreds of resistance fighters were interned by the Indonesians.  It was a very powerful and moving exhibition and the prison cells (especially the Dark Cells) still have the grafitti from the prisoners that were interned there.  There was horrible cruelty with one of the cells used as a execution chamber where they filled it with water to about waist level and then put in electricity to electrocute them all. The number of prisoners that where held there is still unknown, with family members visiting and adding names regularly.

Also visited the Santa Cruz Cemetry. This was the site where on 12th November 1991 over 100 people  were killed by Indonesian forces and what precipitated the turning point in Timor Leste's independence struggle and international involvement. The Indonesian forces shot a 20 year old New Zealander (Kamal Ramadhaj) and beat up an American journalist (Allan Nairn on assignment with the New Yorker).  The attack was filmed by British journalist Max Stahl. 

Trivia Night, Malnutrition Ward

Sunset at the Dili Beach Hotel - Trivia Night is held here every 2nd Tuesday to raise money for Bairo Pite Clinic - A fun night with people from all around the world.  I was on a table with a man from Portugal, a women from Phillipines and a couple from South America (not sure which country).  We came third - will have to do better next Tuesday!!

What were they selling????

Holly (Pre-med student from Seattle), Sonia & Natto (Timor Leste), Tim (GP from Gold Coast) and Pinky (Volunteer Nurse from Phillipines)

These young babies were in the childrens ward and suffering from malnutrition.  They are starting to put on weight which is great.   Often the children are malnourised due to the mother being malnourished during pregnancy, but there are also those that become malnourished if the mother stops breastfeeding, or is unable to breastfeed.  Dr. Dan certainly promotes breastfeeding to all the mothers who give birth at the clinic.  The midwifes in the maternity ward are on an incentive for the number of births that occur in the clinic.
Poverty, of course, is a major issue with the children suffering from malnutrition.