Ending Friday 30th November
The Saturday afternoon Hash started for me with a 10minute cycle ride along Comoro
road, over the main river bridge (being
widened) and then to the Coffee Cooperative compound where we chatted (you’ll see we have members from all around
the globe and this was the first time we had someone from Sudan) then off we went,
in two groups: walkers and runners. I ran. Tough going, without any cooling breeze and
just the ever-present heat and humidity. Naturally the Timorese are fine with
the conditions – just a malae problem . At one stop I checked my
back pack and found an open pocket…oh dear, another phone gone. Then someone rocked
on up 30 seconds later and said “I just found a phone on the road!”. So nice
things DO happen occasionally. Photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24510581@N02/8232106362/in/set-72157632137130118/
Me arriving in fourth place and rather rubbed in the chest, :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24510581@N02/8231052551/in/set-72157632137130118/
There was a huge
celebration in Same during the week. Same is about a three hour drive to the
south. Apparently there was a man who led a rebellion against the Portuguese in
1911 and then surrendered in 1912. It all took place in the Same area. So this
was the official 100th anniversary commemorating his fight – I think
it parallels the independence struggle against Indonesia. Many people and
officials went to Same for three days of festivities. Wednesday 27th
was an official public holiday and tied in with the anniversary. The Government
also had Thursday as a holiday, while NGOs missed out :-(
My counterpart and his wife graduated with a degrees in
agriculture, also on the Wednesday and that area of town was packed with students in
gowns and sashes, he and she had a deep bright green colour. Scooters were
parked everywhere and the traffic crawled. I had to leave work at 12:30 to get
to the presentation ceremony and I was then invited to go back to their parents’
house for a food and drink later. So I was there, near the Cathedral, at 3:30
and introduced to everyone and given a seat up in the porch area. There was a
large banner erected on the house wall with carefully cut out letters congratulating
the graduates and announcing ’Knowledge is Power’. There were also about 50
other people being friends, relatives and families. Food and drinks were
served. Quite a day for everyone. Americo actually won a scholarship to study Agriculture
in any of about five different countries including Cuba and Portugal. I asked
if he would and he said ‘No’, he was going to stick with computers. I wonder if
there was also a challenge with managing two people in a foreign country and
the associated costs.
Thursday morning I got Kate to go for a run along the beach
past the airport. It is much easier now that someone has cleared away the
rusted perimeter fence that had fallen across the route. A difficult and
delicate stepping exercise each time. There were ten fishing boats out in the
bay; most with a single paddler + nylon net. I hear that because there is no
navy nor functioning inshore policing, that foreign ships are helping
themselves to the fish off the south coast. There are some larger Zodiac-type
craft pulled up on the beach across from the Palacio in Dili central, but I
hear they are non-functional due to lack of fuel. If there is another reason,
then I shall edit this entry at a later date.
Thursday night was film night at the indoor theatre – the only
one I know of in town. The producer of ‘Bloodshot’, Peter Gordon, was there to
talk to the sell-out crowd. Three of us had managed to grab some ‘primo’ seats
5 minutes before everyone else had decided to knock back their wine and head on
in. This film was a recap of the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre film clip + how two
of the film crew had stayed in Timor: Kirsty Sword (married Xanana Gusmao) and Max Stahl (made more films). They visited parts of Timor in 2011 and reviewed
what had happened since 1991 and 2002. There were some excellent interviews
with Timorese affected and impacted in different ways, from ex-fighters to
victims, to parents who had lost their children to the violence. Xanana and Ramos
Horta also had important things to say. Several people featured in the film
were also present in the cinema. One of them was a medical student at the time
and met Peter Gordon on a beach in Bali, twice I believe, in 1991. I thought to
myself, ‘I know that face!’. After listening and watching I recognised my ‘boss’
from 2006-7 when I worked at Ministerio de Saude (Ministry of Health) when the man, Dr Rui Araujo, was Minister of
Health. I said hello afterwards, he remembered me and we exchanged cards.
Find out more about the film here: http://www.cinemalorosae.com/2012/11/bloodshot-dreams-and-nightmares-of-east.html and here http://www.northernfilmschool.co.uk/6_2martinEastTimor.html
Tomorrow I am off to Brisbane for a week of IT training, on
a product called ‘Abacus’. Designed especially for microfinance organisations
such as ours. Is it possible to get a good coffee in Brisbane?
I just noticed a report released just over an hour ago. It covers a new web site created by the UN of and for Timor Leste. My initial check out is of some really neat photos. I'm sure there is a lot more depth than just photos. Have a look:http://www.momentu.tl
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