Living and working in a beachside city located just at the edge of
the Pacific “Ring of Fire” brings its excitements and its own set of
challenges. My new home is a place
called Dili, the capital of East Timor, commonly known as Timor Leste or Lorosae
(loroh-sye). As I write this blog entry, I am trying to
shake off the dizzy feeling I just experienced from a mild 5.8 level earthquake
in the ocean about 300 km east of here.
No tsunami, no property damage, and nothing to be concerned about, just
feeling that my sense of balance thrown off as the ground shook about 20
seconds. Actually, moving out here to
live on a tropical island for 1.5 yrs to work at a new job, with a new
organization and a whole new level of responsibilities, in a place 14 time
zones from home, is kind of like the earthquake I just felt; rocking my foundation
of comfort and routine, requiring I step out in faith to face all the
challenges and opportunities which lie ahead.
Many local Timorese have asked me, “how do you like our country?” Honored that I would be welcomed here to work
alongside the locals to manage and develop projects, I usually respond to them
by saying that “the people are kind and warm, that I really enjoy the beaches
and mountains, and that I am happy to be a part of the development process of
the youngest nation in Asia.” Timor
Leste was a Portuguese colony for over 400 years and then it was handed back to
the Timorese in 1975, only to be conquered again… this time by Indonesia--with support
from the US to control the “communist” element--about nine days after the hand-over. Just 10 years ago, the country celebrated its
independence after many hard fought military and political battles, including
mass killings, “scorched-earth” destruction of infrastructure, and countless
human rights abuses. On a recent field
trip, I came across a super steep cliff called “Jarkata Dua” located in Ainaro
district; a place where pro-independence Timorese activists were told by Indonesian-supported
militias that they could “study for free” in schools of Jakarta, the capital of
Indonesia, which was a lie. They were tricked,
then summarily bound up, loaded into dump trucks, and hurled and pushed off the
edge of a 100 meter cliff, tumbling to their death. This happened to hundreds of local villagers
for no reason other than to exterminate them in order to maintain political
& military control over the people.
Amazingly, some survived the fall and lived to tell the story. This was obviously a very sad chapter in
Timor history, but things are slowly changing.
Timorese don’t hold any grudges against the Indonesians because they blame
the past actions of abuse and conquest on the government, not the people. Members of both nations work together at my
office without any feuds, however Indonesians inside Timor still must tread
lightly given the past history.
Being that it is such a new country, many of the basic things
like paved roads, reliable & quality health care, clean water, and a stable
food supply are rare in many rural areas, however the government and all the
international partners like the UN, World Bank and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs), like the one I work for, are making strides in helping
the nation achieve its development goals set for 2030. My job as a health advisor is to manage the
technical and administrative elements of grant and sponsorship funded health
projects, which includes duties such as staff supervision,
monitoring/evaluation, proposal writing, analysis and strategizing, networking,
budget management, among others. I
really enjoy my job and all the challenges which come along with living in a
new culture and learning a new language.
I suppose I was made for this sort of work, and so far, this seems like the
right place for me to be. My assignment
with this organization and the atmosphere here feels like a good fit for me. The move out here was not a drastic change
from my previous work but still enough to shake things up in my life where each
day is different from the last and opportunities for problem-solving and
creativity come with the territory.
I arrived to Timor Leste on Jan 6 of this year, and I feel like
I am adjusting well to social and work life here. I’ll be starting language classes next month
with my co-workers, but I’ve been learning survival words. Despite this country having over 20 living
languages, I am catching on, especially because many words are borrowed from Portuguese,
which is similar to Spanish. Actually,
the average Timorese in Dili speaks 3 to 4 languages, but Tetum, the official
language, is pretty easy to learn. Obrigadu
means “thank you” and diak ka lae
means “how are you?”… the pronunciation is mostly phonetic and most people
speak in present tense. Many staff still
struggle with English, so that is a major challenge in terms of efficient and
effective communication in the office. I
work with six other expats at the office and luckily, the national staff work
well with the expats; very open and accepting.
In fact, the local staff has invited us expats to their karaoke events,
which they conduct after work every Friday in the meeting room, so I have yet
to scare them away with my singing voice!
The UN has run a special peace keeping mission here since 2000, but the
mission is closing now and the local police are taking over. This means the people are very accustomed to
seeing foreigners (we are called “Malay” over here). There are lots of ex-pat activities and so
far I’ve attended a few, like the Scottish ritual dinner called “Burns Night”
where I ate a not-so-tasty sausage called Haggis and learned how to “strip the
willow” (traditional dance). These
events have given me some good work contacts as well. I also attended an English speaking church a
couple times, which has a mix of expats and locals, and visited the local beach
called Cristo Rei, where I enjoyed a nice swim in the ocean and visited the
famous JESUS statue, much like the one in Rio, Brazil. I also visited the US Embassy’s “Democracy Ball”
to celebrate Obama’s inauguration with the diplomats and NGO community, in
addition to meeting up with some of my American friends, who currently work for
my previous employer. Today, I just had
my first tennis lesson with a local coach, and hit the ball around a bit with
some kids afterwards. I hope to keep up
the exercise schedule and meeting more locals and foreigners at social events
in town.
Currently, I live in a 1 bedroom apartment with internet access
and free cleaning service, only about a 7 minute walk from the office, but I
will be moving soon to an apartment near the beach within the next week, in
addition to buying a new mountain bike.
I’ve had a few meals with my UN neighbors from Abkhazia (a region in the
south Caucuses near Russia) who always offer me vodka every time I pass by their
apartment. It would be rude to refuse! I’m
pretty exhausted after work and the assignments keep getting piled on top of
me. The local food selection in Dili is
quite good and I can find almost all the groceries I need, in addition to some
good Thai and Indian food. Unfortunately,
I was sick with typhoid last month, likely from the street food I ate (which I
promised myself I won’t eat again), but overall I’m healthy and happy. It would be cool to have friends and family
from the US visit, but I know it’s a long way to travel! I’m still hoping to see the famed 25 foot
pythons and the massive crocodiles as well as the beautiful coral reefs, in
addition to the local dances and Tais fabric weaving. All in good time. The landscape consists
mostly of mountains and the scuba diving/snorkeling sites are supposed to be
some of the best in the world. The island itself is shaped like the head of a crocodile, therefore Timorese children are told they all descended from this "Grandpa Crocodile", which is tied into the lore and fables of the culture.
Timor Leste has a rich culture of dance, music, art, language,
and a fierce sense of independence. It’s
a very Catholic country (about 98% of the population) so I’ll be partaking in
the holy week activities no doubt and visiting the cathedrals. On a recent field trip, I was sharing the
story of Wizard of Oz with my
co-workers, somehow related to a conversation about local healers using magic, which
is still common here. The negative consequence
of this is that many villagers delay seeking care for curable diseases like
malaria and pneumonia. Nevertheless, my
colleagues loved the story, so I hope to have an Oz watch party at some
point. They also invited me to visit the
local medicine man, just to check out the rituals, so I plan to do that. There
was a really cool youth fundraiser last month which I attended, where about 5
groups of teenagers had a hip-hop and capoeira dance-off, kind of like those US
dance competition movies, with judges and a rowdy crowd. Youth in this country--about half the nation
is under 18 years of age-- have so much potential but very few opportunities to
find a good job, so my colleagues and I are developing new project ideas to
create a work/life skill training program.
Like many post-colonial
countries, poverty levels and tropical disease rates are high, the education system
is weak, corruption is rampant, and as usual, the women and children suffer the
most here in this island. The NGO I work
for, largely supported by child sponsorship money, and more recently grants
from Australia’s Aid agency, has been here since 1990 and has a central staff
of over 40 people working with 5 local partner groups to help improve the
livelihoods of Timorese children and their families. Our NGO mission is to improve the well-being
of vulnerable and deprived children around the world and to help them become
leaders and change agents in their communities.
I have been to the field twice so far (in the east and the south of the
country) and have seen this mission in action.
From watching children fetch their water from a local tap rather than
the river and learning that mothers can now take their sick children to a
clinic which we helped to rehabilitate, I can see change happening.
The projects I work on right now involve malaria prevention,
improving maternal child health, and assisting sub-district clinic leaders to
develop micro-plans to increase child immunization rates. Being a manager is a new experience for me,
with its own difficulties and joys, but I am learning as I go how to be a
leader. My co-workers are very engaged
and I have a very supportive supervisor, which I am very thankful for, in
addition to a supportive ministry of health.
At the end of a recent government meeting on malaria/dengue control
conducted in Tetum, I was asked what we could do to support the ministry, and
somehow I gave an answer in the midst of dozing off during a meeting which I
didn’t fully understand! Honestly, I have
lots of room to be creative, propose new ideas, participate in trainings, and facilitate
the development of a strategic plan for the health program with my staff. In sum, our NGO has a lot of opportunity to
grow and I feel I’m developing good relationships with the local staff. This is a good place for me to be at this
time in my life, so let’s see what happens next in this new adventure. During my time here, I hope to be able to influence
the change process in a developing nation, and will undoubtedly be changed,
shaped, and even shaken by this experience and all the people I come into
contact with.
