The last 6 months in Timor Leste have been action packed,
but the top highlight was the dance performance (2 times), in front of crowds
over a hundred people; one at a hotel and the other at a sports complex with my
new friends (see the photo gallery). I decided it was time to meet more people and
do something I am passionate about- Latin dance- so I took some classes and
found myself agreeing to perform in public.
There were 12 of us who practiced for months to master the choreography
sequence; mostly Portuguese and a couple of Aussies and Americans and a
Timorese guy. We put together quite a
show of various styles: belly dance, oriental solo, bollywood, tango, kizomba,
bachata and waltz/salsa. I only danced
the latter 2 styles, but it was so much fun and lots of work, with 3-4 practice
sessions per week.
“Stay grounded, keep centered, knees bent slightly, feel the
rhythm and let the beat carry your hips forward…you will be fine, just smile at
the audience and have fun!” -- guidance from my dance instructor/partner and my
friend Sara. I take these words as a
life lesson. The whole experience taught me some valuable lessons of teamwork,
confidence, balance, coordination, posture, and going with the flow, so all
that practice was worth it. I never would
have guessed that I would get that opportunity in Dili, but dance performance
is pretty popular here. At the Timorese
version of “So you think you can dance”
in Dili (a separate event), there were over 7 groups of teenage dancers showing
their salsa-kizomba skills and mash-ups of traditional Timor and modern
dance/hip hop music. Pretty talented!
There is plenty of activities that kept me busy every day --work, tennis lessons, some chill time, dancing, etc. but I’m finding that it’s a lot of busy-ness and not much time is left for being-ness, which is a tricky balance for most people, so I am glad to have this time of rejuvination after a year of service abroad…. to pray, spend time at with loved ones, reflect, and read. Its been a good year but as usual, my expectations are too high so I am re-calibrating and re-prioritizing and seeking now to achieve a bit better physical and spiritual health, which has been a bit compromised with all the work. Seeking to improve community health and building cross-cultural bridges are things that are deeply meaningful to me and I enjoy the work, but it’s not easy. I am however, learning the importance of wellness and good health in my own life as I serve others, which can be draining at times. Striving towards wellness, in all dimensions, for myself and for those around me, is a priority for 2014 as I seek to build my technical skills and spiritual disciplines.
We recently received news from our donor about the big
health proposal... Thanks to the efforts
of our team and for the kindness of the Korean people (and of course some help
from the big Man above), we were awarded a 3 year grant to carry out a maternal
and child health project in rural Timor, which will start next year. The project will involve teaching volunteers
to help families manage common childhood illnesses at the household level,
rebuilding clinics, and training government health staff. Starting such a 3 yr project is a bit daunting,
knowing I am the lead manager on this, but I’m happy to have a supportive boss
as we build our team. I will also be
starting a small birth registration project with our team next month so a lot
will be on my plate, in addition to writing new proposals and managing old
projects. Many Timorese families don’t
register their children at birth, either because they are born at home and
there is no follow up, or the priest gives a new name at baptism, which
nullifies the registered name. We were
happy to also complete our malaria project, in which no malaria cases were
reported in our project area and now families are equipped with bed nets,
although our volunteers will receive much less support.
Our team participated in several trainings in the past few months on how to build awareness around disability, on disaster risk reduction, on youth financial literacy, and behavior change communication, increasing their skill set as they advise our local partners and field staff to better serve children and their families. Staffing issues have been challenging, especially motivating some staff, which have delayed some of original project plans, so I’ve had done a few coaching sessions and feel I am connecting with our health staff, but its slow. Our regional director visited in August and was impressed with the progress our staff are making, as he witnessed our volunteers educate moms on malaria prevention and he played with kids at our revitalized Early Childhood Development center. One of the farmer groups in the area he visited has started their own chicken and gardening project with just a few resources that we gave them, and appears sustainable so far. Our other local staff teams went to learn about successful projects in Indonesia and shared lessons with us.
In October, we held a big march and song & theatre
performance with exhibition tables at our 75th anniversary and in
November, I attended a training in Bangkok, Thailand on a new software package
for business development (see gallery photos).
The Buddhist temples in Bangkok are breathtaking and other-worldly and
the tuk-tuk drivers (motor taxis with cabs) are quite entertaining. My colleagues and I took a 1 hour detour through
the city because the tuk-tuk guy was convinced we needed a “happy” massage,
completely misinterpreting our message to find a place to go shopping. We finally took a taxi home, but it was funny
watching the facial responses of my former boss during this little fiasco, not
knowing where we would end up.
In December, we held an inauguration ceremony of a rural government
clinic that we renovated (mentioned above), which was a big achievement for us and interviewed some families. Just this past week I
started my home leave and visited Bali, then went to see some friends in Sumatra- Indonesia,
which was my first time to this part of the country. Beautiful land and kind people! I took a nice long shower in very tall
waterfall, chatted with the locals, and had a chance to reconnect with old
friends. Finally the holidays have
arrived so time to just chill. One my
fellow salsa dancers is a US navy guy and he had some of us over at his camp
for thanksgiving, so it was nice to be with some fellow Americans during this
important tradition. 2013 was a good
year and I believe 2014 will be even better, God Willing- Maromak Hakarak, full
of learning, wellness, imagination, creativity, and new opportunities.
