Back in Dili

I flew into Dili yesterday to be part of an extraordinary documentary making trip next week.  The film maker and producer who, together with Kirsty Sword Gusmao, obtained the footage of the Santa Cruz Cementry massacre, smuggled it out of the country and distributed it world wide, are back in Timor.  They are working together again to make a documentary following up on the  leaders of the Timorese independence movement and are filming Kirsty on a road trip to Baucau to visit Maucale school where Spend it Well has a new school building under construction.

Walking along Dili’s seafront it is hard to believe we are only an hour from Darwin.  Men push trolleys bearing corn cobs, babies balance precariously on the front of motorbikes and bamboo stalls sell hundreds of glorious looking (unrefridgerated) fish.  The fruit stalls are stacked in displays that are more beautiful than anything in high end fruit shops in Australia and the children run around playing with empty water bottles on strings.

It’s always good to be here in such a beautiful place and to be reminded how hard it is to get things done, but also just by seeing the groups of young men standing around with no-where to go, how great the need for education is.