PROJECT ‘OSTICO EAST TIMOR’
20 July 2009
A day in Dili
Simon took me up to Dare today – a little hamlet in the mountains behind Dili. It’s not far in distance, but took us about half an hour by car, winding around tight turns on a small road. It’s also the road that Xanana Gusmao’s car was ambushed on during the assasination attempt in 2008. I love the story of his escape – the rebels held up the car, but he realised immediately what was happening and slipped into the bush and escaped them. Capturing someone who was the leader of a guerilla army and lived in the mountains for years, is not a simple process!
There is a memorial at Dare commemorating the extraordinary support provided by the East Timorese to the Australian troops who were in East Timor when it was captured by the Japanese in World War II. The Australians were eventually evacuated, leaving behind the East Timorese over 60,000 of whom died during the occupation. It’s hard not to feel that Australia owes a massive debt to the East Timorese which it has never repaid.
Dili is still full of ruined buildings, destroyed during by the Indonesian militia in 1999 as they withdrew from East Timor. Despite the poverty though, people are happy. Walking through the streets, I heard laughter and people smile at you freely.
We had a lovely evening on the terrace of our hotel tonight. I like this place!
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
19 July 2009
We are in Dili
Stephen and I are here. After over a year of thinking about East Timor, we’ve finally arrived. It was a glorious flight from Darwin, with the sun just coming up and reflecting on the water. For the first time I could understand how, in such a small country, the Resistance could remain hidden from the Indonesians and wage a guerilla war for 24 years. Timor is an island with a high ridge running down the middle, with steep slopes on either side and almost totally covered in trees. Dili is on the side of the island opposite Darwin on a small coastal plain.
The airport is tiny, little more than a big hangar and a stretch of tarmac. Simon met us and took us to our hotel. It’s a great little place with a massive terrace covered with a thatched roof and furnished with wicker sofas and chairs with lovely soft cushions. There is a road between the hotel and the beach which is a narrow stretch of white sand, fringed by coconut trees. Somehow I hadn’t realised that this was a tropical island. I’m hoping to find a few spare hours to sit on the terrace with a cool drink and watch the world go by.
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
01 July 2009
Soccer balls and books on the luggage carousel
As a mother who has spent a lot of time on planes with small children, I have endured many humiliations. Today was a new addition to the long list however.
I stood at the luggage carousel with the girls after our 15 hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Brisbane waiting for our bags. Then I saw a soccer ball making it’s way around the circle, then another one, then a heap of books strewn along the conveyor belt. Next I saw one of my suitcases, zip split wide open, contents strewn around it. I knew things were bad when my 9 year old edged away from me saying “Oh mum how embarrassing! Nothing to be done but to plaster on a smile and scrabble around dragging everything off muttering “that which does not kill us makes us stronger” under my breath.
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
26 June 2009
The school is finished!
Well Ostico School is finished and from all reports is better than we could have hoped for! It was looking this week like the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, would be attending the opening which would have been just extraordinary. Unfortunately he’s had to go overseas. It’s hard to feel disappointed though given that Kirsty and the Education Minister for East Timor are both coming to the opening (driving over 3 hours each way in the same day). Everything is set for an opening on Wednesday July 22.
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
18 June 2009
Books for the school
I sent out an email a couple of days ago to my friends asking if anyone had books or soccer balls I could take to East Timor with me. It was fantastic – by the next day I was carting home bags of books, most of which were in beautiful condition. I’ve also received leather soccer balls and boots from someone which will make some East Timorese boys very happy…. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to get 60kg of books on each of the aeroplanes between Abu Dhabi and East Timor!
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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