Calm for now

For now that is. Last night we all sped home bracing ourselves for some violence but like what the UNPOL chief said everyone's probably reading the report for its final details and has yet to react or mobilise a group reaction to the report. Me too. I have only just read the summary page which names some names like Rogerio Lobato, Mari Alkatiri, Paulo Martins, Xanana, Roque Rodrigues, Tau Matan Ruak. No surprises really but everyone's waiting too for a judiciary response from the government as a test of its political will. The President has also appealed once again for political parties not to use this to create more trouble. You can get your hands on the report for 79 pages of reading at the UNHCR website. Sorry i don't have the link now but will update this blog once i do. It's quite a pain to hunt for it!

Rabbits & Chickens

so everyone's waiting for D-DAY when the results of the independent commission's inquiry will be released. Apparently the delay in the release has been due to the commission's decision to translate the findings in 4 languages - Portuguese, English, Indonesian and Tetum. A really good idea i must say because publishing it in Portuguese would probably mean 5% of the population will understand anything! An interesting report by the International Crisis Group has been published - so if you want the lowdown on the Timor crisis - click on this link : Resolving Timor-Leste's crisis. You will find some interesting references to rearing rabbits and chickens, soap and handwashing (without particular concern to hygiene!), and monkeys.

ain't a burning plastic bag

This ain't so flamin' plastic bag! it's a "kong ming deng" or Kong Ming Lantern which is kinda like a hot air balloon. (And my blog entry is resembling its haphazard flight path cos of my tech illiteracy!)
I've always been fascinated by how it works and finally one day, SM brings one home and showed me how it works.


it's real simple. Just make a light weight lantern out of plastic, make a ring at the bottom, with a very light candle and wick - light the candle and let the hot air fill up the plastic bag and then give a light push.
once the hot air balloon catches a slight wind, off it goes flying to the moon! It was a pretty sight and at least one nice evening to cheer us all up! Hurray to Kong Ming who must have invented this lantern if not why is it named after him? Anyone knows?

Foamed

Okay the foam was delivered to Bali 3 days after I arrived and then was sent up to UBUD where I had a most wonderful few days staring out into green ricefields... ahhh... the life.... It was quite surreal plonking down with my luggage and sitting at the verandah of the guesthouse and enjoying the sight of green stalks of rice swaying in the gentle breeze...the cliche however didn't last too long and soon I was back on the plane and back to ET.

Sometimes it's more cruel to take a break as it leaves me wanting more...in fact, i am still experiencing a bit of the returning blues -- from being able to lounge in a cool restaurant, and walking the streets of Ubud at night alone, to having WIFI --- to being back in 'house arrest' or sorts every night here in ET. I know there are people who still go out for dinner etc but hey these are people with cars and big brave hearts. I only have my 2 'kars' or legs (in Hokkien!) and i have courage of a mouse!

It's also getting a little discouraging to hear news of killings and fighting every single day. I can sense the morale really creeping far south for my Timorese friends. Just 2 days ago, someone was knifed to death outside the Fitun Maubara supermarket in Colmera. That afternoon i passed by and there was a pool of blood outside the supermart -lying next to it was a stack of styroam boxes -the victim's shopping.

But we have to keep our chins up! LUTA HAMUTUK (struggle on!). Well, at least the magazine i'm working on is looking rather good thanks to our 1st class designer. I'm turning 31 too.........gosh.... time flies....i hope my birthday won't be too 'bloody' cos we're expecting big trouble when the Independent Commission of Inquiry is announced next week.

lost and FOAM

i was going to upload some nice futuristic looking pictures of the new Thailand airport suvarnbhumi or something like that .... except that the people there LOST MY POLYFOAM!!! argggh...... if you read my previous entry, i had gone ALL the way to bangkok to buy polyfoam (ok it was for the workshop but still!) and then after spending time and money buying it and hauling it around with me in Bangkok...... the PEOPLE there lose it.... argghh... i think by the end of the month, the new airport will have enough "LOST" ( and never found) items to fill an entire warehouse...
the irony was that while on the nice plane to Bali i had been thinking "hmm what should i do with the polyfoam while in bali? store in at the airport until i leave or what?" well, my stooopid question was answered unfortunately with the foam lost in transit somewhere. maybe it's on its way to Dubai??? or London? Sigh. so it looks like i might have to buy some foam here in indonesia instead.
Bleh.....

tumbled into Bangkok

wah... i m like a jungle bunny here in bustling Bangkokkkkk! it's scary actually. this morning i took a walk out from my (terribly overrated and horribly ugly and expensive) hotel BANGKOK CITY INN (don't go there!) randomly towards the main shopping stretch and even at 8am, people were jostling in the narrow sidewalks buying fake goods! can't believe the spirit of entreprise and the great consumerism here. i forget what it's like in singapore - except in singapore we really don't have people buying fake Pradas at 8am. the streets were also packed with itinerant hawkers selling all sorts of unhealthy deep fried stuff that i could only watch but cannot taste cos i'm still recovering from a sore throat from last week's vitriol-induced illness. i finally got onto the light rail and headed towards the central pier and hopped onto a a VERY slow boat to Phra Athit Road where UNICEF's regional and thai office is strategically located along the Chao Praya river. I got there, met a thai colleague who brought me shopping for POLYFOAM CORE (yes... we don't even have these in timor) but K did remind me that it's a good thing too cos the foam core is really unenvironmentally friendly.
after a brief shower (rain i mean!) and a very light lunch, i went to shop! or i thought i would. what did i pick up? hmm... pills for my incessant phelgm and chesty cough. bleh... everything looked so expensive and glossy and loud. I really forget what sleepy timor does to one. now i understand why when i once brought my parents out for a movie back in singapore, they asked me why the sound was so loud and i laughed! now i have a buzz in my ears from all the traffic noise blended with arcade effects, and promotional ads that run nonstop in these malls.
all afternoon i wanedered aimlessly in the malls, searching for a fine pair of leather sandals that would suit my feet - something low and yet classy. nope couldn't find a pair that was like that OR everything was too big! i was even prepared to splurge on a pair of Clarks if there was a good pair. oh well. too bad.
i really have not walked so much in a long while - i have forgotten what atheleticism in a city is. luckily i wore my comfy sandals - also no nonsense but already looking rather well worn. it's refreshing to get out of dili once in a while - reminds you of how reality for different people can really b extremely unsimilar. while i am glad to have a break out of dili and from hearing depressing reports everyday of fights, stone throwing and stabbings, i kinda miss the ocean waves that pound ceaselessly as i fall asleep to its rhythms. one day away, and i already miss Timor - yikes - have i really become a jungle bunny????

Busy B

How long has it been since I had the luxury of time to open up the blogger page? Loooong. So looong i nearly forgot the password to my site! and last night, i had a dream that people left comments on my blog that they're longer visiting my site cos it doesn't have anymore Timor updates. Yikes! I wrung my hands in despair in my dream and vowed to wake up to do something concrete. So here i am - 9am on a saturday morning - in the office typing away, listening to Stephanie Sun croon away.
The truth is, i've been wanting to say a lot - my mind has been racing with thoughts except i never had the time these days to put them all down - sooo busy sometimes i do0n't even log onto the internet the entire day and then it's 6pm time to go home before it gets dark. SO i leave home with thoughts boiling over in my little brain and with no outlet - no wonder i fell horribly sick last 3 days - must have been the excessive vitriol i haven't been able to expunge via the blog.

OKay - first updates on Timor. Since the farcical escape of Alfredo from jail, this country's journalism has slipped many bars downwards. So bad the press is these days, i fear to see what the next headline might be every day the papers are sent in to the office. I hope Jeremy Wagstaff reads this blog cos months ago he asked what the Timorese reporters felt about the whole civil unrest. The fact is that many of them have become LAZY or unethical. choose whichever one suits you. Many of their reports have been lop-sided - going as far as to quote one person, or one party entirely who sling accusations at another and never so much as get a comment from the acccused. It's terrible!

FOR EXAMPLE - Mass for Alfredo. I gawped the day the AUstralian press went on about how the FNJP was organising a mass for Alfredo. I quickly scanned the papers and discovered that there was indeed an ad about a mass for Alfredo in Gleno, Ermera district. It was to 'give courage and power to Alfredo to speak the truth.' I quickly asked a colleague and he checked with the parish priest in Ermera who said, 'it is just propaganda. the mass is for those who died in the unrest.' so obviously the church had been hijacked for political purpose here. I feared that the Timorese who largely see the church as authoritative would then think that the church was behind Alfredo and thus he is RIGHT. How scary. So why was it that we could easily check with the priest in question but the newspapers couldn't? 2 days later, there was a new ad, this time it was "for those who died in the unrest of Arpril 28 and May 25th and to give courage to those who seek the truth.' AHh..... much better. But still, i wonder how much damage has been done?

Another disturbing thought these days ------------- that many Timorese actually think that Alfredo is not a criminal! their sense of justice is quite different from ours (meaning the west? i dunno!) but perhaps because of their guerilla resistance past, the sense of right and wrong is not aligned with conventional legality. Ok, for example, Alfredo went AWOL with his men up to Maubisse. Instead of being chastised, he was endorsed by Xanana for doing the right thing. IN at least my country, a military commander who takes men away with weapons would be in real hot soup. But ok, considering the great chaos then, let's cut him some slack. And then, on May 24th in Fatuahi, Alfredo fires upon a bunch of soldiers who had come into Dili to collect their pay. He was caught on film counting down and firing on them and possibly killing one. AGain, this doesn't seem to have taken any brownie points from him. And then when he came back to Dili and surrendered weapons, the international forces found 9 more unsurrendered weapons and threw him into Jail. Wait, and then he walks out of jail in an elaborately planned scheme and tells the world that he is not a criminal. Guess what, many highly educated Timorese agree with him! They say, he left because after 30 days in jail no action had been taken and that he had been threatened in jail.

i agree that the justice system here sucks - which is why gangsterism has flowered to take justice in their own hands - and why men like Alfredo are revered. So far, even though Alfredo and many others have critised the incumbent but have not submitted any real concrete action plan. ironically, when Mari Alkatiri was in power, Jose Ramos-Horta said that he himself was more suitable. Now, Alfredo says Ramos-horta is no different from Mari and that he Alfredo can do a better job. Oh dear. Sounds like a broken record.

i ask my Timorese friends, so what is it that they want as a nation? More violence? They must stand up to DENY violence if they want this nation to thrive. UNfortunately, this small half island has been taken hostage by all different interests and of course its predators have jumped in to take advantage of the rocky situation.

TIMOR TIMOR! Were the lessons of 1975 not hard enough?

Phew, all that vitriol spent. more to come soon. now gotta get back to work. TA

4 september

Last Monday, when I went back to Becora, I was greeted by seemingly endless rows of candles on both sides of the road. Their flames flickered brightly ing in the pitch darkness as the electricity was off - creating a beautiful ghostly scene. Children were lighting up candles and gathered outside their homes chatting - we almost forgot that we were still in a 'crisis'. Somehow Becora has emerged to be one of the safest neighbourhoods in recent months. The candles were lit to remember the many who were massacred on 4 September 1999 by the militia when Timorese voted to have their own independence, after 24 years of Indonesia rule foisted upon them. Apologies for the bad photo but I ain't got a fancy camera or a tripod! Anyways, it's poignant to think that now, the nation has once again plunged into dark times. Yeah, these days, it's a little more stressful working when at the back of your mind, you're wondering when the next trouble spot would be. This afternoon, i was at Alola Foundation interviewing the First Lady when 2 youth gangs (yup of course loro sae versus monu) began stoning each other just on the road outside. Apparently this has been happening everyday. The international forces say they need hard evidence to capture anyone but with ROCKS come on who are we kidding??? The police told Alola staff that witnesses were not enough so they'll have to snap a few photos of the troublemakers themselves before any real action can take place. Oh well..... anyways, i better get going. These days, it ain't safe on the streets after dark.

fatuk

here's the blistering bugger that's been creating so much chaos these days in Dili. yeah, that's it - you looking at it - that FATUK - available in infinite numbers and unclassifiable as a weapon - yet if anyone has ever been hit by one, he or she'll attest to its sheer strength to draw blood. These days you gotta be careful - malae (foreigner) not excluded - some terribly bored and energetic boys have been lining streets hurling stones at passing cars - so these days it's not uncommon to see cars with shattered windscreens - it's too expensive to replace! In fact, it was only when a friend stepped on the accelerator that she narrowly missed her car becoming a statistic. The other day, we had to call the police after seeing a row of boys outside the Australian compound randomly attacking cars. Geezzz... what do you do with these kids? You can take away slingshots or katana but how can you take away FATUK????

On a lighter note, today someone wrote an email with the headline "XXX bitten 2 year old child..." I was of course lured to read the email first amongst the 25 waiting for my attention. It was fascinating reading about how XXX bit the 2 year old while XXX was trying to arrest the toddler's father. I was shocked - walked over to a colleague who had received the same mail and said, "did you read that???" Minutes later this colleague walks by my desk and said, "it's BEATEN not bitten." ???? Oh ya? I re-read the email and gathered finally that it was meant to be BEATEN but the person sending the email had wrote as BITTEN mistaking it to be the right word. How hilarious! It was funny cos that would be like a man bite dog headline story. But now after laughing about it, i'm thinking of the actual "XXX BEATEN 2 year old" - shucks such violence taking place here. If it's really true, something really needs to be done. As you may have gathered the XXX refers to an international force here - a highly frustrated international force which has been encountering so much difficulties with law enforcement here. The youth gangs simply playing cat and mouse with the beefy guys - scattering in seconds into their warrens when the coppers come. Interestingly, a Timorese frined told me that Becora where i used to live has become very safe now because a local gang leader (i can't mention his name!) has told all the young people to stay out of trouble or else... (what else??? but his fist!) so ironically in the face of greater violence, the youth in Becora are actually toeing the line and the area is now pretty quiet compared to the rest like Comoro and Colmera. So maybe the government needs to recruit these gang leaders? Strange huh?


Finally, as a goodbye - i treat you to these super yummy lobsters which my ema-bot (or big boss) bought when we were on our way to lunch on Saturday. 3 lobsters for USD30. Absolute HEAVEN. Slurp. Burp.

tumbleweeed thinks...

There has been a renewed rash of violence in the past week with stonings and fires. I have even heard that a Malae who stays with Timorese from both East and West had their rented house set on fire and all their belongings stolen. a group of IDPs in the Jardim (opposite Hotel Timor) have become very unwelcomed guests in the Colmera sucu so much so that the Xefe de Sucu has even annoucned that he wants them to go - this is because there have been quite a bit of stones being hurled from that camp and even broken windows of cars passing through that area. Some young people in Bairro Pite have even carried big placards saying that they don't want to accept any Easterners.

So what should be done?

It's strange that i should be saying this - but i think what the government needs is a great mouthpiece to spread its propaganda - or in a less biased way - spread INFORMATION. There's a lack of accurate information dissemination in this country - lots of people rely on LIA ANIN ("windy words") or GOSSIP - and statements repeated through a chain of whispers until they become distorted and incendiary in some cases.

So if there's one thing this government should learn - is to look to its neighbours to see how they have so carefully crafted their own information ministries and built up government newspapers, radio and tv stations to spread THEIR news. Why am i saying this? Because i believe this government is trying its best but too few people know exactly what it's doing.

Take for example, on 2 august President Xanana held a meeting with 18 NGOs to discuss how they could get young people from East and West to assist in reintegrating IDPs and creating dialogue for peace building -----GREAT INITIATIVE but what the government needs is a strategy to communicate all this to the folks at large - remember most don't have a TV or even a radio set - besides the fact that most of Timor is without electricity! So besides engaging the media - there must be other channels for communicating news, information and generating feedback.

GOOD WORK needs to be trumpeted ---- so there's a pressing need for communicators and social mobilisers to get involved! Here's one time when i accept that propaganda is fully needed!

OH by the way, this is an APOLITICAL weblog. Someone posted a statement in Tetum on my comments page asking me to translate it into English. MY tetum ain't great but i could figure out what it was roughly. SOrry to say, i've deleted it cos i don't want my blog hijacked by others to spread THEIR propaganda. If you want to let the world see your thoughts, set up your own blog! ;-)

brrrr and grrinnnnn

this little girl was amongst many bathing in a big hole in a road in Baucau.. it was so cold!

i'm so shyyy
Originally uploaded by tumbleweeed.

apparently someone had placed big rocks in the river upriver so as to create a greater flow of water downhill.... and someone dug up a HOLE in the road where the water has spilled - creating a SWIMMING POOL in the middle of a road ... see this picture!

baucau tomatoes

been so busy i haven't had anytime to blog or much energy to think! Went to Baucau in a day and back! Arggh... my butt still hurts from the 2.5 hours journey there and 2.5hrs back! Monday i go to Baucau again - this time with Indra my colleagues, for a 2 day session with our community volunteers to envision the setting up of Adolescents information centres out in districts. How exciting! For now, just wanted to share this juicy picture and by the way, i bought that stack of tomatoes with the small bright red one at the top! HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND!

through the eyes of the children

a sample of some drawings by children when we asked them to paint what they think of Timor-Leste generally. A picture speaks a thousand words, huh?

Her World....

Blogger Afny left a long comment on my previous blog entry after she read about my blog in the latest Her World magazine. Frankly, I'm surprised that the Her World interview that i agreed to in June has actually reached at least ONE Singaporean reader. So thank you HERWORLD! I had agreed to be interviewed because I had hoped that this mainstream women's magazine might give me some subterfuge (amidst the endless pages of glossy adverts!) so that i could spring upon unsuspecting readers with my 'covert' views.

I had hoped that more Singaporeans especially women would stop thinking "if only i could....." or "I wish i could...." and instead tell themselves "I will!". Too many days and months and years have been wasted from thinking of "should i? would i? could i?" and too little time spent on DOING IT.

Of course when i first agreed to be interviewed, i did not realise i also had to endure a lengthy photo shoot - with makeup to boot! Initially they put on this slinky, black branded top on me and a chunky gold necklace that weighed my neck down, and asked me to pose against a gritty wall looking 'cool'. haha, i think after a while, they realised that it's just NOT me! So they gave up and told me to wear casual singlets instead and my own jeans.

One thing to clarify though. I am NO LONGER a volunteer with UNICEF, instead working as a communication consultant - basically doing the same work (and more) and with greater responsibilities. Many organisations now would rather not have international volunteers here as the perceived risks are still there. At least as a contracted staff you get evacuated should anything happen again.

Okay maka ne'e deit (that's all) from me today on a sunny sunday. back to work! Yup........

gone with the wind

autumn in dili?
Originally uploaded by tumbleweeed.

this is how many parts of dili looks - scorched, brittle, brown, dead, razed. of course, new life springs forth quickly from the dust - it's how nature is - how humans are. yet ... there is some sadness ... especially when a colleague returns to his razed home for the first time to see his house - and returns with only a handful of photo negatives and a colour photo of his daughter. that's all he has now, after having spent five years of his life reconstructing his grandmother's house (which had been razed to the ground post 99 by militia) and now, that's gone too. In 1999, his many books were burnt, now in 2006, the same again. how can one not feel hopeless? how do the many timorese affected by this violence feel about the future? do they even dare to think of what next year might be like? i'm sure many would hesitate to invest in any material possessions - unlike so many of us in comfy, safe singapore where our lifestyle is about accumulating wealth, properties, material goods. the timorese have no choice but to focus on what's most important - that the lives of their loves ones were not lost. that's how basic living is like here. you don't ask for more.

metinaro camp

locally-designed kitchens

Following the troubles in Dili, thousands of IDPs fled from the city out to the districts and one of the places they have congregated in is opposite the F-FDTL training camp in Metinaro. There're about 7000 IDPs living in a huge piece of land, and like in Dili, the area is now dotted with hundreds of white UNHCR tents. But because you can't cook inside the tents, the IDPs have taken to using local materials to build their 'dapur' or kitchen with palm fronds and sticks.

Paper toilet
filing cabinet

Bathrooms constructed out of whatever materials the IDPs could find... the one above is made out of used UNHCR boxes, while the more sophisticated maroon-coloured bathroom is actually made out of FILES! Yes, i dunno where they got them, but someone made sure that they were all of the same colour! And why are they not using the copious amounts of tarpaulin distributed by aid agencies? Apparently - according to a source - some supplies had gone missing under the management of a previous team of volunteers who are IDPs at the camp. Since then they have been replaced with a new team of volunteers whom i saw putting up tents (donated by PLAN intl) for the doctors who visit everyday.

At the camp, i met a young man called Santiago. he spoke good english and was a university student at the UNTL until the crisis. He lived in Becora - where my place was! - and had fled to Metinaro after he was attacked three times. It was really sad hearing him speak of how his neighbours and friends whom he had grown up with attacked him during the height of the emergency - he is so confused - like so many others - he doesn't know why he was attacked and who manipulated others to turn on their friends and neighbours - he wants to come back to Dili but is fearful. He told me that he still believes it's not an ethnic clash but a political struggle gone awry. He said there are 'westerners' too living in the Metinaro camp but nobody harms them or targets them...

this is what Timor now needs to look at - peacebuilding. How to restore respect for one another? since returning, i read Kirsty Sword's "A Woman of Independence" and was saddened by how everything she and Xanana had wished then was not to be now. She had quoted Xanana as saying that once Timor was independent, there would be no more violence and bloodshed in this country. I am now reading John Taylor's book on Timor's history too - and again, during the struggle for independence, the resistance fighters had stressed that violence would end only with independence and on the contrary, the Indons had said that an indie east Timor would be a destabilising force and might spiral into civil unrest. HOW IRONIC is this? and how sad....

slowly slowly

let peace come to Timor!
Originally uploaded by tumbleweeed.

I have heard that the Art Group Arte Moris is the 'culprit' behind a rash of graffiti in town ---- so i took a walk along the beach yesterday and saw that indeed, someone, or somebodies have indeed painted the town 'red' blue green, yellow - whatever colours in order to restore some colour, gaiety, and positive energies back into this town now crowded with displaced people. This used to be a dull blue hoarding for a piece of land undergoing construction, now loud, graffiti-styled words in Tetum calling for PEACE, LOVE, STABILITY, and ONE TIMOR shout out from it. This is just next to FreeFlow the dive shop and very hard to miss. Arte Moris (i am presuming)has also put up cheerful banners on some other streets to remind people to BRING PEACE (Lori Paz) and generally remember that Timor must be one.

While walking along the pantai kelapa, i also noticed many more families out on the beach eating ikan bakar, ayam potong and of course batar nurak (soft grilled corn). Hmmm.... the food here is so delicious - especially when freshly done - the chicken meat so juicy, the ikan so crispy, the batar yummy! But if you're used to a life of 'sterilised' food, don't even look at how it's prepared --- but i hear that ASH is pretty sterile hahaha. Yes, that's how they cook your corn - they place it standing up on the ash.
I also couldn't resist a photo of this cutest boy playing in the water with his mom looking on at him from the shore. It's nice to see such scenes once again in Dili. So, LIFE is getting back to normal - more traffic on the streets - more people out in the sea at low tide picking up morsels of yummy seafood - but for now, the camps remain full of people at nights - still preferring to err on the side of caution. How long will these camps be here? Only GOD knows.

rosaries for peace

Photo by Armando Lay.

Last Saturday, I passed some 200 rosaries made by OUR LADY'S ROSARY MAKERS - a group of Singaporeans who handmake rosaries - to the Saint Bachita Orphanage (picture) and the Salesian Sisters in Comoro who are running an IDP camp right now. They were really glad to receive them and were surprised that they had been handmade by Singaporeans! Salesian Sister Lubelia said they pray every evening and the rosaries would be great gifts to uplift their worn spirits. Thanks to the generous friends in Singapore who made these gifts! The children at the orphanage prayed for the wellbeing of the Singaporeans who thought of them during this time. Prayer heals!

Saving lives with Nutritional Screening

By Bridgette See

Dili, 1 July 2006 - As little Nevia Nunes huddled close to her mother’s breast, her eyes were half-open, her face a picture of exhaustion. The 15-month-old had cried for a long time before succumbing to fatigue. Nevia was one of the three severely malnourished toddlers identified at the Don Bosco IDP camp today.

PHoto by Armando Lay

“She was able to walk and stand on her own before the crisis. But since coming here, her condition has worsened,” said her mother Maria Santina da Conceicao. The 28 year old mother of three was also malnourished during her pregnancy, a likely reason why Nevia was more vulnerable.

The family fled to the Don Bosco school when troubles began in late April. Staying at the shelter for two months has taken its toll on Nevia. Her family sustains her mainly on porridge and sometimes vegetables when they can afford it. She is also living in an overcrowded camp where an estimated 14,000 people have been displaced from their homes. Despite the best efforts of camp coordinators and humanitarian aid workers to keep the camp clean, children are still most susceptible to infections and diseases. As a result, coughs, malaria, and acute diarrhea are amongst the most common illnesses spreading through the camps now.

“She sleeps with the rest of us on the floor here,” said Maria Conceicao. “At night, when the wind blows, it’s cold. And even though we have a mosquito net, she still gets bitten.” Nevia’s mother pointed out their mats which were laid out on a corridor, next to a drain and sheltered by a piece of tarpaulin.

Little Nevia is now severely underweight and suffering from acute diarrhea. This prompted the doctors to send her to the Dili National Hospital for treatment immediately.

This is what the Health ministry and humanitarian aid workers fear would happen to more children as Timor-Leste enters its third month of emergency. Before the crisis, Timor-Leste was already the most undernourished country in the Asia-Pacific region. Around 50 per cent of children below 5 years old are underweight, with 14 per cent severely underweight and 48 per cent stunted.

In response, the Health Ministry, supported by UNICEF and other NGOs , launched a Nutritional Screening on Friday 30 June 2006 in order to identify children who are malnourished and intervene before their health further deteriorates. The campaign’s target are the estimated 10,000 children aged 6 months to under 5 who are living in the 66 camps in Dili.

The assessment team saw 70 children at the first camp yesterday and another 300 at Dom Bosco today. They used a simple strip to measure the mid-upper arm circumference of the children to check their nutritional status. Those who appear to be malnourished had their weight and height taken as confirmation. Those whose weight for height percentage fell below 85% were referred to the doctors from the Health Ministry for further checks.

More than 40 out of the 300 were referred to the doctors, and five sent to hospital for further treatment. Lukas Sarmento is another child who will be given therapeutic milk to increase his weight. The 2year, 8 months old boy has been sickly since birth.

Photo by Armando Lay

"A doctor told me Lukas had very low chances of survival when he was born but we've never given up hope on him," said his father Carlos Sarmento. Although clearly underweight, Lukas remains bright and cheerful, playing peek-a-boo with the reporter while his father was being interviewed. He is still able to run and has a healthy appetite.

It is not an entirely gloomy picture in the two camps visited. Many children were healthy and had bright alert eyes. Their mothers continue to breastfeed and there is no food shortage at the moment. The Ministry of Labour and Community Re-Insertion and the World Food Programme have distributed enough rations for everyone at the camps – from rice, corn-soy blend, oil to sugar. WFP said it has held cooking demonstrations to show parents how to make use of the fortified corn-soy blend.

The nutritional screening by the Health Ministry, UNICEF, and its NGO partners could save lives but it is not without challenges.

“There is an urgency to identify the severe cases quickly, yet at the same time we are faced with the dilemma of whether we can assure them the quality treatment,” said Jennifer Barak UNICEF Project Officer for Child Survival and Maternal Health Care.

The reason is that only 60% of the National Hospital staff has returned to work, and the hospital grounds have turned into an IDP camp. Severely malnourished children should be isolated so that they will not be exposed to infections while being treated.

Dirce Maria Soares, who is the Nutrition Officer from the Health Ministry, said: "We have asked our colleagues at the hospital to prepare for this but they are now coping with limited staff, limited equipment and overcrowding. Perhaps when more IDP camps are built, those staying in the hospital grounds will move away, giving more space for the families of malnourished children to move in and accompany them.”

For now, the best solution has been that only the severe malnourished children with complications are sent to the hospital while the rest are treated by doctors based at all the IDP camps. The Health Ministry together with UNICEF and its partners are exploring the possibility of treating those who are severely malnourished but have no other complications at the camps with ready-to-use therapeutic foods or upgrading community health centers and their staff into day-time feeding facilities.


* NGO Working Group: Hiam Health, WorldVision, Oxfam, Care, Concern, Health Alliance International, Christian Children’s Fund, UNICEF

life is gradually becoming normal

the first few mikrolets i saw on the streets since the day I returned to Dili! I never thought i would feel so much joy seeing these micro-mini buses hog the roads! But yes, this would be one of the barometers indicating a gradual shift back to normality although last night there was still at least one incident of house burning and stone throwing.

most of the IDP camps are stressed by the overwhelming number of people living in it so the toilets etc are either out of water or broken or not enough. when i visited the Motael camp, the women told me they bathe at the well in their clothes because it is too tiring for them to haul water to the bathroom to shower. So they bath their kids there like in the kampong except that this is in the city! Some of the camps are right smack in the city centre - one in front of Hotel Timor! - so they really lack privacy.

- Hanging out washing at the airport IDP camp.