So this is last Timor Leste post in which we leave Balibo with very mixed feelings. First of all is the realisation in the last couple of weeks of how hard life is here for the locals. I was working with Pedro screwing sheets of ply up to a ceiling and we where asking each other's age ,Pedro is 30 and when I replied that I am 50 he said that a Timorese 50 year old would not be capable of this work.In other words by 50 the years of physical work and I think poor diet would have taken its toll. This along with the dentists description of abscessed rotting teeth just made us realise that it wasn't only us doing it tough there. The last week was a bit of a blur of farewell events and finishing work. Tuesday Ginny went down to boarding house to distribute school kits and shirts. This was the beginning of a million photos being taken this week . The girls were as always cheerful and appreciative of Ginny going down to see them . It is Ginny’s hope that as many of them as possible will get the opportunity to continue their education but unfortunately for some of them this is pretty unlikely.

Wednesday was presentation of certificates to English classes followed by afternoon tea. 19 students made up of hotel staff and local kids turned up. This was the beginning of the Tais avalanche. Tais being the traditional Timorese gift of a colourful woven scarf. In Balibo there are several women who weave them by hand. There seems to be no young people interested in learning how to weave in the traditional method so possibly a dying art? Ginny’s favourite two students Roja and Estefania besides being the keenest and smartest were also the saddest to see us leave. There were tears in every lesson the last week although relief that the lessons would continue through till the last Saturday. We are hoping that these two will be able to keep in contact as we would love to be able to help them continue their studies.

There being no postal service and the girls having limited access to email or internet could be an issue although hopefully Marino will be able to help them with the internet.
Thursday was a slow day due to Cruz Joven and more mass weddings. I finished up work with a few odd jobs around the hotel and CLC . The last week reflections on the 6 months work left a feeling of having achieved something worthwhile, if the motorcycle workshop can get up and running and funnel funds back to CLC it would be fantastic. We talked briefly to Damian Kingsbury who was here for election scrutineering and he commented that they had been trying to get the workshop built for the last 15 years so that left a good feeling. Trying to sort water issues at hotel is not so straightforward, too complicated to go into as it involves numerous discussions with a lot of different people all giving different ideas and viewpoints. Of course the extension at kindergarten was worthwhile as anyone seeing Mana Maria in action with those cute kids would feel compelled to help out. Ginny’s once a week lessons resulted in frequent interactions in English with the kids around Balibo as their parents looked on bemusedly “how are you ? Good thanks !!! “
Friday morning we began to clean up and pack up the house which was a lot less stressful then leaving Burralow Rd, I think we have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from that episode . Michele had organised a farewell lunch to which we had invited the local dignitaries, friends and workers. We were worried that we might get emotional however all speeches were in Tetun which we couldn't understand so not a problem although we could see as Marino spoke that he was having difficulty getting his words out. He had mentioned the day before that he hoped he wouldn't have to speak as it would be difficult. Manuel our landlord teared up as he spoke of us living under one roof so we are now one family; he spoke in English so it was very moving. There was more Tais presented including ones with our names woven in them.We ended up with 28 Tais all given from individual people, we are so touched by the generosity of people who don't have much themselves. We wil really treasure them as genuine mementos of our time in Timor-Leste.

Saturday was easy packing up and heading up for a night in the hotel.  Although saying final farewell to Manuel and family wasn't easy with Manuel again getting teary;  he and his family are very very nice people. Marino and Rofina came up for a drink and of all the locals these two were the hardest to say goodbye to.They turned up with Michelle their daughter on the motorcycle wearing matching T shirts. These guys have a great sense of humour which seems to make the language barrier disappear. After they left we got a message from Rofina with a photo of us with Tais around our necks and the message “when I look at this I get tear , it is so hard to let you go “ .

The night ended up with Michele cooking us dinner. Michele has 5 months to go on a 2 year stint which is an incredible effort on her part. We know what a challenge 6 months has been so 2 years is huge and we salute her.
Sunday morning saw a few more tearful farewells especially from Michele before heading off on the final drive to Dili. I know we have banged on a bit about the drive to Dili but what with pigs, goats ,chooks ,dogs ,people, motorcycles ,crazy buses, potholes and the road basically disappearing off the side of the mountain it is always an adventure.
We had an overnight in Darwin at a very nice hotel although seeing local Aborigines begging on the street was confronting as here we are all ready to come home to our civilized first world country and there are people begging ,which doesn't occur in Timor !!. Upon arrival in Sydney we get out into the arrival gate and are looking for Georgie when we hear someone call out “Ross McMillan “ it is my cousin Jane picking up her daughter Lili who is also flying in from Dili. Its a small world.
A great reunion with George when we eventually find her after giving Jane the brush off as we were pretty keen to see Georgie.
We are now in Launceston getting ready to leave for London via a meeting with Rotary and Balibo House Trust in Melbourne .It has been a whirlwind two weeks . One week in kurrajong catching up with friends and family was full on ,the highlight being food glorious food.
Second week in Launceston ,highlight being food glorious food and family of course.
We are assuming that all this change is good for our brains as it is all a bit of a spin being international citizens of the world , looking forward to the food/wine scene of the next few months.

Weddings and other extremely long experiences

The main event of the last two weeks was Marino and Rofina's wedding. This was held while Cruz Joven was at their aldea- 18 couples got married in total, at the same service.  These guys have all got kids but although they are a very devoutly Catholic country they seem to wait for special occasion like Cruz Joven to get married by the priest in a really really long mass. It was a real honor to be invited and it was exciting to turn up at their house and see everyone dressed up for the wedding. Men in suits with traditional tais and women in beautiful colourful dresses. We were invited for 9 o'clock, we had photos etc and admired everyone then the mass started at 10.30. With 18 couples getting married and a priest who really likes the sound of his own voice, it was quite a lengthy experience, finally wrapping up 3 hours later at 1.30. The fact that we can't understand most of it does make it feel a lot longer. Although after hearing it 18 times I think I can say "until death do us part" in Tetun. During the Mass Michele got a call to say the Prime Minister was at the CLC so she ducked out to meet him, had a coffee and still made it back before the end.  We were pretty hungry by this stage so excited to be conducted to where the food was by Marino. Sat down, he said we just have to wait for the sefi so we sat there looking longingly at the food and finally got to eat at 3 o'clock.  Ross was offered a warm beer by one of his workers Filipe and that pretty much finished him off for the day.  All in all it was a great day and it was a real privilege to be there, one of the experiences we would never have if we were just passsing through.

Marino,Mario and Charlie 

                                                                                          

                                                                                     

Talking of really long experiences we had a cyclist call in on his way from Melbourne to the UK. Simon had sold the car ,rented the house and quit the job . No training rides just loaded up the pushy and headed up to Darwin and jumped on a plane to Dili .He had ridden two weeks around the south coast to get to Balibo and done it tough. Counting on street food or restaurants he had ended up eating tinned sardines and instant noodles. We got chatting and invited him to stay the night . Tuna pasta and fresh salad went down pretty well. Good to talk to another 50 year old taking a different direction in life, he is a really nice bloke and not at all crazy. You can follow him on instagram @cyclodyssey 

Simon and Charlie 

It's election time here again this time for the position of all the MPs including prime minister so we have had all the usual rallies including a visit to Balibo from Xanana  Gusmao . He is a real showman  and you can see how he has made the transition from resistance fighter to politician 

Xanana 

We are typing this with a week to go here and besides feeling very excited to be heading home ,are attempting to reflect on our 6 months .Charlie told us yesterday that coming here has "straightened him out"  (his words) yeah he  was such a delinquent before.He explained that he meant that he won't complain as much.It has been  hard for him at times here so it was good to hear that he is taking something positive away from the experience .As for us I think it will take some time to process the whole experience.It will be an emotional day next Sunday when we leave ;not due to relief but saying goodbye to some wonderful people and it has been such a huge and sometimes overwhelming 6 months.(maybe a little bit of relief!!)

June 2017

So probably the biggest thing which has happened in the last month is Cruz Joven which means Youth Cross. After the Santa Cruz cemetery massacre in 1991, in which the Indonesians opened fire on a demonstration by students over the death of another student, killing over 250 people, a timber cross was constructed and toured the country in secret. It became a really big symbol of resistance to the Indonesian occupation. Nowadays it still tours the country, but this time with great ceremony, visiting every little aldea or village and it is a huge deal when it visits your aldea. As per the photos, it moves from one aldea to the next in a specially constructed pope mobile type vehicle with hundreds of people following it, singing and praying. The short video is the ceremony at the boundary between the two aldeas and incorporates local culture with the dancing and drumming. It had been in Balibo and then was transferred to Marino and Rofina’s aldea, Fatuk Laran. We followed the procession to their place with no real thought about what would happen next, then suddenly found ourselves conducted to the front row of the congregation for what turned out to be a whole lot of speeches followed by a 2 hour mass. That was a first for Poz, which he has no real desire to repeat! We went to just watch it go by at about 10.30 a.m., decided to follow it up the hill then somehow got caught up and ended up finally eating lunch (luckily invited to stay!) at 3pm. Like Independence Day it was a reminder of their troubled recent history and it was a privilege to be there and be part of such a significant event. It stays about a week in each village and it has been calculated that it will take about 30 years to tour the whole country so we were really lucky to be here when it came to Balibo. When it is in each village everyone gets their kids baptized or gets married - 136 people got married in Balibo last week. Next week we’ve been invited to Marino and Rofina’s wedding which will be the day before Cruz Joven moves on.

A few funny things we want to remember…
Jemey, our landlord’s son solemnly informing us that the small plastic packages that Manuel put in the water tank were to prevent “the worm”. Somehow it sounds so much worse in the singular. We were horrified, thinking “what worm???!!!”
Ou





Charlie’s comeback, after Poz gave him a roasting about something then when trying to discuss his lack of contrition “it's no use dwelling in the past Dad. I know I've done something wrong but you have to move on.”
Ginny’s Balibo identity “Charlie ama” - Charlie’s Mum. This is what kids call out to me as I go by.
Going to our second post funeral function (40 days after original funeral). Once again sat around for 3 hours until 10.30 before invited to eat - as usual had to go to buffet table first which makes one feel extremely self conscious. Poz had left to look after Charlie at home just 10 min earlier so he had all the waiting and none of the eating. Then drinks not offered until eating finished - but happily, instead of warm Bintang, they produced Sangria! Just wish it had appeared at 7pm instead of 11.30.
Mana Kela’s 3 year old daughter with her pathological fear of malae (i.e., us) bursting into terrified tears every time she lays eyes on us.
Marino and Poz going to do maintenance on the solar water pump, two up on the moto with a 6 foot step ladder, machete, hand saw and bucket. What could go wrong?
Charlie carrying his chicken Minkle around Balibo in shoulder bag as per photo.

Meeting yet another person with a Hawkesbury connection. In addition to meeting a former builder from Kurrajong, a couple from North Richmond, a woman who used to live in Bowen Mountain, the other day we met a couple who went to Hawkesbury Ag College who asked over a few drinks did we know the McEwans. Hmm, only John & Maia & their son Bani, Ross’s apprentice! We've only probably talked to about a dozen passing Australians since being here so it's pretty weird.

The view of Atauro from the boat on the way back to Dili.

On the beach at Atauro.

Charlie playing with Barry's kids.

Atauro

Charlie & Henry drinking the coconut drinks which we suspect were the cause of our subsequent tummy bugs.

The kindergarten extension.

Sefi leading his community in to Independence Day ceremony

                                                 Just before Independence Day speech started

Sorry about the last post being unfinished, not sure what happened there. It is surprisingly hard to find the time and inspiration to write this blog, even though we aren't working full time - maybe it's the heat, maybe it's walking down the steps outside 50 times a day to get water, but the days seem to fill up quickly and we feel worn out at the end of each day!
Anyway we had a fabulous time on Atauro Island with Heather, Bruce, Nellie & Henry. The snorkelling was amazing, definitely the main attraction of Atauro. There is an excellent reef with drop off which you can get to easily from the jetty and it's like swimming in an aquarium. The accommodation is basic but clean, the best feature being the hammocks which we put to good use.

After a much appreciated rest it was back to Dili on the very expensive but enjoyable ferry. We got some gorgeous views of Atauro from the boat. After a tearful farewell to Heather & Bruce we drove back to Balibo. As we were coming into the outskirts of the town, we were greeted by a group of schoolgirls who on seeing Charlie in the car yelled out “Charlie, Charlie!!” He is definitely the most well known member of this party!
We then had 10 days before we went to Bali, and Poz was getting a lot done. We would have like to have had longer in between Atauro and Bali but that was how it worked out with our visas. Bali was a bit surreal after being here. The breakfast buffet was awesome, as was the little cafe we discovered near our hotel which made great coffee and the best salads. We had a really great day at the Waterbom water park thanks to Lynny, there were no queues and we went on tons of slides until we literally couldn't climb any more stairs! So basically Bali was food, the water park and the swimming pool at the hotel was pretty cool too. It was a welcome break but I don't think we'll be rushing back there.
When we got back from Bali we made our usual visit to the post office in search of the elusive parcel which Georgie sent about 2 weeks after we arrived. The woman in there knows us pretty well now. This time she was asleep with her head on the desk. Poz called “mana, mana” (sister). She raised her head with her arms still folded on the table, took one look at us, scowled “lae iha” (no have) and promptly went back to sleep. We will go back, not expecting to ever get the parcel but just looking forward to more positive interactions with friendly post office staff.
In the couple of weeks since we've been back from Bali, the main things which have happened have been our invitation to a “one month post death memorial mass and dinner”, the soccer tournament and Independence Day.
First up the funeral which was for a old bloke who lived to 82 which is pretty good going around here.We think they are a wealthy family which is lucky as after a death the family has these one month,three month , six month and then twelve month celebration.The invitation which was like a wedding invitation had a 6.00 pm start time ,so we turned up about 730 and things eventually kicked off about 10.00 pm .
We were given VIP treatment as in being asked to eat first which made us feel uncomfortable.We had finished our two courses by which time the lineup was out the door as there would have been at least 500 people there.The family has to turn it on at these functions otherwise the dead person spirits will come back to haunt them.Families will go into debt to make sure this obligation is met,also different family members are obliged to provide a pig or cow depending on their means.This was on a Saturday night and followed up on Sunday night with another banquet then a mass at church and walking up to graveyard to place flower arrangements and candles.
RIP Daniel Da Cruz
Speaking of mass recently there has been a series of prayer mass taking place at individual houses .So it's quite nice having a bath in the outside bathroom in the evening listening to the beautiful hymn singing,feels like a religious experience as you sit there pouring water over yourself.
As part of Independence Day celebrations there has been a soccer comp running sponsored by members of the Balibo community living in England. There is two games every afternoon with the final on the day before Independence Day.It's a great social occasion with the crowd being really vocal ,cheering ,running on the field etc.Also exciting when a bunch of piglets runs through the game with everyone shouting and throwing things at them.
The final was a huge occasion with a crowd of hundreds.The crowd is lined up right on the sideline with a gap maintained by the police for the sub administrator to sit back in his chair and have a clear view.Part of the linesman duty is to run back and forth belting people with his stick with the yellow flag attached,he was really laying into them !!.
There is quite a high level of skill on show which made it good to watch. It was a tense last 10 min with the Palaka team scoring to make it 2 to 1 in favour of the Balibo 5 team however the home team hung on for the win.
Pandemonium then broke out, everyone running onto the field mobbing the players,waving flags etc. The celebrations then moved off field with players being escorted by revving motorcycles,beeping horns and screaming fans.
Thank god the locals won.
Moving away with the crowd Charlie was moved to say the immortal words “ I love this damm country!!”
Independence Day the next morning kicked off at 10 am with the sefi,s of the 5 different suku ,s marching in with a Timor flag each followed by their community. There was a very good choir singing the national anthem which interestingly is sung in Portuguese which half the people can't speak.
Then a very formal flag raising involving goose stepping and military style yelling. The sub administrator then made a very long speech in Tetun which we couldn't of course understand a word of except at the end when he said Viva Timor Leste.  At which point the crowds of children broke and ran straight towards us to get a free water and everyone started shaking hands and wishing each other happy Independence Day. It was actually quite moving as they have only had their independence for 15 years and at the cost of many lives. It made us think how our days such as Anzac Day can be emotional but are more abstract given the passing of time, whereas here it is still raw.
The tebe tebe (dancing) then began which involves dancing in a big circle or a line dance to local music, with the occasional chicken dance music being played. That is the actual chicken dance music we know and love.  It was excellent to be part of despite our lack of coordination with the dancing.  Also good to see Virge being wooed by an old bloke with blood red betel nut teeth and alcohol fumes pouring off his body.
Other recent sights seen include six people holding down a dog being operated on, no anaesthetic I assumed and a fully grown live pig strapped on a bike. Charlie saw a rooster with a knife blade tied to leg for the cook fighting.
My work at kindergarten continues with a few delays such as Thursday there being no water coming out of tap and Friday there being no workers!! Speaking of water the kindergarten has a one inch pipe which they share with a house on the other side of the wall by means of sticking the hose through a hole in the wall depending on who needs it. So I thought a tap in my new kitchen would be a great idea not knowing that firstly sometimes there is not water to gravity feed out of a tap 800 mm of the ground so I had to cut in another tap at floor level. Then I had to cut in another tap to turn water on and off next door as at night when they are finished with water they would shove hose back through hole and flood the new kitchen!! All this involved putting a pipe through wall and tap next door which was an experience seeing their kitchen and bathroom needless to say I knocked back the offer of a coffee.  Luckily Windsor Rotary Club (Jimmy's old club) have donated money towards a project and I am looking at putting a water tank in.
I start work at 8am by going around to kindy to open up and are surrounded by all the kids shouting “malae malae “ which is foreigner.They are very very cute and can't wait for me to open gates so they can play on rusty old swings and slippery dip.

8th April

The three week dental clinic visit by Aussie dentists is done & dusted. A full time dentist would have plenty of work. Ginny was helping type up some of the notes - most of the procedures were extractions - too late for fillings for most of them! Quite a few of the older people (by that I mean our age!) had no idea of their date of birth, some just knew the year but that's all. Shane the dentist said that although they are becoming more educated about brushing their teeth, as they become wealthier, they will likely eat more sugar like the western world and this will lead to more problems. The dentists have a good gig as they can come for a few weeks and walk in to a great set up, and be very effective in a short amount of time. Building and teaching are more long term operations!
A typical day building in Balibo: get to work at 8, wait about half an hour for local workers to turn up. Wait for hired concrete mixer to arrive - another hour or so. Spend half an hour getting heap of shit concrete mixer to start.
 Start pouring concrete about 10 o'clock in the morning. Mixer runs out of diesel so get told by local workers to go to Leo Atsabe (local shop where concrete mixer came from) to buy diesel. 10 minutes of language difficulties in Leo Atsabe leads to me believing that I need to go get the step-through and head down the road to find diesel. On picking up step-through I ask Mario where to buy "solar" (diesel) and he sends me to shop opposite Leo Atsabe. Whereupon I pay $5 for diesel that they say they will deliver. Upon returning to work site I find Leo Atsabe have delivered 5 liters of diesel. The diesel from the other shop never turns up. By the end of the day we have about half of the 12m x 5m slab poured. The next day it went a bit smoother except for having to buy another load of water as someone had pinched the water out of the tank overnight. Also spent an hour an a half angle grinding old bolts and rebolting mixer engine to frame.  This is not a whinge,  it's just how it is here things just operate differently.
Also as you can see from the photo below, Mario would prefer to use a pair of sunnies from the dental clinic when welding rather than the welding mask I bought for him.


Thursday 20thApril
We've just said goodbye to Heather,Bruce, Nellie & Henry who arrived in Dili on Monday 10th. We were incredibly excited to see them, we had been looking forward to their visit from the day we arrived practically! When things were a bit tough earlier we actually made a promise to ourselves that we would stick it out until they got here! It was a bit of a squeeze in the X Trail - their luggage was strapped to the roof and the two boys had to sit right in the back - at least they were inside the car, unlike a lot of locals who hang off the back or sides of buses &trucks! We had two nights in Balibo with them camped (literally) on our floor and the kids being the most exciting visitors to Balibo in recent history. We had a great day showing them the sights of Balibo followed by pizzas and beer at the hotel. It was excellent to see Balibo through their eyes and it was also really special for Charlie to be able to be a tour guide for them and feel proud having made it to this point!
We headed back to Dili to spend the night in the dirtiest, grottiest hotel ever before catching the ferry to Atauro. Poz saw the most enormous rat he had ever seen in the garden but luckily didn't tell me until the next day! After discovering the best coffee in Dili (especially onsidering all milk is UHT) we got on to the boat for the two hour ride to Atauro. Barry's Place on Atauro

16th March 2017

Firstly sorry no photos because am writing this on the iPad now as the youngest member of this party cracked the laptop screen last week, and figuring out how to make a Samsung phone talk to an iPad to get photos over is well beyond us all.
Charlie is heaps better just in the last couple of days which is a huge relief. He was pretty miserable being sick away from home and it was incredibly stressful having him sick in such an isolated place. So things are looking up. We moved into our house on Tuesday finally. Although it's very noisy - right now we can hear Timorese pop music (not recommended), motorbikes, pigs, people talking and roosters (they don't care what time of day it is) - on the upside having our own space is fantastic. Our house is connected to our landlord's, and his wife Ernestina gets up at about 4a.m to fry up all the pastries she sells in the Mercado. But it's ok because the roosters have already woken us up. We can hear them talking on the other side of the wall (there's no ceilings) and we presume they can hear us but it's all good as we can't understand a word the other is saying!
It's been a big couple of days in Balibomwith the unveiling of the plans for the convention centre Poz is going to project manage. There were tons of VIPs here, including Steve Bracks who is the patron of the Balibo House Trust, the Victorian minister for tourism, the Timorese minister for tourism, various other Timorese sefis (local government mayors) but the people we most enjoyed meeting were Terry Bracks and Rob Hudson who are members of the Balibo House Trust board and who, along with Ricardo Krauskopf in Melbourne have been our main contacts with all this. Meeting them and listening to all the speeches etc gave us more a sense of the history and the big picture we are involved with and what they are trying to achieve. We have been in survival mode a bit, but with Charlie's health improving, getting into our house and meeting all those people we have got a bit better perspective on why we are here. Although we did get a bit worried when everyone kept saying how brave we were. Brave, or stupid??? Or just plain crazy?!!




One of the people there for the ceremony was Professor Damien Kingsbury from Melbourne who is considered Australia's top expert on Indonesia and East Timor. He was incredibly interesting to talk to, he isn't just an academic but really gets into the field, so much so that he is black banned from Indonesia as they don't like what he writes about them. As in, after the vote for independence, the Indonesians, besides removing all windows and sheets of iron off houses then burning them, also basically kidnapped about 350 000 people by loading them into trucks at gunpoint and taking them over the border into Indonesia to try to hold them as hostages to retain some of the Timorese land.
He is coming back on Monday as he is leading the Australian observer team for the presidential election. So we are looking forward to seeing all that.
The most freaky thing at the ceremony which none of the Australian side knew was going to happen was the reading of the entrails of a rooster. They had a katuas who is a local elder there to do a traditional welcome - he had some betel nut leaves which he waved around and the next minute one of the hotel staff came in holding a rooster. We were inside at this stage as it had started to rain, and so the rooster was held down on the floor of the hotel lobby beside the katuas. A bit of trepidation set in at that point and then he got out this knife and while the poor rooster was being held down he stabbed it once in the side then waved some betel nut leaves on it and chanted, then 3 or 4 minutes later he stabbed it again in the same spot - IT WAS STILL ALIVE THE WHOLE TIME. Then the betel nut leaves again for another few minutes , then he sliced the back of it open and pulled out the entrails to read. Still it was alive and the squeal it made when he first stabbed it was not a noise I've ever heard from a chook.
This week the dental clinic at the CLC has also been open with two volunteer dentists from Australia. Tons of kids have turned up just independently with no parents in sight, waiting for however long it takes to see the dentist. It seems like it's a novelty they are keen to experience! The only problem is that if they need to do an extraction or something there are no parents in sight to give permission. Next week they are running an education program in local schools to encourage kids to brush their teeth regularly. The dental clinic is really impressive, with all the equipment and standard you'd expect to find in Australia. They deal with some cases they'd never find in Australia though, like scraping all the red betel nut residue off people's teeth (a really gross job apparently!) or finding an 8 year old kid with 5 abscesses in his mouth.