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.

It’s probably safe to say that we have been finding it a bit tough here!  It’s hard to put into words why, partly just a bit of homesickness, but mostly just the battle every day to achieve the simplest things.  Nothing really works properly e.g, tonight while trying to cook dinner the hotplate we bought in Dili last week carked it (the plug was always dodgy) so we had to cook on the kerosene stove, but then we couldn’t find the lighter and it had run out of kerosene so we had to go buy some…aaargh!!  It seems like a little thing but every day there seems to be something like that, something which doesn’t work, something which is crap so it breaks etc. And there is always rubbish lying around everywhere, because they don’t have any kind of rubbish disposal system. On the bright side, the teaching is good, the kids are keen to learn and it’s really fun teaching them. 

  Poz has nearly finished the toilet, which is a simple structure but it has not been simple to build!  It has just been a big learning curve but as Poz has been building a bit more he is becoming more confident that he can figure out where to get hold of materials and how things work.  (or don’t in many cases!) 

We went to Dili last week to renew our visas.  We had to end up paying an Australian woman who runs a business here to organise a 60 day renewal for us because it is way too complicated to organise it ourselves.  A working visa can take 6 months to get and it is harder for us as Rotary does not have NGO status here – most of their volunteers are only here for less than a month so they’ve never encountered this problem before.  On the way to Dili we had a night in a really nice beach resort called Caimeo Beach Camping, stayed in a tent with mattress on the floor, clean, nice linen, electricity running to it with a fan etc and right on a lovely beach with palm trees etc so we felt pretty good about all that.  In the morning Poz went for a bike ride, we went for a swim, had a nice brekky so it was all good. 

  Then we went to Dili.  I’ll just say we aren’t big fans of Dili.  We were glad to get back to Balibo.  Although the town isn’t much, just a bit out of town the scenery is really pretty and it doesn’t smell!  Although we do like our Burger King in Dili.  Yes Ginny is eating Burger King and enjoying it, it is a big treat! 

The people around here love singing, they love to sing in church and sometimes there’ll be a kid walking up the street just singing which is really sweet.  They all dress up to go to mass every Sunday morning.  The girls are in frilly dresses and boys in button up shirts and long pants, and the women often in high heels etc.  It’s like they are off to the formal but they dress like that every week for church.  Every time you go anywhere everyone greets you and everyone sitting outside their houses calls out to find out where you are going.  So we know the Tetun for “Where are you going?” but mostly we’ve got no idea how to answer!

We are probably going to move into our house this week, we had to stay there last night as the hotel was full and Poz managed to make the toilet usable although it isn’t completely finished.   It was nice to be in our place but we need to get earplugs as soon as possible because it was so noisy!  All night there were dogs barking, pigs snorting, and worst of all roosters crowing, all bloody night!! So hopefully that will be something we get used to, like people who live near a busy road! 

7^th march

Ok are in Dili as Charlie has had a temperature on and off for 6 days so at 2am this morning when he hit 39.2 it was time to bring him in to Dili to the Stamford Clinic ( 1^st world clinic according to their web site ! ) Anyway a great doctor checked him out ,blood test etc . May have tummy bug left over from gastro a couple weeks ago. Probably will get him on antibiotics tomorrow. Bit of a worry when we are 3 hrs drive away on a pretty shit road.

There are elections here in a month or so and there is a lot of enthusiasm with rallys etc. Truck loads of people with flags yelling and screaming. It is all civilised and apparently fair and above board. They have only been an independent country for 15 years so must still appreciate having a say in their future. 

I have had 2 locals helping me build bathroom (see picture) The young bloke calls me sir so if anyone runs into Bani tell him that is the right way to speak to the boss !!.  It’s pretty funny trying to communicate when we cannot understand a word each other is saying, sometimes ending up with all laughing and shaking of heads. The buildings are really roughly built so I figure given the language difficulties all I can do is try to show them to take a little bit longer and take more care. These guys don’t seem to even own a level. Our landlord seems to be pretty excited to have an Australian builder working on his dunny although if I am considered to be the gun brick layer in town you know things are crook.

Their sand gravel etc comes in one load which they separate by throwing shovel loads at a sieve frame set up at 45 degrees to make sand or concrete is just cement and whatever is dug out of the river bank ( stones 75mm included )

I had a good pushy ride a week or two ago which ended up in a dry river bed which I followed back down and rode through these gravel pits where they dig and separate the aggregate by hand.

12^th February

Ok so we look like we have a house to move into in. It needs a toilet/bathroom built, repainting and some mozzie proofing. The toilet/bathroom will be Timor style wet room in the front yard. To finalise the deal we had to go and see the hospital administrator and sub administrator of the district, both of whom were in Dili till Monday this being Thursday means it’s another few days before anything happens. We need to get used to the slow pace of things happening which is not too hard to do just a bit frustrating. We also need Mr Fix it AKA Marino as he is the only one who can translate plus he knows everyone, so sometimes we wait a day for him to be around. Marino is one of 6 kids although 3 have passed away and his parents are dead as well. Plus his brother’s wife had a stillborn baby this week which is not that uncommon.

Ginny and I have both felt a bit crook for a day or two so have been taking it easy but (now it’s Monday) we are feeling better now.  Hopefully this will last as we just went and had dinner at the warung (local restaurant) and with the dirt floor, rice and chicken that were just sitting unrefrigerated after being cooked earlier today…we’ve been told it’s ok to eat there but we are not too sure what the night will bring!!  Poz is already feeling sick, just demonstrating the power of his mind!  (We hope…)

Below is Mario fixing the electrical problem caused by Charlie’s chicken roosting on Michele’s power main all night.  Note the pink rubber gloves to guard against electric shocks.  OH & S standards here are somewhat lacking!!  We keep on getting little electric shocks off the walls of the building, especially after it has been raining a lot.  We have been on to an electrician and hopefully it is getting sorted out! 

I did my first English lesson today, which was lots of fun.  There were about 10 staff from the hotel in the class and I think they enjoyed it… It is a luxury to have plenty of time to plan a lesson, I spent the morning supervising Charlie doing his schoolwork and finalising my lesson plan then just had to teach one lesson today!  Nice pace.  I will be teaching 2 lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays and one each on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Some to the hotel staff, one to the girls at a local boarding house and two for the community in general – ranging from kids to adults.  So a good variety. 

7 February 2017

Lots to update and have even got photos!  We are still in the hotel, accommodation is not quite sorted out yet; we checked out another house but there were big gaps between the roof and the walls (probably due to having no ceiling!) and there was no kitchen or bathroom although there was a Timorese toilet (hole in the floor).  Am trying not to be a princess but can’t really put Charlie somewhere where mossies and other creatures not to mention rain can get in.  I could handle it of course ;-)  So at this stage we might move into Michele’s little house for a month or so and there is another possible new house which still needs a toilet to be put in which we may be able to rent for $100 per month.  I would say, judging by how quickly things move that it will be ready just when we are about to leave!  Michele says she doesn’t mind having a homestay while the other house is being finished, so we’ll see how things go.

Yesterday visited the kindy.  The kids were so cute, and Charlie looked absolutely enormous next to them. 

 They don’t have desks, just sit on the floor and they come in two shifts of about 35 kids each shift.  The playground would raise a million red flags for anyone doing an Australian standard health and safety check.  Bits of rock lying around under the equipment, rubbish, old metal swing seats with no actual seat just the frame, rusty metal equipment etc.  And they are quite an affluent kindergarten apparently. 

Everyone is so friendly, they all greet you and each other; no one walks past without saying good morning or good afternoon etc.  There is a real sense of community.  So we have become pretty good at saying all the greetings!  Big smiles all around.  People are always wandering around, there is a lot of sitting around too!  I think they would find Australian suburbs like a desert.  Ross was unloading some sand the other day to help with the water tank and Charlie was helping, next minute all these boys turned up to help and ended up having a great time with Charlie, it was great to see him interacting kids his own age. 

We took the Frisbee down later to see if they’d be around but of course it poured with rain.  It rains every day of rain.  , not all day but when it rains it is this mad downpour with wind and sheets The power goes off regularly; in the hotel they have a generator so all good but anywhere else the power could be off anything from an hour to all night.  Today I went to visit a convent school where 40 girls board, some because they are from remote areas and are there to get an education, some because their family don’t want them/can’t support them so the nuns take them in.  We walked in through their dining room and water is leaking through the iron roof, running along the light cord and dripping down a metal pole!  Then walked in to where we thought we were having a meeting about me doing some English lessons but instead it was a big room with all the girls squashed into wooden benches, one light on so it was really dark, all of them waiting expectantly for an English lesson!  Mad panic of thinking what to teach on the spot but then it got sorted out, they ran out shrieking happily that they didn’t have class and I was extremely relieved!  That will start next week.