MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From Dili. This is the Christmas creche at the end of my street -
they're all over Dili, on almost every block. I wanted to post this
yesterday (Christmas Day here) but it's still Christmas Day in
Canada, so I figure good enough. The guy in the middle of the
picture is my boyfriend :) ("hau-nia dobin"). His name's Quintao.
(Seriously...) they're my neighbours' children.

For amusement value only, I have posted another picture of me
in another Christmas creche, with another boyfriend (???).
(At the bottom of the page - it's big.) The comments I could make
....as you can see, I look like I've been possessed. What's with the
mysterious finger-pointing? (I don't remember doing that!!).
And of course - well, a happy heavy-metal merry christmas to all.

Reinado cont'd

Hello again :) It's Monday, December 24 - my intention this morning
was to post more about Reinado and other stuff as well. Anyhow,
I'm a little distracted. Someone (not a Timorese - just to be clear)
was just quite rude to me - someone I don't know. So I feel like I
might find it a bit hard to concentrate. Anyhow, having said that,
I think I'll be OK.

So, where to begin? I had a long conversation with someone the
other day about Reinado and the situation here in general. I feel
like what I posted the other day was...misleading? Anyhow, there's
more to say.

I haven't spoken to any Timorese person who isn't sympathetic to the
cause of Reinado and the petitioners. Of course, I don't speak to
every Timorese person I know about it - in fact I don't speak to most
people about it. So I'm only talking about a handful of people. But
generally well-educated (Timorese) people whose opinions I respect.

The article from The Australian is interesting. When I was first told
(by an Australian) that the Australian army had been asked to
"go after" Alfredo, my reaction was.....? Why is the Australian army
getting involved in this situation? And why is Reinado being treated
like a criminal?

I know the article says he's wanted on murder charges...but I know
that a lot of people respected the petitioners restraint when they
were asking that the issue be looked into (back in 2006). They
demonstrated peacefully for days. From what I can tell, the long
and the short of it is that their claims have never been sincerely
dealt with. The people from the 'west' are accused by (some of) those
from the 'east' of having been pro-Indonesian, but the majority of
people everywhere voted for Independence. Also, according to one
person I was talking to, the "east" is three provinces (I'm using
Canadian terms, obviously), and the "west" is ten provinces. So
according to that, the "west" is the majority of the country.

During the crisis, FRETILIN (or a high-level FRETILIN official) is
accused of distributing weapons to civilians. Nice. He has since left
the country. (Rogerio Lobato) I've found another link to a short
article about the crisis. The link I posted before (to the International
Crisis Group article) unfortunately requires you to sign up - just a
bit more difficult to get to.

The link is http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=20284&Cr=timor&Cr1=inquiry

Merry Christmas! love to everyone ~
Nyree.

Alfredo Reinado

Good morning! (At least it's morning here). I know I haven't
posted for a long time....being a visual person, I've been a
little enthralled by the various video/photo options for this
blog, but I think I might have to limit the video, because it
can take a long time to upload and it's a little bit complicated.
(I have to upload it to another site first, then link it to this
blog.) It's probably a good thing (you may not be into my
somewhat random videos) but if you're concerned, don't
despair - I'm sure more will come, sooner or later.

Unfortunately, I was recharging my camera batteries
yesterday and forget to put them back in my camera, so
I won't be uploading even any pictures today. But I plan
to come in early next week (before Christmas) and do
that - hopefully! That's the plan.

But even if I can't post pics, I can still write - right? So...
I decided the other day that my knowledge of the situation
in this country could do with a little improvement...my
Tetun is, of course, still not great. My Portuguese - well -
and my Bahasa - I do know a few words (from many years
ago) but not very much, really. As you may know, Tetun
(-Dili, as opposed to Tetun-Terek) has a lot of loan words
from Portuguese. In fact, when I watch TVTL (Televisao
Timor-Leste) sometimes at first I'm not sure if they're
speaking Portuguese or Tetun. Also, speaking Tetun in a
Portuguese style (with very Portuguese pronunciation)
apparently has, or used to have, some prestige. I guess
it was a sign of having been educated.

Which is a long way of saying that none of the local newspapers
here are in English. (At least none of the ones that are
provided free at the World Bank, where I work everyday).
So, I look at the pictures, and I do read - but I'm reading to
try to see how much I can understand, not because I
understand already (obviously). So I decided the other day
that I need to inform myself better on the present situation.

The Crisis in 2006 was precipitated by complaints of
discrimination in the armed forces. According to a (Timorese)
friend of mine, soldiers from the 'west' had for years been
insulted by those from the 'east', who claimed that they (from
the east) had fought longer and harder against the Indonesians.
It is true that FRETILIN, the resistance, was eventually reduced
to a very small number of fighters, and they survived longest in
the east. But if you know anything about the history of the
Indonesian occupation, you will know that the number of dead
in the late 70's was horrendous - it was something like 200,000
people, out of a population of 6-700,000. This is why it has been
referred to as a genocide (1/3 of the population). Not all of those
people were killed by the Indonesian army (although many were)
- many were also killed fleeing the army or by forced dislocation
by the army and to a smaller extent by FRETILIN. (That's from
a report called Chega! (Enough!); the report of the Commission
for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation - I read some of it at the
XG Reading Room, although it should also be on-line).

Anyhow, the Indonesians originally invaded from Dili and West
Timor. I'm not sure to what extent they came from West Timor
(which has always been Indonesian territory - Timor-Leste
shares a land border with them, like Haiti and the Dominican
Republic). But I am sure that once the invasion had begun the
Indonesians would have come over their border, from the west.
So it would seem, to me, that one could say that the 'easterners'
'held out' longer, or one could say that the 'westerners' bore the
brunt of the invasion. Neither is completely true. People all over
'held out' and resisted in various ways for the duration - 25 years
- of the occupation, and, obviously, people all over were killed.

Whatever is 'true' or not, there are beliefs that are useful and can
be built on, and there are those that are not. So this "east-west"
division is not. It will make things difficult to build this country
on this belief if it persists. Some reports say that the east-west
division has actually existed for a long time, but was subdued by
Portuguese and Indonesian repression. Another says that young
people believe the division has been fabricated for political
purposes.

Anyhow, no matter how long it has or hasn't been simmering, to
some extent or another it is now an issue. The reason it is an issue
is because the soldiers from the west alleged discrimination. To
try to be brief 9and hopefully not inaccurate), their concerns were
not addressed. They walked off the job (in protest), and then they
were fired. 600 of them. Not the best idea.

(Ex?) Major Alfredo Reinado emerged as a leader of this group,
called the Petitioners. He and some of his men ran off to the
mountains, (with, apparently, a sizable amount of weapons), and
until some time this past summer they were wanted men - being
searched for by the Australian military. But then Xanana and
Ramos-Horta (or whoever) decided (sincerely?) that they needed
to resolve the issue, and invited Reinado to talk. They met once
in August, but last week Reinado failed to show up (for the second
time) to a dialogue with them. Apparently Xanana said they would
give him one more chance, but if he doesn't show up then.....?
Horta said something must be done. What?

For more information (or the same, in a somewhat more official
package); this is an article from The Australian, with a not very
uplifting headline:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22933200-2703,00.html

Maybe I'll edit it and put the name of the article instead of just the
link, but I'm not doing that right now because then I'll feel I have
to comment on it, and right now I'm hungry. I need to go look for
food.

Casa Vizinha

This lovely (?) sun-drenched 'edifice' is (as you may be able to see)
the burnt-out shell of our neighbour's house. I say "our neighbour"
but, of course, I don't know who used to live there. Actually, I know
all the other neighbours (on each side of the school, both sides of
the road) but not the people who live here. (Because people do live
around this house now, but not in it. I'm pretty sure they're not the
same people who lived there before it was burnt.) Although to be
honest I was talking to some people up the street and they're now
living in the building beside their burnt-out house...so it could be the
same people.

Anyhow, I don't know when this house was burned. It could have
been in 2006 or 1999. Most recently, this past August (three months
ago), at least 300 houses were burned down in Baucau (an hour or
more east of Dili) and a few (but not as many) in Dili. This was due
to anger over Xanana Gusmao being named Prime Minister. I should
be more specific here (I'm editing this on Dec. 21). The anger was
not necessarily so much personal as political. FRETILIN won more
votes than any other opposition party, but Xanana and his party
(the CNRT) formed a coalition with, I believe, two other parties.
And then he was named Prime Minister. For more information
about the 2006 Crisis, click on

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4438&l=1

In fact, this report is also a good general history of Timor-L, from
the early 1970's on. It's very well-done and informative (thank-you,
International Crisis Group!). It's actually quite difficult to find
reading material on East Timor here in East Timor, oddly enough.
The Xanana Gusmao Reading Room has a number of books, but
they can't be borrowed. And as far as I know there aren't really
any bookstores (some stationary stores, that may sell dictionaries...)
Correct me if I'm wrong - if you can - please. So it's good to "have
a clue" so to speak. A found this report on the blog Dili-Dallying;
Two Years in Timor-Leste, which is also worth reading and not
just getting jealous about the name.

The First Dance

This is a picture taken from the wedding we went to on the first
Saturday I was here (Oct. 26, I think). It's hard to believe I've
been here three weeks already! I don't really like to say I've been
here for three weeks - the first week here the school paid for us
to have Tetun classes, so I learned how to say "What is your
name?" (Ita-nia naran sa?), "Where do you come from?" (Ita
mai husi ne'ebe?) and a few other things. And when I told people
that I'd only been here a week, they were really impressed.
"And you already speak Tetun!" But, now, my Tetun hasn't
really improved and I've been here three weeks, so....I've got
to get cracking.

The thing about this wedding that really made an impression
on me was how Latin American it felt. Unfortunately, the video
option on my camera doesn't include sound, so you can't hear
the music, but if you can see the people dancing you can
probably get an idea of the rhythm. A very country-Latin
thing, me parecido de El Salvador. Sorry if that's not good
Spanish. What about this picture does not look Latin American?
I suppose the only thing is the woman wearing a hijab, which
is not very common here (Timor-Leste being a Catholic country).
Of course, we live right behind the oldest and, now, only mosque in
the country, in "Kampung Alor", so it's not super-uncommon in
our neighbourhood - but still, nobody on our street wears hijab.

Apparently people go into debt, for life, due to the cost of weddings.
I was told that this one cost - well, a lot. Like maybe two years' salary
for an 'average' Canadian. In a country where people make an
average of 50 cents a day (well, not these people, but still....) that's
a LOT of money. There could have easily been 1,000 people there,
with food, and drinks (not neccessarily alcohol) for all. Wow. As one
person there said to me "We don't get to party much", so I'm glad
we all had an excuse. (And I didn't have to pay for it!)

The reason the Timorese don't 'party' much is because most of them
are still afraid to go out after dark (6pm), and so they don't. If you
don't have your own form of transportation, you won't either. (Of
course most foreigners here work for the UN, so they have vehicles.
All they have to worry about is getting stones thrown at them (their
cars).) But according to the people who have been here a while,
things are getting better and people are going out a bit more. It's
certainly not a problem for most foreigners, as long as you have
wheels.

Mountains over Dili

Last Monday another teacher at the school,
Curran, took me up into the mountains on
his motorbike, for which I will be forever and
eternally grateful. The temperature is as much
as ten degrees cooler by the time you get to the
top, which makes one wonder why everyone
doesn't just move to the mountains. And the
views, of course, are great. I, unfortunately,
thought that I would take pictures on the way
down but by the time we were coming down
it had started to rain on the mountains (the
rain never actually made it into town) and the
whole city was over cast (but considerably
cooler, so I am not complaining.) There are
some wonderful eucalyptus forests on the
way up - all I can say is, I'll have to go back.
Not just to take better pictures.

Kidz in the Hood

I took this picture because of the kid playing
a video game (the little yellow plastic thing).
Video games are everywhere, even in Timor
Leste! But generally these kids lead pretty
active outdoor lives, including climbing the
jumbalo (fruit) tree over our 'garage' - and
hopefully not falling through. The girl on the
right is Lucretia, and I always remember her
because she reminds me a bit of Dia. (I hope
Dia doesn't mind).
By the way, if you're looking for the Santa Cruz
video (see post below) it should be at the bottom
of the page. It's only 14 seconds long.

Santa Cruz Cemetary

As promised, I'm just adding the video clip I took
last Friday (a week ago) at the Santa Cruz cemetary.
Actually, I didn't take the video, I gave my camera
to a guy sitting on the wall and asked him to do it.
I only saw one other foreigner ("malae") while we
were there, and I din't want to be the big white
woman taking pictures. The video doesn't really
capture the sense of how completely packed the
cemetary was. It was a bit overwhelming at first,
when we first stepped inside. All the tombstones
were covered in flower petals and surrounded by
burning candles (not a good place to wear a long
skirt.) This is the same cemetary where the Santa
Cruz massacre happened in 1991, when about 250
people were killed by Indonesian troops. And East
Timor - finally - made the news. Not, of course,
that making the news that way is a good thing,
but 100 - 200,000 people died between 1975 and
1980 or so and still very few people even knew
there was such a place as East Timor.
Lil (Li-Lien Gibbons) brother Kamal was one of
those who died in the Santa Cruz massacre.
November 2, however, was not a commemoration
of the massacre but the yearly 'Day of the Dead' or
All Saints Day. Unfortunately I don't remember
the name of the day in Tetun. Families go to the
cemetaries and clean the graves of their loved
ones and place flowers and candles on the graves.
The anniversary of the Santa Cruz massacre is now
a national holiday, and it's this coming Monday,
Nov. 12. So I may go to the cemetary again,
although I may not take any pictures or videos.

Dili 101

Hello, everybody!

I got a ride into the Internet cafe (where it's cheaper
than using the Internet at school), but I forgot the
cable for the camera. I was going to upload video
from the Day of the Dead holiday at the Santa Cruz
cemetary. That was three days ago - Friday, Nov. 2.
Sonju and I went to check it out. I will post that video
the next time I can. For now, I'll explain the Dili
waterfront.

I wanted to take a video (with my digital camera) just
driving around Dili, and this is as far as I got (from
where we're staying to downtown). There'll be more to
come, hopefully.

The video starts with the taxi driver and the woman
in the backseat is Sonju, another teacher at the school
from Chicago. She arrived three days after me. On the
left is, of course, the waterfront (notice the kid sitting
on the harbour wall "cheering") The first building on the
right is the South Korean embassy (yay, South Korea!).
There is also a Chinese embassy. The video ends just as
we're approaching stacks of big white UN cargo boxes
(I'm not sure of the word - like train-cars). They all say
UN on the side (as do many of the vehicles going by)
but the video cuts out before you can get close enough
to read it.

Part 2 - This was an unusually overcast day for Dili
(nevermind all the smoke). Also, when looking out to the
left over the water you should be able to see the island
of Atauro (all vowels pronounced). It's very large and
mountainous - it's hard to believe it didn't show up at
all this day.

The building with a white fence, pink at the bottom,
is the Royal Thai embassy. Then you can see the ship
burning. We really had no idea what this was about
(if anything), but people seemed pretty unfazed by it.
We found out later that the gas tank had just exploded.
It burned all day and all night.

You could accuse me of having bad journalistic
instincts for turning the camera back to the other side
of the street, and I guess you'd be right. The tents on the
right side of the street are one of the IDP sites (Internally
Displaced People). I'll have to explain what I know about
that situation another time. For now all I can say is the
rainy season is coming, and the UN is supposed to be getting
better tents for thos people (someone who works for the
UN told me). If they don't get them in time, there will be
trouble. It rained last week and a road going to the
east of Dili was closed because the people in an IDP
camp along that road were throwing stones at UN
vehicles (presumably because they weren't happy
about sleeping in puddles).

The video stops with the Hotel Timor (white building)
just appearing on the right. You probably can't see the
clothes left out to dry on the bushes in front. Is this
the Hotel Timor's laundry service, you ask? No, it's the
'laundry service' of the IDPs.

Speaking of rock-throwing, two of the teachers went up
to Ramelau mountain (the highest in Timor) with some
other people (in a UN vehicle). To avoid getting rocks
thrown at them, they decided to roll down the windows
when they went through a town and wave at everyone
(mostly little kids). And it worked! Curran said he actually
saw kids dropping rocks so they could wave back at them.
I have to say, from the Timorese I've met - walking down
the street, wherever - they certainly don't seem like a
stone-throwing kind of people. In fact, they're very friendly.
But, of course.....