TheChallengOfGrowingUpInTimor

The Literacy rate in Timor-Leste is 50%. Half of the population can't read. Even at San Miguel, the school where we worked, 2000 students have to take shifts (morning and afternoon) to be able to attend the school. The tiny classrooms are filled with 75-80 students at a time in unbearable heat. When it is the normal temperature outside (10 degrees hotter than hell) it is like an oven indoors. There is no air conditioning. little or no ventilation, no indoor plumbing or running water. During the torrential downpour of the rainy season, the roof leaks and buckets are placed everywhere to catch the leaks. There is a mountain of donated miscellaneous books in one storage room, but during our entire visit I never saw a student carry a book. Cristna, the head of the school works tirelessly from 4 am to 11 pm to do the impossible. This year he did it. After taking the standardized exams, only 6 out of his 200 seniors failed to graduate and one scored the highest of any senior in the city.

HelpingALocalSchool

Through our connection with Daryl, aka Daisy, the head of the Timor-Leste Rotary Club, we had the opportunity to help San Miguel, a local school, install the internet and open that gateway for the 2ooo kids who go to school there. Little did we know that we arrived 2 days before President Ramos-Horta was to arrive at the school for a ceremony christening a new wing and a newly installed internet!! Doug installed as I served as his lovely assistant and it was a study in frustration. We would instal, the school head redid, we would reinstall, the telecom guys uninstalled, we reinstalled, the kids would dismantle, we would reinstall, the power would go out... you get the picture. The worst part was that even though we finally installed everything, the entire internet went down during the Presidents visit.

WhereTheHeckIsTimorEast

After telling friends that I was going to Timor East, the same question was asked each time - where is that? It is such a small remote country that hardly anyone has heard of it. Also, it is well off the radar for tour guides and travel agents. Timor is an island that sits at the southern part of Indonesia in Asia. It is 400 miles north of Darwin, Australia. The western part of the island is still part of Indonesia. The eastern part of the island - Timor East (or Timor-Leste) has fought hard for its independence from invaders from Japan, Portugal, and Indonesia - and is now proudly an independent country - the newest country in the twentieth century.

ShoppingForDinner

Doug has become a bargaining wizard with all the fruit peddlers that we meet. From them we buy fresh pineapples, mangos,bananas, avocados, apples, oranges, and watermelon. There are also a huge array of fruits that we can't identify and we are trying to work up the courage to try them. Most of the vendors speak only Tetun and our Tetun isn't good enough to understand their explanations. We have to be careful to eat only fruit and vegetables that we peel ourselves, or are well cooked. The water situation is tricky. The only water we drink comes from sealed bottles and we even need it to brush teeth. Beer however is perfectly safe, so we feel compelled to play it safe and drink lots of beer.

TheBoatingGoatsOfEastTimor

These are our neighbors

ImagesOfEastTimor

The shack next door to our hotel. The pigs continue to get loose and the goats are always in the road. The fisherman/farmers who live here supplement there income with a tiny store operated out of a side window of their shack.

ExploringEastTimor

While looking for volunteer opportunities we also had time to get to know this amazing country. There continues to be evidence of the wars that raged here, but the majority of buildings are new and you can find construction going on everywhere. There is a contrast between the attempts to rebuild and the many people living in grass topped huts throughout the area (although they now have huge TV dishes). They continue to fish and raise pigs, chickens and goats, while the government actively makes changes to turn East Timor into a modern tourist mecca. To date, we have met no other tourists, but the potential is here to be a major tourist destination.

TheBestOfContactsInEastTimor

The stars aligned when we met Daryl aka Daisy of the Dili Hash Harriers. The Hashers are a world wide running club started in the 1930s. They call themselves a "drinking club with a running problem," and in Dili, the 50+ members just happen to be composed of the leaders in the expatriot community charged with the task of getting East Timor back on its feet. We were actively looking for volunteer opportunities and we struck gold when Daisy invited us to join the Hashers for one of their Saturday races. A side benefit was meeting this extraordinary group of fascinating people. Their jobs are essentially traveling all over the world, living in the most exotic and tough conditions, helping countries in need. It takes a special person to do this and they tend to play just as hard as they work, as we found out first hand.

TimorLesteMysteryMagicAndContradictions

It is a first for me - getting on a plane to fly half way around the world to a country I know nothing about - that speaks a language I have never heard - to volunteer to help without having any idea what I can contribute. Needless to say it was a giant leap of faith. Douglas and I arrived a week ago to find a gorgeous lush island paradise that is a mass of contradictions and oddities. It gives the place a lot of charm, but at the same time, makes the smallest task turn into a giant project. Dili, the Capital, is a city of over 800,000 people, but only 2 of the roads actually have names. Directions can include turning right at the house with the plastic covered fence and right at the pigpens...

MyAUSTRALIANPartnerInCrime

In a blog that I posted in April, I included a photo of Doug - who I identified as "My Partner in Crime From New Zealand." It was a blatant attempt to convey my interest in this very intriguing man I had met on the train trip through Africa. It worked, because he did respond to the photo and even forgave me for calling him a New Zealander.It has been quite an adventure just trying to stay in touch with someone who lives on the other side of the world. His winter is my summer, his day is my night, his Tuesday is my Monday. The windows for communication are quite small. Thank goodness for emails and SKYPE. We did meet halfway for an incredible time in Hawaii (photos to follow later), but our biggest adventure will be the trip to Timor East. Traveling through some of the poorest parts of Africa made us both dramatically aware of the immense poverty and need that exists in the world. Timor East is a tiny country that has survived several wars and is now trying to rebuild. It is "the Little Country That Could" in my eyes and we are both hoping that we can do something to help in our own small way. At a minimum we can put a few tourist dollars back into the country. We are scheduled to arrive there on Tuesday (EST) and we both eagerly anticipate what awaits. Stay tuned!!

HeadingForEastTimor

It has been an incredibly active time since returning from my "Volcation" in Holland in April 2010. It included lots of visitors (many of whom I met on previous round the world trips), journeys to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, Bryce Canyon in Utah, Hawaii, and the 2010 Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. These photos are all waiting to be culled and the few good ones posted, but for now I want to focus on the big adventure that starts on Monday - a trip to Timor East (Timor-Leste)and all the intrigue of going to a place that is almost unknown - no guidebooks exist. If you look on the internet there is some information, but I was left with more questions than answers. I hope that I will be able to document the visit and show you what we find in this tiny virtually unknown country. PS Thanks to all the faithful readers who have continued to look at my blog even though I have been off line for so long!!

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