News

30 June 2006

Dear all,

Today, 30 June, is the first chance I have had to sit and write a message to friends and supporters but I'm not sure when I will be able to reach the internet cafe to send it. I returned to Dili on 23 June after Australian Volunteers International evacuated me to Australia following the recent unrest. My bedsit was fine and everything was in order. Rosaria was very pleased to see me but is very worried because she now feels responsible for my safety. She and her children are well and are also still living in the HIAM compound at the hospital. Rosaria's sister and her husband, 5 children and some members of their extended family have also sought refuge in the compound. Because of the events of the last few days Megan and I have also moved into the office and are sleeping on the floor. It is more practical to be here where we can work. If we go home at night there is always the difficulty of getting to and from the clinic so at least here I am safe and do not have to worry about being on the street. We are still hearing gunfire at night and houses are still being burnt down in the night in retaliation in the Lorasae verses the Loromono conflict.

Yesterday a young woman wandered into the office, walked up to me and said "bondia avo" ("good morning grandmother"). Then she kissed my hand and climbed onto my lap like a small child. I just nursed her and hugged her until she was ready to get off my lap. She is 22 yrs old and extremely traumatised by the past events. We were able to make contact with the women's counselling service here and they came and collected her.

The Australian Army are guarding the hospital around the clock. They are really nice young men and assimilate very well with the people in the camp but they are so young for such a huge responsibility. Some of them are only 18 years of age. They work in short shifts day and night and are starting to look a little worse for wear. This morning there were 8 tanks in the front yard and helicopters are continually flying overhead, so if anyone tries to enter the hospital who shouldn't be here, I imagine they will be dealt with accordingly.

They are saying that there are over 100,000 displaced persons living in the refuges around Dili. I'm told that we have just over 4,000 here in the hospital grounds. The majority of them are in tents provided by UNICEF, which are quite large. There would only be about 100 now living in the open. As soon as it is safe on the streets UNICEF has a plan to go through each camp and check for sick or malnourished children and move them to the hospital. At present the paediatric ward is full so they are trying to negotiate with the Director of the hospital to allocate another ward for these children. It has been estimated that in the next 2- 3 weeks we will see an influx of severely malnourished children being admitted into Dili National Hospital. Doctors are very worried because they do not have qualified nursing staff to handle these particular children as it is specialised nursing care that they will require.

The banks have been open and quite a few shops are trading again. Even the odd restaurant is now opening for lunch. Food is not difficult to get if you have money. The price of many things has gone up. Boys on the street are selling phone cards and taxi drivers are charging extra - they want danger money for staying out on the street. So far I have only heard of 1 foreigner, an Australian, being caught up in something and threatened. When he evacuated to Australia his house was looted.

Quite a few volunteers like myself have already returned independently from AVI (Australian Volunteers International) to start working for their organisations again while waiting for AVI to commence their mission here. Unfortunately yesterday we all received notification that our contracts were cancelled as of 30 June and they have no plans at present to recommence their program in Timor Leste. This is going to add pressure and stress to so many organisations and NGOs here.

The street outside the Ministry of Justice is closed in honour of the 9 police officers who were murdered. The blood stains remain on the road. Every day people deliver flowers, and at night candles are lit at each spot where the men died.

I am very happy to be back. It feels so right to be here. There are so many Timorese who are are not part of the conflict and want nothing to do with it. They need anddeserve to be helped and supported. Their lives have been turned upside down and they are now living in constant fear once again. To look at the pain on their faces breaks my heart. Last night when I was sitting out on the office veranda with a group of children a small branch fell from the tree above us onto the tin roof. All the children screamed and hit the ground. They thought it was gun fire!

I know it's a long way from being resolved here. It will possibly take years to resolve the situation and it is up to people like us who have so much just by the grace of where we happened to be born to give and share what we have and create some equality in our world.

So on behalf of the staff at HIAM-Health, thank you to all of you for your kind wishes and support. It is greatly appreciated by so many.

Love and best wishes always, obrigarda barak.

Mana Jill