I’ve been pretty healthy throughout my time in East Timor but the humidity leading up to the wet season brought on my eczema again. Luckily I only get eczema on my hands and feet but in a country that is so dusty and flip flops are standard attire, it’s almost impossible to keep your feet clean. Inevitably my feet got infected; so I started a course of antibiotics which here you can buy over the counter. That afternoon I was in the pool with a student and felt really cold. Given that we have an almost constant 30 degrees air temperature and about 28 in the water, that’s a strange feeling. I returned home and donned a t-shirt, long trousers and a fleece (haven’t used that since Heathrow Airport) and curled up in bed with a sheet over me. The electricity then went out, again! This normally makes the bedrooms unbearable for heat as there are no fans moving the air, but I was still cold.
I woke up when Ann and Wayne returned from the Esplanada having got bored with sitting in the dark again. They then quizzed me about my medical state, ‘What’s my temperature?’ ‘Do I have a rash?’ ‘Have I got a headache?’ ‘Do my joints hurt?’ I felt like I’d just gained two parents. I did have a rash and a neck ache, so Ann went into treatment mode, plenty of water; as much as you can get down your throat, panadol, monitor your temperature. Fever, rash and joint ache are classic signs of Dengue Fever which they have both had as well as malaria. Oh shit! I though, that’s all I need. But the next day I was fine, apart from my foot. I think the fever was from the infection and the rash a reaction to the antibiotics.
On the Saturday Wayne was complaining he was getting old but he had just shifted 600 bottles of mineral water. We sponsored the water at the First Lady’s Fun Run. On Sunday we had one of our busiest safaris ever, with 26 people. A tiring day for both of us, but Wayne was absolutely shattered. On the Monday he had a fever. We are lucky at the moment, we have a couple of volunteer doctors working at Dr Dan’s clinic who are also divers. So Killian came round and took a blood sample and the next day confirmed that Wayne had got malaria. The poor guys’ temperature got to just above 40 degrees which is definitely no fun when you are having nightly power cuts of up to three hours and no fan.
Meanwhile, I’m taking my second course of antibiotics and develop a nice chesty cold. Ann was muttering she was the only one in the plague house that wasn’t sick. Wayne has now recovered and I‘m infection free but still coughing well.
The diving is still good, I saw a turtle, cuttlefish and an eagle ray on Tuesday. However we had the first rain of the season yesterday which could affect visibility. The rain had been brewing up for days, and finally the storm broke and the heavens opened with fantastic thunder and lightening. We all stood out in the warm rain and got soaked through, much to the amusement of the stall holders opposite. Some of the local lads were running up and down the beach in the rain but apparently this is very subdued compared to the first rain of previous years where the whole village would be out celebrating.
Trouble kicked off in the IDP camps around Dili, which was to be expected as the rain would make the camps a walking cesspit. The government are hoping the downpours of rain will encourage some of the IDP’s to return home, but all that happened yesterday were that more fights broke out.
Eli is leaving to go back to Norway so we went to her leaving do last night which was teeming with kids, most of whom I know. I presented Ane with her Junior Scuba Diver certificate and she literally squealed with excitement all the way into the house. I managed to certify two Junior Scuba Divers last week, Ane and Angeline, the youngest ever divers in East Timor.
I did a little detour this morning on my way to dive at Dili Rock. There is a lake just behind which has turned completely red due to algae. The locals are quite superstitious about this because apparently the last time it turned red was in 1999 when the Indonesians we ransacking the country. They see this colour change as a bad omen.
Off to Bali on the 12th, a visa run and a few days of R&R, can’t wait. I need new clothes, Joselina, our housekeeper, has managed to beat or bleach mine to death. My white T-shirt with Lycra no longer has Lycra so its now very long with no stretch and almost transparent in places. However, she is the most fantastic ironer, so although your clothes are completely worn out, you are smartly pressed!
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
We’ve got Whales – East Timor 21st November 2006
A great day at K41, one of my favourite dive sites in East Timor. We spotted at least 3 humpback whales fairly close to the shore. Watching the coastline we saw them come up 4 times and the last time after a huge spout of water we saw the tail of one of the whales as it dived, awesome! The next day at Bobs Rock we had another humpback much closer to shore this time. People are reporting seeing them now on an almost daily basis from the shores of Dili itself.
I had dinner with Robbie the other night and he told me with sadness that Miss Millie (his pet goat) had disappeared. Robbie suspects’ foul play as the neighbour was always complaining that the free roaming Miss Millie was ruining his garden by eating all the plants. According to the neighbour Miss Millie was last seen on Saturday trotting up the mountain, but Robbie heard rumours that Millie was tied up in the local village on Friday night, which in Robbie’s mind makes the neighbour the prime suspect. However, Robbie did add that Millie was pregnant and could have gone up the mountain to give birth. I hope this is the case. To be continued…….or not!
We were off to have coffee that night at the Timor Hotel (Dilis’ poshest establishment). Whilst walking from the car to the entrance we heard strange grunting noises from the car park next door. It was the Kiwi army doing a full blown Hukka. Only in East Timor!
I’ve got so used to seeing the military and the UN Police around, I don’t think anything of it any more. I’m even teaching some of the Philippine police to dive. The pool we use is in the Hotel Esplanada which is now the residence of 25 Kiwi police, who are often in the pool late afternoons supping a beer. One of the exercises I have to teach my students is the CESA which involves them swimming slowly from one end of the pool to another on one breath. To make sure they don’t hold their breath or take a sneaky one, I get them to sing whilst doing this, and practice on the surface with a snorkel before doing it underwater. One of my students was unsuccessful on his first attempt so jokingly said ‘Ill have to improve my singing’. This was met by loud applause and cheers and a ‘Yes please mate’ from the surrounding Kiwi police pool mates.
Its great working with different cultures, I’ve discovered that the philippinos ‘Want to be together’ in everything they do. They also like a precise agenda, have all the latest gadgets and adore taking photos of each other. Wayne jokingly asked them several times today if they were sure they were not Japanese.
The 12th of November is Remembrance Day for the massacre at Santa Cruz. In 1991 hundreds of young Timorese marched peacefully to the Santa Cruz cemetery to place flowers on the grave of a student that had been shot dead at the church two weeks before. As they reached the cemetery the Indonesian troops opened fire and mowed them down killing hundreds.
The atmosphere that day was a little tense as the situation here is quite volatile. As we drove to Backpackers that night, the streets were lined with candles, each one of them representing a dead relative or friend. It was quite eerie seeing all these tiny lights on streets that would normally be completely dark as Dili does not have street lights. When we got to Backpackers we found the restaurant closed as the staff were scared of the crowd on the street, but as I watched the kids walk by a couple were playing guitar and the kids were singing Timorese songs, in peace.
The central areas for trouble in Dili are the IDP camps, especially the ones in central Dili, the Airport, outside Hotel Timor, the hospital and the Obrigado Barracks. New IDP camps have been built further out of the city, but the only way you can get the IDP’s to move to these new sites is withdraw supplies. You cannot force them to move as it would be against their human rights. So supplies of food and water to the old sites were stopped on the 16th. Of course this transition would never be without its problems and yesterday the 20th, came a turning point in the troubles, the first Malai was murdered. It was a Brazilian priest on his way to the hospital. Who knows what is going to happen next and what the repercussions of this will be.
I had dinner with Robbie the other night and he told me with sadness that Miss Millie (his pet goat) had disappeared. Robbie suspects’ foul play as the neighbour was always complaining that the free roaming Miss Millie was ruining his garden by eating all the plants. According to the neighbour Miss Millie was last seen on Saturday trotting up the mountain, but Robbie heard rumours that Millie was tied up in the local village on Friday night, which in Robbie’s mind makes the neighbour the prime suspect. However, Robbie did add that Millie was pregnant and could have gone up the mountain to give birth. I hope this is the case. To be continued…….or not!
We were off to have coffee that night at the Timor Hotel (Dilis’ poshest establishment). Whilst walking from the car to the entrance we heard strange grunting noises from the car park next door. It was the Kiwi army doing a full blown Hukka. Only in East Timor!
I’ve got so used to seeing the military and the UN Police around, I don’t think anything of it any more. I’m even teaching some of the Philippine police to dive. The pool we use is in the Hotel Esplanada which is now the residence of 25 Kiwi police, who are often in the pool late afternoons supping a beer. One of the exercises I have to teach my students is the CESA which involves them swimming slowly from one end of the pool to another on one breath. To make sure they don’t hold their breath or take a sneaky one, I get them to sing whilst doing this, and practice on the surface with a snorkel before doing it underwater. One of my students was unsuccessful on his first attempt so jokingly said ‘Ill have to improve my singing’. This was met by loud applause and cheers and a ‘Yes please mate’ from the surrounding Kiwi police pool mates.
Its great working with different cultures, I’ve discovered that the philippinos ‘Want to be together’ in everything they do. They also like a precise agenda, have all the latest gadgets and adore taking photos of each other. Wayne jokingly asked them several times today if they were sure they were not Japanese.
The 12th of November is Remembrance Day for the massacre at Santa Cruz. In 1991 hundreds of young Timorese marched peacefully to the Santa Cruz cemetery to place flowers on the grave of a student that had been shot dead at the church two weeks before. As they reached the cemetery the Indonesian troops opened fire and mowed them down killing hundreds.
The atmosphere that day was a little tense as the situation here is quite volatile. As we drove to Backpackers that night, the streets were lined with candles, each one of them representing a dead relative or friend. It was quite eerie seeing all these tiny lights on streets that would normally be completely dark as Dili does not have street lights. When we got to Backpackers we found the restaurant closed as the staff were scared of the crowd on the street, but as I watched the kids walk by a couple were playing guitar and the kids were singing Timorese songs, in peace.
The central areas for trouble in Dili are the IDP camps, especially the ones in central Dili, the Airport, outside Hotel Timor, the hospital and the Obrigado Barracks. New IDP camps have been built further out of the city, but the only way you can get the IDP’s to move to these new sites is withdraw supplies. You cannot force them to move as it would be against their human rights. So supplies of food and water to the old sites were stopped on the 16th. Of course this transition would never be without its problems and yesterday the 20th, came a turning point in the troubles, the first Malai was murdered. It was a Brazilian priest on his way to the hospital. Who knows what is going to happen next and what the repercussions of this will be.
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Johnny the tooth is back! – East Timor 1st November 2006
Wayne and Ann came in excitedly the other day to grab some money. ‘We’ve found Johnny the Tooth’ they exclaimed’, which is probably the single best piece of news we have had in a long time. Johnny was our mobile off licence and cigarette vendor with a pitch right opposite the dive centre, he disappeared in May when all the troubles started and we haven’t seen him since. Wayne and Ann found him at the Pertamina Market selling a meagre 3 packets of clove cigarettes (popular with the locals). Ann bought a packet and slipped Johnny $40. Johnny in his usual way, didn’t smile (probably due to the absence of teeth), but gave Ann a nod of his head while his eyes were like saucers.
The day after ‘The Sweeney’ scene, we were woken at 6.50am but shouting outside. We got up to see a guy from the East being frogmarched into the ‘Western’ village next to us. The guy was driving along in a taxi which was stoned by the village, he then tried to make a run for it when he was caught, frogmarched to the village, beaten up and stabbed. Luckily it wasn’t fatal. This apparently was in retaliation for the similar treatment the Xefi (Chief) of the village had received from Easterners and who is now recovering in hospital.
Rumours are rife around Dili. The press report about two headless bodies was apparently not true. However, two bodies were found under Pertimina Jetty (one of our dive sites!) on Friday. The rumour going around the local Timorese is that they were shot and dumped by the Australian Forces which is totally ridiculous. However it has sparked a warning that Australians are now being targeted so be extra vigilant. So we have stuck the British flag on our cars!
It doesn’t help the situation that Ice is being supplied to the gangs of young boys. Not only are they, bored, unemployed and resentful, they are now high as kites and think that they are invincible, just like the hero’s in the pirate copies of Rambo and the Terminator that are pedalled on the streets.
Electricity cuts are becoming more and more frequent in Dili, up to three hours at a time, which you don’t need coming into wet season where its hotter due to humidity. Also due to the season, mosquitoes are becoming more prevalent and in a country of malaria and dengue fever, and electric fan is a must, to keep them at bay. The electricity cuts are due to generators that are overdue servicing but mainly illegal bypassing of the meters. Electricity, like most things here, is very expensive, so increasing numbers are rerouting their electricity so its not going through the meter, hence some of the generators are trying to work at 75% over capacity and have to be periodically shut down. In a land with no legal consequence at the moment, the attitude is ‘Well everyone is doing it, so why shouldn’t I?’ It’s a bit like downloading music from the internet; it doesn’t seem illegal if you get away with it. Two nights ago we had another 3 hour cut. As soon as power came back on the CD player started up again with Santana’s – Turn your lights on! Freaky!
Bureaucracy here is not helping progress; it takes me back to my previous career working with the UK Government. Everything has to go through a paper trail and the sign off procedure for any spending is arduous and often the transaction cost ends up being more than the purchase. Well here it’s even worse, and universally they seem to have adopted the same bureaucratic model but with differing spending limits. I know of one organisation that anything over $5 needs to be signed off by the chief manager and then anything over $350 needs to be signed off by a committee. No wonder progress is slow.
One of my favourite ever students left last week. Tatyana was from Kazakhstan and worked for the National Red Cross in Timor. The warehouses when she arrived we chocker-block with supplies ‘In case of an emergency’, well what do you call this then! The hoarding mentally resulted in wasting money, they had a load of footballs that had been in the warehouse so long they had deflated and the plastic perished. They had spare parts for cars such as filters that were totally corroded because instead of using the oldest first, they had used the new ones, and hoarded the old ones ‘for an emergency’, duh! They even had spare parts for cars they no longer had. The cars were given to the hospital, but they couldn’t give the spare parts directly to the hospital because of their monetary value, they had to give them to the government who in turn could give them to the hospital! And I used to criticise UK Government procurement procedures.
When Grant first told me his girlfriend Tatyana was coming to East Timor and she wanted to learn to dive, he also warned me that she would be a challenge as up until 2 years previously she wouldn’t even put her head in the water. What Grant didn’t emphasise however, was that Tatyana was a pretty determined lady, so several extra confined water sessions, a couple of abortive open water dives and an ear infection later, I certified Tatyana as a PADI Open Water Diver. She even went on to do a couple of Adventure dives with me, including Deep, towards her Advanced course. The great thing about Tatyana, was as soon as she managed to get underwater, she adored it. And she was constantly smiling with delight underwater; it’s was a pleasure just seeing her face. On her third and fourth open water dives at Dili Rock we saw a large white tip reef shark. Not sure how she would react, I checked with her first before going down to see it; she loved it, not phased in the slightest.
Tatyana and Grant had a leaving do at one of Dili’s beachside restaurants. They set up a laptop and projector and showed all their East Timor photos set to music while we had pre-dinner drinks as the sun set in the background. It created a fantastic atmosphere. The theme of the party was ‘Blue’, as they were both feeling blue to be leaving. I struggled to find respectable blue clothing in my limited wardrobe, but managed it. Tatyana had painted blue teardrop on her face and Grant made a fashion statement by painting his toenails blue.
After dinner Tatyana made speeches and handed out traditional gifts that she had bought with her from Kazakhstan. After presenting gifts to her work colleagues, she said ‘I would like to give this last gift to someone who has made such a difference to my life in East Timor, my dive instructor’. She then gave me a traditional tapestry pencil case/purse from Kazakhstan. I was really touched, but that’s what’s nice about working here rather than a resort, you get to know your students, spend what time you need with them and see them improve and gain confidence.
We went to Calamity Jane’s leaving do a couple of weeks ago. Jane was head of disaster management and got the nickname calamity Jane, because every time she went abroad for a seminar etc. there seemed to be a calamity in East Timor, cyclone warning, earthquake warning, civil unrest etc. She also had the nickname of Lady Jane as she was the most stylishly dressed woman in Dili. Satin shoes with kitten heels are not the most practical attire for dusty, potholed Dili, but Jane didn’t care. She was leaving to go to a new job in Barbados, so Wayne spent 2 hours downloading the song ‘Woah, were going to Barbados!’ (Yes, our internet is really that slow). Wayne played the song at the party (after the nightly electricity cut), much to Jane’s delight and Rob’s annoyance as she proceeded to play it constantly for the next 24 hours
Thursday was a UN holiday so we took a load of divers over on the boat to the Island of Atuaoro On the way we saw dolphins playing and jumping out of the water followed by a pod of pilot whales. Yesterday we were at K41 diving and the snorkellers had seen a couple of humpback whales, so on the way back we were scouring the sea for signs of them. Finally we saw a water spout so pulled off the road to another dive site, Secret Garden. After a few minutes we saw the water spout again and the whale rise out of the water. It was far off in the distance so you couldn’t see any detail, but it was my first humpback, and it’s great to know they are out there this season in East Timor’s waters.
The day after ‘The Sweeney’ scene, we were woken at 6.50am but shouting outside. We got up to see a guy from the East being frogmarched into the ‘Western’ village next to us. The guy was driving along in a taxi which was stoned by the village, he then tried to make a run for it when he was caught, frogmarched to the village, beaten up and stabbed. Luckily it wasn’t fatal. This apparently was in retaliation for the similar treatment the Xefi (Chief) of the village had received from Easterners and who is now recovering in hospital.
Rumours are rife around Dili. The press report about two headless bodies was apparently not true. However, two bodies were found under Pertimina Jetty (one of our dive sites!) on Friday. The rumour going around the local Timorese is that they were shot and dumped by the Australian Forces which is totally ridiculous. However it has sparked a warning that Australians are now being targeted so be extra vigilant. So we have stuck the British flag on our cars!
It doesn’t help the situation that Ice is being supplied to the gangs of young boys. Not only are they, bored, unemployed and resentful, they are now high as kites and think that they are invincible, just like the hero’s in the pirate copies of Rambo and the Terminator that are pedalled on the streets.
Electricity cuts are becoming more and more frequent in Dili, up to three hours at a time, which you don’t need coming into wet season where its hotter due to humidity. Also due to the season, mosquitoes are becoming more prevalent and in a country of malaria and dengue fever, and electric fan is a must, to keep them at bay. The electricity cuts are due to generators that are overdue servicing but mainly illegal bypassing of the meters. Electricity, like most things here, is very expensive, so increasing numbers are rerouting their electricity so its not going through the meter, hence some of the generators are trying to work at 75% over capacity and have to be periodically shut down. In a land with no legal consequence at the moment, the attitude is ‘Well everyone is doing it, so why shouldn’t I?’ It’s a bit like downloading music from the internet; it doesn’t seem illegal if you get away with it. Two nights ago we had another 3 hour cut. As soon as power came back on the CD player started up again with Santana’s – Turn your lights on! Freaky!
Bureaucracy here is not helping progress; it takes me back to my previous career working with the UK Government. Everything has to go through a paper trail and the sign off procedure for any spending is arduous and often the transaction cost ends up being more than the purchase. Well here it’s even worse, and universally they seem to have adopted the same bureaucratic model but with differing spending limits. I know of one organisation that anything over $5 needs to be signed off by the chief manager and then anything over $350 needs to be signed off by a committee. No wonder progress is slow.
One of my favourite ever students left last week. Tatyana was from Kazakhstan and worked for the National Red Cross in Timor. The warehouses when she arrived we chocker-block with supplies ‘In case of an emergency’, well what do you call this then! The hoarding mentally resulted in wasting money, they had a load of footballs that had been in the warehouse so long they had deflated and the plastic perished. They had spare parts for cars such as filters that were totally corroded because instead of using the oldest first, they had used the new ones, and hoarded the old ones ‘for an emergency’, duh! They even had spare parts for cars they no longer had. The cars were given to the hospital, but they couldn’t give the spare parts directly to the hospital because of their monetary value, they had to give them to the government who in turn could give them to the hospital! And I used to criticise UK Government procurement procedures.
When Grant first told me his girlfriend Tatyana was coming to East Timor and she wanted to learn to dive, he also warned me that she would be a challenge as up until 2 years previously she wouldn’t even put her head in the water. What Grant didn’t emphasise however, was that Tatyana was a pretty determined lady, so several extra confined water sessions, a couple of abortive open water dives and an ear infection later, I certified Tatyana as a PADI Open Water Diver. She even went on to do a couple of Adventure dives with me, including Deep, towards her Advanced course. The great thing about Tatyana, was as soon as she managed to get underwater, she adored it. And she was constantly smiling with delight underwater; it’s was a pleasure just seeing her face. On her third and fourth open water dives at Dili Rock we saw a large white tip reef shark. Not sure how she would react, I checked with her first before going down to see it; she loved it, not phased in the slightest.
Tatyana and Grant had a leaving do at one of Dili’s beachside restaurants. They set up a laptop and projector and showed all their East Timor photos set to music while we had pre-dinner drinks as the sun set in the background. It created a fantastic atmosphere. The theme of the party was ‘Blue’, as they were both feeling blue to be leaving. I struggled to find respectable blue clothing in my limited wardrobe, but managed it. Tatyana had painted blue teardrop on her face and Grant made a fashion statement by painting his toenails blue.
After dinner Tatyana made speeches and handed out traditional gifts that she had bought with her from Kazakhstan. After presenting gifts to her work colleagues, she said ‘I would like to give this last gift to someone who has made such a difference to my life in East Timor, my dive instructor’. She then gave me a traditional tapestry pencil case/purse from Kazakhstan. I was really touched, but that’s what’s nice about working here rather than a resort, you get to know your students, spend what time you need with them and see them improve and gain confidence.
We went to Calamity Jane’s leaving do a couple of weeks ago. Jane was head of disaster management and got the nickname calamity Jane, because every time she went abroad for a seminar etc. there seemed to be a calamity in East Timor, cyclone warning, earthquake warning, civil unrest etc. She also had the nickname of Lady Jane as she was the most stylishly dressed woman in Dili. Satin shoes with kitten heels are not the most practical attire for dusty, potholed Dili, but Jane didn’t care. She was leaving to go to a new job in Barbados, so Wayne spent 2 hours downloading the song ‘Woah, were going to Barbados!’ (Yes, our internet is really that slow). Wayne played the song at the party (after the nightly electricity cut), much to Jane’s delight and Rob’s annoyance as she proceeded to play it constantly for the next 24 hours
Thursday was a UN holiday so we took a load of divers over on the boat to the Island of Atuaoro On the way we saw dolphins playing and jumping out of the water followed by a pod of pilot whales. Yesterday we were at K41 diving and the snorkellers had seen a couple of humpback whales, so on the way back we were scouring the sea for signs of them. Finally we saw a water spout so pulled off the road to another dive site, Secret Garden. After a few minutes we saw the water spout again and the whale rise out of the water. It was far off in the distance so you couldn’t see any detail, but it was my first humpback, and it’s great to know they are out there this season in East Timor’s waters.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Bagpipes and Guns - East Timor 25th Oct 2006
The British Embassy, Dili, East Timor closed Friday the 13th of October 2006. It was really a very sad occasion because the staff there have been brilliant through the crisis, and like all Brits, we get very patriotic at times. They couldn’t find a Brit to play the bagpipes, so a young Ozzy soldier arrived with his mate, laid down his machine gun and took out his bagpipes. Then in full army uniform including flack jacket, he played the bagpipes as the British flag was lowered! A surreal moment in East Timor again! The ceremony was concluded with champagne and a Union Jack cake, cut by Jamon (the British Ambassadors husband), because it was his birthday that day also.
I’ve been trying to teach Jamon to dive, which is interesting as he is Thai and doesn’t read English, so the theory is a challenge as Thai looks like worms to me. When I asked him ‘What is the most important rule of scuba diving?’ to which the answer should be ‘Never hold your breath’, he thought about it carefully and after about 3 minutes he said ‘I know, no alcohol before diving!’
Another surreal moment happened in the Esplanada pool where I was teaching a load of kids Bubblemaker. Two Blackhawk helicopters swooped low over the hotel and the kids all started waving. This is what 8 year olds in Dili have got used to!
The Australian Defence Force has been heavily criticised for taking their APV’s (Armoured Patrol Vehicles), into the sea to test the seals. Stupidly they took them in at low tide off of the main beach which is strewn with coral, you would think they would have thought about this, instead heaps of coral was damaged and the soldiers in question are receiving counselling for their inappropriate behaviour! To make matters worse, the beach, Christo Rei is Dili’s favourite snorkelling beach because of the calm water and beautiful coral.
It’s apparently whale season, but I haven’t seen any yet, but we are starting to see quite a few sharks. Two of my students saw a 2½ meter white tip reef shark on both Open Water 3 and 4. Spoilt for the rest of their diving days, now nothing will seem as good, until they see their first whale shark or manta that is.
The trouble here in Dili is escalating and for the first time in 6 months it’s on our doorstep. A report was issued about the unlawful killing of several policemen and the recommendations of actions to go with it, which included charging several prominent figures with murder. Everyone was holding their breath waiting for this report to come out knowing that it would have repercussions.
The trouble now seems to be throughout Dili including outside our dive centre. We watched little scroats lob stones at motorbikes and cars as they drove past, unfortunately they have a whole beach full of ammunition. In retaliation a taxi drove past and it’s passenger fired an ambon arrow at the main ring leader who was holding his child at the time. Luckily, the arrow missed, but all hell broke loose with the village boys screaming down the road with rocks. A few minutes later, it was like a scene out of The Sweeney, GNR, AFP and UN Police with flashing lights everywhere. Of course the ringleader protested his innocence, he was minding his own business, carrying his toddler at his sisters/aunties/wife’s vegetable stall when unprovoked, the gang from East fired an arrow at him. Of course the ringleader failed to mention to the police that he had been throwing stones for the last two days and actually was the organiser of a gang of stone throwers. The vegetable stall is actually doubling up as lookout point and a bunker, and the boys are starting to get clever by changing the colour of their T-shirts as soon as the forces arrive.
The AFP came to talk to us, but we are reluctant to get involved as so far we have remained neutral. If we get involved the business could be targeted which could put ourselves and especially, our staff in danger. However, it is getting incredibly boring, it’s so futile. Most the time it is just wanton vandalism, but for the first time since I’ve been here I feel that I could accidentally get caught in the crossfire.
There have been some more serious incidents though, two decapitated, limbless bodies were found in sacks at the Komoro market. Well that’s how the press reported it. Speculation is that it was this incident that has sparked all the trouble down the beach road where we live. The airport is a no go area again, they even had to close it intermittently over the last few days. There is a very large IDP camp at the Airport which has always been rife with trouble.
Today the trouble kicked off again right outside our gates, an Eastener was chased into the sea by rock throwers. The helicopter circling above had seen it and the police arrived in force with riot shields, pepper spray, batons and guns filled with bean bag shots. They soon let their presence be known. I overheard one female officer shout ‘Now fuck off you little shits!’ Feisty lady! After they had dispersed the crowd and issued warnings, three of them leant against the wall opposite and reapplied their suntan lotion, one even managed to squirt the bottle down his trousers, oops!
The IDP camps are still throughout the city and at the Metinaro barracks, looking more and more permanent every time we go past them. A huge problem will be when rainy season starts. We have already had one downpour and when it rains here, it really rains. The IDP camps are going to turn into mud baths rife with disease through poor or no sanitation and mosquito borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. What a mess! But they are still too scared to go home.
I’ve been trying to teach Jamon to dive, which is interesting as he is Thai and doesn’t read English, so the theory is a challenge as Thai looks like worms to me. When I asked him ‘What is the most important rule of scuba diving?’ to which the answer should be ‘Never hold your breath’, he thought about it carefully and after about 3 minutes he said ‘I know, no alcohol before diving!’
Another surreal moment happened in the Esplanada pool where I was teaching a load of kids Bubblemaker. Two Blackhawk helicopters swooped low over the hotel and the kids all started waving. This is what 8 year olds in Dili have got used to!
The Australian Defence Force has been heavily criticised for taking their APV’s (Armoured Patrol Vehicles), into the sea to test the seals. Stupidly they took them in at low tide off of the main beach which is strewn with coral, you would think they would have thought about this, instead heaps of coral was damaged and the soldiers in question are receiving counselling for their inappropriate behaviour! To make matters worse, the beach, Christo Rei is Dili’s favourite snorkelling beach because of the calm water and beautiful coral.
It’s apparently whale season, but I haven’t seen any yet, but we are starting to see quite a few sharks. Two of my students saw a 2½ meter white tip reef shark on both Open Water 3 and 4. Spoilt for the rest of their diving days, now nothing will seem as good, until they see their first whale shark or manta that is.
The trouble here in Dili is escalating and for the first time in 6 months it’s on our doorstep. A report was issued about the unlawful killing of several policemen and the recommendations of actions to go with it, which included charging several prominent figures with murder. Everyone was holding their breath waiting for this report to come out knowing that it would have repercussions.
The trouble now seems to be throughout Dili including outside our dive centre. We watched little scroats lob stones at motorbikes and cars as they drove past, unfortunately they have a whole beach full of ammunition. In retaliation a taxi drove past and it’s passenger fired an ambon arrow at the main ring leader who was holding his child at the time. Luckily, the arrow missed, but all hell broke loose with the village boys screaming down the road with rocks. A few minutes later, it was like a scene out of The Sweeney, GNR, AFP and UN Police with flashing lights everywhere. Of course the ringleader protested his innocence, he was minding his own business, carrying his toddler at his sisters/aunties/wife’s vegetable stall when unprovoked, the gang from East fired an arrow at him. Of course the ringleader failed to mention to the police that he had been throwing stones for the last two days and actually was the organiser of a gang of stone throwers. The vegetable stall is actually doubling up as lookout point and a bunker, and the boys are starting to get clever by changing the colour of their T-shirts as soon as the forces arrive.
The AFP came to talk to us, but we are reluctant to get involved as so far we have remained neutral. If we get involved the business could be targeted which could put ourselves and especially, our staff in danger. However, it is getting incredibly boring, it’s so futile. Most the time it is just wanton vandalism, but for the first time since I’ve been here I feel that I could accidentally get caught in the crossfire.
There have been some more serious incidents though, two decapitated, limbless bodies were found in sacks at the Komoro market. Well that’s how the press reported it. Speculation is that it was this incident that has sparked all the trouble down the beach road where we live. The airport is a no go area again, they even had to close it intermittently over the last few days. There is a very large IDP camp at the Airport which has always been rife with trouble.
Today the trouble kicked off again right outside our gates, an Eastener was chased into the sea by rock throwers. The helicopter circling above had seen it and the police arrived in force with riot shields, pepper spray, batons and guns filled with bean bag shots. They soon let their presence be known. I overheard one female officer shout ‘Now fuck off you little shits!’ Feisty lady! After they had dispersed the crowd and issued warnings, three of them leant against the wall opposite and reapplied their suntan lotion, one even managed to squirt the bottle down his trousers, oops!
The IDP camps are still throughout the city and at the Metinaro barracks, looking more and more permanent every time we go past them. A huge problem will be when rainy season starts. We have already had one downpour and when it rains here, it really rains. The IDP camps are going to turn into mud baths rife with disease through poor or no sanitation and mosquito borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. What a mess! But they are still too scared to go home.
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Hiawatha in Timor – East Timor 14th October 2006
There is a great loss in Timor, The British Embassy is finally closing, which is really sad as they were fantastic during the middle of the troubles here. We were cordially invited to two parties at the British Embassy this week, the Brits closure party and the general closure party, both were nice events.
I’m trying to teach the British Ambassadors husband to dive at the moment, his name is Jamon and he’s Thai and to say he is eccentric is probably an understatement. We told him that drinking alcohol was not allowed before a dive, so day one he came round with two bottles of wine to drink after the dive! At the first British Embassy 'do' we walked into the residence and were greeted by Jamon in full native American Indian dress, complete with headdress, chest jewellery and feather earrings. But with Jamon, you don’t think anything of it apart from it was a bit bizarre in the British Embassy
When I took Jamon for his first dive I went to Dili Rock and left Nelson in charge of the truck. When I came out of the water there were two Timorese guys standing by the truck staring stony faced at me. Nelson explained that they were from the West (Nelson is from the East) and they had the truck key and wanted money. I immediately picked up my mobile and threatened them with the police. They gave the key back to Nelson whilst screaming at him in Tetum, and eventually retreated to the other side of the road. As we were packing up the gear and I noticed that Nelson had got out the spanner and screwdriver from the spares kit, apparently one of the guys was carrying a knife! Nelson asked me to take the other route out of the dive site and picked up a large stone before he got in the car. Luckily the incident came to nothing, but quite shocking later when I realised I’d been involved in an attempted armed robbery!
The stoning incidents are getting worse here in Dili. A friend had a stone lobbed through his car window as he was driving over the Komoro bridge. Luckily our Drive truck is so old and tatty that it no way looks like an official vehicle, well that’s what we are hoping anyway. In a land with no insurance, all damage has to be paid for out of your own pocket
On the diving front we have good news, there was only one commercial fishing company operating off of the coast of Com. It was a Thai fishing company that was rumoured to be over fishing their quota by miles, anyway they got caught shark fin fishing a few months after their contract started. Their boat has been impounded and hopefully the government will think twice before letting another commercial fishing company fish in Timorese waters.
Wayne and Ann have started a new club called the Local Characters Club. They felt left out because they didn’t have a pass around their neck which all the UN and NGO’s do. So Ann has made official neck passes with photos and the number of years of service. To qualify for this club you must be a resident of Timor for five years or more off of your own dollar (investing in the country}. Once you have this pass, Local characters are entitled to:-
1 Park where they like
2 Enter any building (as they probably built it)
3 Drive whilst over-refreshed
4 Express controversial views or spit the dummy in public any time they like
5 Undertake to look after any other Local Character (Regardless of previous blues)
The last rule is because half the time the Local Characters are not speaking to half of the other Local Characters. All Local Character passes expire in May 2007, the date of the next Timorese election
I’m trying to teach the British Ambassadors husband to dive at the moment, his name is Jamon and he’s Thai and to say he is eccentric is probably an understatement. We told him that drinking alcohol was not allowed before a dive, so day one he came round with two bottles of wine to drink after the dive! At the first British Embassy 'do' we walked into the residence and were greeted by Jamon in full native American Indian dress, complete with headdress, chest jewellery and feather earrings. But with Jamon, you don’t think anything of it apart from it was a bit bizarre in the British Embassy
When I took Jamon for his first dive I went to Dili Rock and left Nelson in charge of the truck. When I came out of the water there were two Timorese guys standing by the truck staring stony faced at me. Nelson explained that they were from the West (Nelson is from the East) and they had the truck key and wanted money. I immediately picked up my mobile and threatened them with the police. They gave the key back to Nelson whilst screaming at him in Tetum, and eventually retreated to the other side of the road. As we were packing up the gear and I noticed that Nelson had got out the spanner and screwdriver from the spares kit, apparently one of the guys was carrying a knife! Nelson asked me to take the other route out of the dive site and picked up a large stone before he got in the car. Luckily the incident came to nothing, but quite shocking later when I realised I’d been involved in an attempted armed robbery!
The stoning incidents are getting worse here in Dili. A friend had a stone lobbed through his car window as he was driving over the Komoro bridge. Luckily our Drive truck is so old and tatty that it no way looks like an official vehicle, well that’s what we are hoping anyway. In a land with no insurance, all damage has to be paid for out of your own pocket
On the diving front we have good news, there was only one commercial fishing company operating off of the coast of Com. It was a Thai fishing company that was rumoured to be over fishing their quota by miles, anyway they got caught shark fin fishing a few months after their contract started. Their boat has been impounded and hopefully the government will think twice before letting another commercial fishing company fish in Timorese waters.
Wayne and Ann have started a new club called the Local Characters Club. They felt left out because they didn’t have a pass around their neck which all the UN and NGO’s do. So Ann has made official neck passes with photos and the number of years of service. To qualify for this club you must be a resident of Timor for five years or more off of your own dollar (investing in the country}. Once you have this pass, Local characters are entitled to:-
1 Park where they like
2 Enter any building (as they probably built it)
3 Drive whilst over-refreshed
4 Express controversial views or spit the dummy in public any time they like
5 Undertake to look after any other Local Character (Regardless of previous blues)
The last rule is because half the time the Local Characters are not speaking to half of the other Local Characters. All Local Character passes expire in May 2007, the date of the next Timorese election
Monday, September 18, 2006
Miss Millie goes on Holiday – East Timor 19th September 2006
Wayne and Ann went on holiday last Monday leaving me to run things here. Only hours after they had left there was a stone throwing incident outside the dive centre so I called the Joint Task Force. Within 10 minutes I had a bus load of GNR and 2 APV’s rumbling outside my gates. I was impressed, I made that happen! Of course the stone throwers had already long gone..
Before Ann and Wayne left I got Nelson to write down the staff schedule so I knew who was coming in when, and explained that I needed their help to make sure we had cover at all times. The next day the morning staff was late and the afternoon staff didn’t turn up! Apparently he got confused about the schedule, which I could understand if it was new but it turned out it was the same schedule as they have been using for the last 2 years! I think it was a case of ‘The Boss is away so what can I get away with?’ I soon put a stop to that.
I had dinner with Robbie last week, he’s off to Thailand for a month so Miss Millie (his goat) is also going on holiday to Baucau (an Eastern District of East Timor). Millie is going to be transported by car, her first road trip. We had visions of Miss Millie sitting in the front of a Pink Cadillac, donned in sunglasses and neckscarf like Penelope Pitstop. I have very bizarre conversations with Robbie!
The UN have upped the security level again due to the increase of incidents around town, so no UN staff are allowed outside of Dili unless they get prior clearance. What with that and the wind we have been having this week, it’s not great for the dive business. Jurgen text me yesterday with a security update ‘Rioting between 100 people on Hera Road, Becora. Spears in use’ to which I replied ‘ So what, I have 3 dogs, a chicken on the roof and a chick that’s fled into the house, I’ve a bigger riot going on here’. Doris is an absolute monster when it comes to chickens. Why on earth do the stupid animals come into the garden when they can see the dogs?
I’ve become the mummy instructor around here. My PADI Bubblemaker’s are increasing, now it’s the talk of the school. I had one little girl aged 8 called Georgina, who was adorable. Just before we went in the water she said to me ‘I’m soooooo excited!’ Then when we finished swimming through hoops, playing with the underwater torpedo and doing handstands in the pool, she said ‘Thank you very much, that was so much fun’. But the best bit was when I went to sign her diving logbook, complete with fishy stickers of course! She had written ‘This is the best day of my life’, my heart completely melted.
Before Ann and Wayne left I got Nelson to write down the staff schedule so I knew who was coming in when, and explained that I needed their help to make sure we had cover at all times. The next day the morning staff was late and the afternoon staff didn’t turn up! Apparently he got confused about the schedule, which I could understand if it was new but it turned out it was the same schedule as they have been using for the last 2 years! I think it was a case of ‘The Boss is away so what can I get away with?’ I soon put a stop to that.
I had dinner with Robbie last week, he’s off to Thailand for a month so Miss Millie (his goat) is also going on holiday to Baucau (an Eastern District of East Timor). Millie is going to be transported by car, her first road trip. We had visions of Miss Millie sitting in the front of a Pink Cadillac, donned in sunglasses and neckscarf like Penelope Pitstop. I have very bizarre conversations with Robbie!
The UN have upped the security level again due to the increase of incidents around town, so no UN staff are allowed outside of Dili unless they get prior clearance. What with that and the wind we have been having this week, it’s not great for the dive business. Jurgen text me yesterday with a security update ‘Rioting between 100 people on Hera Road, Becora. Spears in use’ to which I replied ‘ So what, I have 3 dogs, a chicken on the roof and a chick that’s fled into the house, I’ve a bigger riot going on here’. Doris is an absolute monster when it comes to chickens. Why on earth do the stupid animals come into the garden when they can see the dogs?
I’ve become the mummy instructor around here. My PADI Bubblemaker’s are increasing, now it’s the talk of the school. I had one little girl aged 8 called Georgina, who was adorable. Just before we went in the water she said to me ‘I’m soooooo excited!’ Then when we finished swimming through hoops, playing with the underwater torpedo and doing handstands in the pool, she said ‘Thank you very much, that was so much fun’. But the best bit was when I went to sign her diving logbook, complete with fishy stickers of course! She had written ‘This is the best day of my life’, my heart completely melted.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
Concert for Peace - East Timor 6th September 2006
We went to a great concert sponsored by Arte Morris in Dili this week; it was a real Wembley Stadium affair. The stage was the presidential palace which is a wide, two storey building and has a load of arches which were lit up as the sun set on the beach opposite. It had a fantastic atmosphere, drinking Tiger beer while sitting on the harbour wall, listening to Timorese sing for peace and unity while the sun turns a glorious red as it drops below the horizon. As soon as the sun dropped though, the audience disappeared back to their homes, to scared to be out at night. I dropped a student back to her hotel last night because taxis don’t run at night anymore, I counted 5 cars and absolutely no people on the streets, it was like a ghost town, mind you it was Tuesday, and Dili never really roars with life at night anyway.
Part of the reason for the empty streets, are the incidents of violence and burning that have recently reared their head again, mainly stone throwing and arson, but there was one report of shooting in the city centre. Many associate this new outbreak with Major Alfredo Reinado escaping from jail. Major Alfredo, who is labelled in the press as the ‘former rebel leader’, was arrested the day after the arms amnesty expired because he didn’t hand his weapons in. He was put in prison under Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police guard and on the 30th of August along with 56 other prisoners, escaped. Rumours make it sound like he simply walked out right under the AFP’s noses. Either way the Ozzies have a lot of explaining to do, rather embarrassing!
We have had ‘The Mercy’ hospital ship in the harbour over the last week, apparently it visits East Timor every eight months or so. The view from the dive centre was this huge white ship with red crosses emblazoned on the side, next to which was an Australian battleship, its amazing how you think nothing of this sort of sight in East Timor, you just get used to it.
While it was here, they set up an emergency dental surgery at Dr Dan’s clinic. Ann went along with her tooth problem and joined 30 or so East Timorese waiting for treatment, but unfortunately that day they were only doing extractions. The one thing we could change though when The Mercy was here was our dive briefings. ‘The nearest decompression chamber is situated on that bloody great big boat in the harbour’, rather than Darwin or Bali. It’s left now to go back to Ache, Indonesia.
Occasionally you get moments where you think ‘Only in East Timor!’ We had one the other day whilst sitting outside the dive centre on the terrace, the sun on our backs, drinking coffee and listening to the water lapping on the beach opposite. Our moment was broken by loud speaker driven western music, not something you hear every day. An army truck with speakers on top pulled up outside the dive centre and with music blaring started handing out leaflets to Timorese. It was a surreal moment; it reminded us of Apocalypse Now. To make it even more surreal Ann encountered the same truck canvassing outside Dr Dan’s later in the week, but this time it was playing ‘Brown Sugar’ by the Rolling Stones, very appropriate.
Begging is becoming more and more of a problem around town. I stopped for lunch at the Terrace café and was immediately pounced on by an enterprising young boy who offered me security for my car. This did make me laugh as we always leave the dive truck open because everything that is not nailed down has already been pinched. The last time we locked one side door, they would-be thieves broke the little side window, even though the drivers side door was open and the other little side window was already missing. We now have through car ventilation! This is my life after the company BMW! Needless to say, I declined his offer and told him to go back to school.
On a personal front, good news, I’ve got a new 32 page passport. Or should I say a 25 page passport after you take out all the pages they have used for language translations etc. What a swizz, £100 for 25 pages, its hardly going to last me 10 years, the last one only lasted 3 years before it was full. When I asked about 48 page passport I was told they were not available until next year because of the new biometric system they have just introduced, great!
Other good news is the restaurant next door is now Thai, and very good. It was a Philippine restaurant before and very variable, you would order something one day and really enjoy it, then 2 days later you would order it again and it would be completely different. Phillipeno’s eat some strange parts of animals as well, so the Thai menu is much more appealing. I think any westerner would chance Prawn Phad Thai from a menu rather than Crispy Chicken Skin and Ass.
Business wise, I’ve just had my busiest two weeks since I’ve been here. A mixture of guided dives, Open Water students, EFR classes and Bubblemakers. Jurgen returned to East Timor with full dive kit for his two young daughters who are keen to do what Mummy and Daddy do. We had a fantastic time in the pool with an underwater torpedo, plastic rings, a hula hoop and a rubber snake! (Nandini’s – aged 8). Ann has made some fantastic certificates for the kids where we scan in a photograph of them in the water with scuba gear on; it’s the talk of the school. I’ve taught 10 year olds Open Water before but they have always had English as their first language, so teaching an Austrian/German and a Norwegian is a new challenge to me, even though their English is excellent. But the big reward is the smiles, especially when I hand them their own log book and they can choose their own fish sticker to put in it. The best £1.99 I ever spent in Hounslow High Street.
With the influx of aid we have some new NGO’s here. (Non Government Organisations). Obviously these Organisations are from all parts of the world, so sometimes their acronyms don’t translate so well into English. Here are just a few classics for your amusement:-
FOKUPERS- Komite de Unidade National Timorense, FAT – Don’t know what that stands for, and the best one, KUNT – also don’t know the translation.
Imagine a meeting with those 3 together!
Part of the reason for the empty streets, are the incidents of violence and burning that have recently reared their head again, mainly stone throwing and arson, but there was one report of shooting in the city centre. Many associate this new outbreak with Major Alfredo Reinado escaping from jail. Major Alfredo, who is labelled in the press as the ‘former rebel leader’, was arrested the day after the arms amnesty expired because he didn’t hand his weapons in. He was put in prison under Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police guard and on the 30th of August along with 56 other prisoners, escaped. Rumours make it sound like he simply walked out right under the AFP’s noses. Either way the Ozzies have a lot of explaining to do, rather embarrassing!
We have had ‘The Mercy’ hospital ship in the harbour over the last week, apparently it visits East Timor every eight months or so. The view from the dive centre was this huge white ship with red crosses emblazoned on the side, next to which was an Australian battleship, its amazing how you think nothing of this sort of sight in East Timor, you just get used to it.
While it was here, they set up an emergency dental surgery at Dr Dan’s clinic. Ann went along with her tooth problem and joined 30 or so East Timorese waiting for treatment, but unfortunately that day they were only doing extractions. The one thing we could change though when The Mercy was here was our dive briefings. ‘The nearest decompression chamber is situated on that bloody great big boat in the harbour’, rather than Darwin or Bali. It’s left now to go back to Ache, Indonesia.
Occasionally you get moments where you think ‘Only in East Timor!’ We had one the other day whilst sitting outside the dive centre on the terrace, the sun on our backs, drinking coffee and listening to the water lapping on the beach opposite. Our moment was broken by loud speaker driven western music, not something you hear every day. An army truck with speakers on top pulled up outside the dive centre and with music blaring started handing out leaflets to Timorese. It was a surreal moment; it reminded us of Apocalypse Now. To make it even more surreal Ann encountered the same truck canvassing outside Dr Dan’s later in the week, but this time it was playing ‘Brown Sugar’ by the Rolling Stones, very appropriate.
Begging is becoming more and more of a problem around town. I stopped for lunch at the Terrace café and was immediately pounced on by an enterprising young boy who offered me security for my car. This did make me laugh as we always leave the dive truck open because everything that is not nailed down has already been pinched. The last time we locked one side door, they would-be thieves broke the little side window, even though the drivers side door was open and the other little side window was already missing. We now have through car ventilation! This is my life after the company BMW! Needless to say, I declined his offer and told him to go back to school.
On a personal front, good news, I’ve got a new 32 page passport. Or should I say a 25 page passport after you take out all the pages they have used for language translations etc. What a swizz, £100 for 25 pages, its hardly going to last me 10 years, the last one only lasted 3 years before it was full. When I asked about 48 page passport I was told they were not available until next year because of the new biometric system they have just introduced, great!
Other good news is the restaurant next door is now Thai, and very good. It was a Philippine restaurant before and very variable, you would order something one day and really enjoy it, then 2 days later you would order it again and it would be completely different. Phillipeno’s eat some strange parts of animals as well, so the Thai menu is much more appealing. I think any westerner would chance Prawn Phad Thai from a menu rather than Crispy Chicken Skin and Ass.
Business wise, I’ve just had my busiest two weeks since I’ve been here. A mixture of guided dives, Open Water students, EFR classes and Bubblemakers. Jurgen returned to East Timor with full dive kit for his two young daughters who are keen to do what Mummy and Daddy do. We had a fantastic time in the pool with an underwater torpedo, plastic rings, a hula hoop and a rubber snake! (Nandini’s – aged 8). Ann has made some fantastic certificates for the kids where we scan in a photograph of them in the water with scuba gear on; it’s the talk of the school. I’ve taught 10 year olds Open Water before but they have always had English as their first language, so teaching an Austrian/German and a Norwegian is a new challenge to me, even though their English is excellent. But the big reward is the smiles, especially when I hand them their own log book and they can choose their own fish sticker to put in it. The best £1.99 I ever spent in Hounslow High Street.
With the influx of aid we have some new NGO’s here. (Non Government Organisations). Obviously these Organisations are from all parts of the world, so sometimes their acronyms don’t translate so well into English. Here are just a few classics for your amusement:-
FOKUPERS- Komite de Unidade National Timorense, FAT – Don’t know what that stands for, and the best one, KUNT – also don’t know the translation.
Imagine a meeting with those 3 together!
Wot No Electricity! - East Timor 25th August 2006
Its been a while, but take that as good news as things are calming down :-)
All was quiet in East Timor for a few weeks and then just before I went to Bali the stone throwing started again. We were at Dili Rock just kitting up for a dive when an Aussie policeman stopped for a chinwag and recounted a story from the previous evening:-
He received a call from the IDP camp near the airport reporting some trouble, so when they arrived a male Timorese IDP was complaining that they were not safe because they had no security. The first policeman then asked him where his security was, the man replied ‘I don’t know’, to which the second policeman replied ‘You do know, you stabbed him yesterday!’ If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny.
There are certain things you get used to here that would be totally unacceptable in a western world, like electricity cuts. In East Timor, electricity is incredibly expensive, as are most things. To purchase electricity in Dili you need to prepay at an office in central Dili where they issue with a computer generated code to punch into your meter. The problem is when you try to pay for electricity when the whole of Dili is having a power cut, their computers don’t work, because there is no electricity! Only in East Timor do you shrug your shoulders at this and say ‘Welcome to Timor’.
When you arrive in East Timor with a fresh pair of eyes, you notice things that are different, and then you get used to the place. One newcomer pointed out today that there is not one traffic light in the whole of East Timor, 6 months I’ve been driving around and never noticed that.
Any newcomers to Dili now, unfortunately won’t get a great first impression of the country. After getting off the plane in the grounds of the airport, you pass Aussie army tents on which some bored soldier has put up an Australian flag and cardboard signs saying ‘Casa De Mutley’, ‘Diligaf’ and ‘Sydney → A Bloody long way!’ After going through baggage reclaim your first sight will be an Australian APV, behind which is a huge IDP camp, ‘Welcome to East Timor’. In truth though in the past few weeks the IDP camps are getting smaller as people are returning home and there are no longer any road blocks.
There are however, still outbreaks of stone throwing and arson in the city, which appear to be organised, all going off at the same time. We were having a BBQ the other night when Major Wayne and Major Sergeant (Yes, he really is called that!) suddenly got a call and had to go. A good excuse for leaving a party. I arrived back from diving last week to find 12 police cars outside the dive centre. Some local lads were throwing stones so the ‘Joint Task Force’ was called. (No, they don’t deliver Whacky Backy!). Talk about rapid reaction force, although 12 combined Malaysian, Australian and Portuguese police vehicles seems a little excessive.
Ann is teaching the local kids on the veggie stall opposite some words in English, they now can count out your change in English and say thank you. Unfortunately they can also say ‘One Dollar’ and have started to beg from the Malai, a habit we are trying to discourage, but its getting more widespread as more troops and UN are pouring in and don’t know any better. You can’t blame the kids if they can make a quick buck.
I had to go to Bali recently to get a new passport because after 3 years mine was full. I had a choice of going to the honorary consulate in Bali or the British Embassy in Jakarta, a tough choice that one! Bali is wonderful, a beautiful scenic island which is magical and musical, such a refreshing change from East Timor which can be tough going at times. Of course I dived; you can’t go to Bali without doing The Liberty wreck at Tulamben which was fabulous for really unusual critters such as pigme seahorses, nudibranch, and harlequin ghost pipefish, as well as big fish such as Napoleon Wrasse. The unusual thing about Tulamben is the local women of the village carry the gear and the tanks, up to three at a time, one on each shoulder and one on their head. Their posture puts Miss Jean Brodie to shame. For this they get 40 cents per tank from the dive centres which the village has used to create a cultural centre in the village. But it extends further than the women because the men police the reef to ensure that any fishing is done on the outer reefs which are not accessible to divers, so the inner reefs are not damaged by fishing equipment and the fish are not scared off. It’s a great scheme.
I also dived with H and Camilla who own Global Aquatic. I had to write a thank you email to them both, Camilla for the diving and H for the hangovers, they are both really good fun. Camilla took me to Manta Ray cove where surprise, surprise, I saw my first Manta Rays, two of them playing above us, awesome. I told Camilla she was now my best friend forever!
I had a brilliant time in Bali with good company, good diving and good food. It was hard getting back on the plane to East Timor, just like the normal feeling when you go on holiday and then have to go back to work. However, things are starting to get busy, new faces coming through the door and some old ones returning. It’s amazing how a break can recharge your batteries and get you enthusiastic again.
All was quiet in East Timor for a few weeks and then just before I went to Bali the stone throwing started again. We were at Dili Rock just kitting up for a dive when an Aussie policeman stopped for a chinwag and recounted a story from the previous evening:-
He received a call from the IDP camp near the airport reporting some trouble, so when they arrived a male Timorese IDP was complaining that they were not safe because they had no security. The first policeman then asked him where his security was, the man replied ‘I don’t know’, to which the second policeman replied ‘You do know, you stabbed him yesterday!’ If it wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny.
There are certain things you get used to here that would be totally unacceptable in a western world, like electricity cuts. In East Timor, electricity is incredibly expensive, as are most things. To purchase electricity in Dili you need to prepay at an office in central Dili where they issue with a computer generated code to punch into your meter. The problem is when you try to pay for electricity when the whole of Dili is having a power cut, their computers don’t work, because there is no electricity! Only in East Timor do you shrug your shoulders at this and say ‘Welcome to Timor’.
When you arrive in East Timor with a fresh pair of eyes, you notice things that are different, and then you get used to the place. One newcomer pointed out today that there is not one traffic light in the whole of East Timor, 6 months I’ve been driving around and never noticed that.
Any newcomers to Dili now, unfortunately won’t get a great first impression of the country. After getting off the plane in the grounds of the airport, you pass Aussie army tents on which some bored soldier has put up an Australian flag and cardboard signs saying ‘Casa De Mutley’, ‘Diligaf’ and ‘Sydney → A Bloody long way!’ After going through baggage reclaim your first sight will be an Australian APV, behind which is a huge IDP camp, ‘Welcome to East Timor’. In truth though in the past few weeks the IDP camps are getting smaller as people are returning home and there are no longer any road blocks.
There are however, still outbreaks of stone throwing and arson in the city, which appear to be organised, all going off at the same time. We were having a BBQ the other night when Major Wayne and Major Sergeant (Yes, he really is called that!) suddenly got a call and had to go. A good excuse for leaving a party. I arrived back from diving last week to find 12 police cars outside the dive centre. Some local lads were throwing stones so the ‘Joint Task Force’ was called. (No, they don’t deliver Whacky Backy!). Talk about rapid reaction force, although 12 combined Malaysian, Australian and Portuguese police vehicles seems a little excessive.
Ann is teaching the local kids on the veggie stall opposite some words in English, they now can count out your change in English and say thank you. Unfortunately they can also say ‘One Dollar’ and have started to beg from the Malai, a habit we are trying to discourage, but its getting more widespread as more troops and UN are pouring in and don’t know any better. You can’t blame the kids if they can make a quick buck.
I had to go to Bali recently to get a new passport because after 3 years mine was full. I had a choice of going to the honorary consulate in Bali or the British Embassy in Jakarta, a tough choice that one! Bali is wonderful, a beautiful scenic island which is magical and musical, such a refreshing change from East Timor which can be tough going at times. Of course I dived; you can’t go to Bali without doing The Liberty wreck at Tulamben which was fabulous for really unusual critters such as pigme seahorses, nudibranch, and harlequin ghost pipefish, as well as big fish such as Napoleon Wrasse. The unusual thing about Tulamben is the local women of the village carry the gear and the tanks, up to three at a time, one on each shoulder and one on their head. Their posture puts Miss Jean Brodie to shame. For this they get 40 cents per tank from the dive centres which the village has used to create a cultural centre in the village. But it extends further than the women because the men police the reef to ensure that any fishing is done on the outer reefs which are not accessible to divers, so the inner reefs are not damaged by fishing equipment and the fish are not scared off. It’s a great scheme.
I also dived with H and Camilla who own Global Aquatic. I had to write a thank you email to them both, Camilla for the diving and H for the hangovers, they are both really good fun. Camilla took me to Manta Ray cove where surprise, surprise, I saw my first Manta Rays, two of them playing above us, awesome. I told Camilla she was now my best friend forever!
I had a brilliant time in Bali with good company, good diving and good food. It was hard getting back on the plane to East Timor, just like the normal feeling when you go on holiday and then have to go back to work. However, things are starting to get busy, new faces coming through the door and some old ones returning. It’s amazing how a break can recharge your batteries and get you enthusiastic again.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Lock up your livestock – East Timor 24th July 2006
We have now decided we prefer the Ozzy troops to the Kiwis. The Ozzy’s have browned off a bit and look less like lobsters and one Kiwi soldier was rude to me. So much that Wayne had to defend my honour. I’d pulled up to a road block in Hera with Wayne driving the car behind me. A Kiwi soldier was manning the block and kept me waiting with no eye contact. This is not a big deal, but they are usually very friendly. He then asked for ID, so I replied I didn’t have to show him ID because it wasn’t the law in East Timor to carry it. Puzzled, he tried to clarify his question, ‘So you don’t have ID? I told him I did but it was in the back of the truck and I didn’t have to show it to him, (if it had been to hand I would have given it to him). He then took his time check the truck and plates and finally gave me the thumbs up signal, so off I drove. Unbeknown to me, behind my truck he made a rather rude hand gesture then stormed up to Wayne’s car and called me a ‘Feken Betch’ (please excuse my Kiwi accent). Astonished Wayne replied ‘She’s not a Feken Betch, she works for me!’ To defend his words the Kiwi replied ‘She wouldn’t show me ID’, to which Wayne replied ‘She’s quite in her rights not to, we are under Timorese law not martial law’. Disgruntled the soldier let Wayne through. They are so bored; at least it will give him something to talk about in the mess tonight.
It’s a really fine balance when you bring troops in from different countries and cultures, they are bored out of their brains, and don’t know anything about the country or their traditions. The Malaysian troops have been brought to our attention as Shane was driving through a roadblock and got searched. He spoke to the troops in Bahasa which they understand and claimed he had no weapons in his truck. Being a forester he didn’t think that the machete under his seat and the saw and shears in the back of his truck were weapons. Of course when the Malaysian troops found them Shane realised that they could be seen in a different light. The Malaysians kept repeating that machetes can kill people and then asked if Shane was their friend? Shane immediately thought they wanted money, but no, they wanted girls. Obviously Shane refused to be their pimp. So much for good little Muslim boys.
The Catholic church has a huge influence here, so obviously there is no sex before marriage, no contraception and they have made prostitution illegal. You may as well stick your head in the sand! Prostitution has been around since the roman times, and just because its illegal doesn’t mean it will stop, all you will see is the rise of HIV and backstreet abortions. Women here are baby making machines, even when they neither can afford it in monetary terms or physically. The First Lady has set up a very worthy charity which encourages mothers to breast feed, a natural but not foolproof contraception.
Obviously with the Catholic influence, over-population is a problem which the Indonesians tried to eradicate by injecting contraception chips into unsuspecting Timorese women during the occupation. Human guinea pigs! It’s reported that 70% of the population is under 22, hence high levels of unemployment. Bored and poor young men are never a good mixture when you look at the recent troubles here.
With the return on the UN, GNR, AFP (Awfully fat police!) and troops from various countries, and old problem has been recently reported by Lindsey Murdock of the Sydney Morning Herald (who let the dogs out fame, for anyone who has been following this saga). He recently wrote an article regading at least 20 children born to UN peacekeepers that have been abandoned with no financial means of support, whilst their mothers have been exiled from their communities. He also wrote ‘In early 2001, two soldiers were sent home with injured penises after allegedly attempting sexual intercourse with goats’. Forget lock up your daughters, lock up your livestock! I’d better tell Robbie to make sure Millie (his goat) is safe.
I’ve heard a story about two Jordanese soldiers that raped a little boy here in 2001. They were escorted home by the King of Jordan and shot dead the moment they stepped off the plane. That’s the punishment for that type for crime in Jordan.
There are still thousands of people in IDP camps around Dili, still too scared to go home. I hear the argument that these camps are too permanent and they don’t encourage people to move back. But if you can imagine me, camping out in Datchet train station, too scared to return to my 3 bed semi in case Ana and Evan beat me up and torch my house. You can’t can you?
On the diving front, this weekend we ran a boat trip to the island of Atauro. We had two boats full but the we
ather was rough so we had a few seasick people. When I briefed Nelson and Jose on the Friday, both their faces fell when I mentioned the boat. This was not surprising as the last time both their faces were a horrible shade of green through seasickness. I assured them that this time we would give them seasick tablets, but unfortunately they didn’t work and both of them sported the same green pallor for most of the day. I don’t think they will trust me again.
The diving itself was incredible; the first dive was Manta Ray cove. I can honestly say I have never done a wall dive with such pristine virgin coral. The colours were spectacular with the morning shards of light streaming through caves and crevices, it assailed your senses, so much that you didn’t know where to look and couldn’t take it all in. With 30 meters visibility and a large Napoleon Wrasse, it’s got to be in my top 10 dives of all time.
It’s a really fine balance when you bring troops in from different countries and cultures, they are bored out of their brains, and don’t know anything about the country or their traditions. The Malaysian troops have been brought to our attention as Shane was driving through a roadblock and got searched. He spoke to the troops in Bahasa which they understand and claimed he had no weapons in his truck. Being a forester he didn’t think that the machete under his seat and the saw and shears in the back of his truck were weapons. Of course when the Malaysian troops found them Shane realised that they could be seen in a different light. The Malaysians kept repeating that machetes can kill people and then asked if Shane was their friend? Shane immediately thought they wanted money, but no, they wanted girls. Obviously Shane refused to be their pimp. So much for good little Muslim boys.
The Catholic church has a huge influence here, so obviously there is no sex before marriage, no contraception and they have made prostitution illegal. You may as well stick your head in the sand! Prostitution has been around since the roman times, and just because its illegal doesn’t mean it will stop, all you will see is the rise of HIV and backstreet abortions. Women here are baby making machines, even when they neither can afford it in monetary terms or physically. The First Lady has set up a very worthy charity which encourages mothers to breast feed, a natural but not foolproof contraception.
Obviously with the Catholic influence, over-population is a problem which the Indonesians tried to eradicate by injecting contraception chips into unsuspecting Timorese women during the occupation. Human guinea pigs! It’s reported that 70% of the population is under 22, hence high levels of unemployment. Bored and poor young men are never a good mixture when you look at the recent troubles here.
With the return on the UN, GNR, AFP (Awfully fat police!) and troops from various countries, and old problem has been recently reported by Lindsey Murdock of the Sydney Morning Herald (who let the dogs out fame, for anyone who has been following this saga). He recently wrote an article regading at least 20 children born to UN peacekeepers that have been abandoned with no financial means of support, whilst their mothers have been exiled from their communities. He also wrote ‘In early 2001, two soldiers were sent home with injured penises after allegedly attempting sexual intercourse with goats’. Forget lock up your daughters, lock up your livestock! I’d better tell Robbie to make sure Millie (his goat) is safe.
I’ve heard a story about two Jordanese soldiers that raped a little boy here in 2001. They were escorted home by the King of Jordan and shot dead the moment they stepped off the plane. That’s the punishment for that type for crime in Jordan.
There are still thousands of people in IDP camps around Dili, still too scared to go home. I hear the argument that these camps are too permanent and they don’t encourage people to move back. But if you can imagine me, camping out in Datchet train station, too scared to return to my 3 bed semi in case Ana and Evan beat me up and torch my house. You can’t can you?
On the diving front, this weekend we ran a boat trip to the island of Atauro. We had two boats full but the we
ather was rough so we had a few seasick people. When I briefed Nelson and Jose on the Friday, both their faces fell when I mentioned the boat. This was not surprising as the last time both their faces were a horrible shade of green through seasickness. I assured them that this time we would give them seasick tablets, but unfortunately they didn’t work and both of them sported the same green pallor for most of the day. I don’t think they will trust me again.The diving itself was incredible; the first dive was Manta Ray cove. I can honestly say I have never done a wall dive with such pristine virgin coral. The colours were spectacular with the morning shards of light streaming through caves and crevices, it assailed your senses, so much that you didn’t know where to look and couldn’t take it all in. With 30 meters visibility and a large Napoleon Wrasse, it’s got to be in my top 10 dives of all time.
Friday, June 30, 2006
The Pizza is still hot – East Timor 30th June 2006
In some western countries, pizza delivery companies give you a guarantee that if the pizza isn’t delivered within 30 minutes then you get the food for free. Given Dili's usual road conditions, potholes, chickens, dogs, goats, vendor carts and taxis crawling at 20kmph, this is a good achievement at the best of times.
We have had nearly a week of demonstrations where the whole place has been remnant of Notting Hill Festival. Thousands of trucks crammed with people, painted faces, Timor flags flying, music blaring, singing and chanting, horns honking, and banners everywhere. We even had 2 truck loads all wearing ‘I Love Xanana’ T-shirts, with Xanana’s face printed on the front; these are definitely not available in the shops. The slow convoy would crawl by with trucks of people as far as the eye could see and yet Flip still pulled up in the middle of all this with hot pizzas! That’s service for you.
East Timor – The land of surprises; this should be the country’s new strap line. They are not always good surprises, but you are always surprised. Finally we get the announcement we have all been waiting for, but it wasn’t Mari Alkatiri that resigned it was Ramos Horta the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, we were gobsmacked! Mari Alkatiri did resign his post as Prime Minister the day after but remains an MP to deal with the budget matters until the election of the next government.
All the protesters so far have been from the West. There is still a strong West/East thing going on in the city. One of our staff was punched in the face for being the only Easterner in his village and ended up sleeping in the classroom because he was too scared to return to his house. The next day he returned to his home town. This put a really bitter taste on all the celebrations, the Prime Minister resigning is not going to stop this racism, especially when the guys from the East return to Dili and find their houses burned down, there will be more revenge attacks
Ann and Wayne were at the Hotel Dili when it all kicked off again. Wayne called me to tell me to stay put as there was a repeat of stone throwing, fighting and 3 fires nearby the hotel. Gino was a bit concerned as he has his gas company next to the hotel and if the fires got too close this could be a major disaster. Again in the midst of all this, 12 year old boys throwing stones and lighting fires, Australian troops fully geared up, cameramen and press running around, up pulls Flip with his Pizza delivery!
Another morning we were woken at 6 a.m. by yet another noisy protest. This time though the trucks were waving Portuguese flags not Timorese which was confusing. Portugal had won their game in the World Cup! And of course with the time difference these guys had just seen the match live.
The Philippine restaurant next door has finally opened again, so we popped in for a drink to show them some local support. The girls that work there are from the hills and gave us good news about our housekeeper Maria who disappeared two months ago. She is safe and well but is stuck up in the hills with no money. Ann is now trying to work out a way to get a message to her that her job is still open and send up her wages so that she can return to Dili.
This whole place is ringing with acronyms; it takes you a while to work out what someone is talking about. East Timor has the AFP, the GNR, NGO’s, APV’s, IDP’s, the UN and the RedX. Then you have a completely different language with the journos; ABC, shoot, feed, wingman. It reminds me of working for SAP again!
I’ve added another song to the list, ‘Should I stay or should I go now? – The Clash’. Seriously though, we are starting to get a few divers walking through the door with the return of the essential UN staff. Plus after sitting it out this long watching history being made and never feeling personally in danger, it would be crazy to leave now, so I’m staying put.
Footnote
ABC - Australian Broadcasting Company
AFP - Australian Federal Police
APV - Armoured Patrol Vehicle
GNR - Portuguese Republican National Guard
IDP - Internally Displaced Person
NGO - Non Government Organisation
RedX - The Red Cross
UN - United Nations
We have had nearly a week of demonstrations where the whole place has been remnant of Notting Hill Festival. Thousands of trucks crammed with people, painted faces, Timor flags flying, music blaring, singing and chanting, horns honking, and banners everywhere. We even had 2 truck loads all wearing ‘I Love Xanana’ T-shirts, with Xanana’s face printed on the front; these are definitely not available in the shops. The slow convoy would crawl by with trucks of people as far as the eye could see and yet Flip still pulled up in the middle of all this with hot pizzas! That’s service for you.
East Timor – The land of surprises; this should be the country’s new strap line. They are not always good surprises, but you are always surprised. Finally we get the announcement we have all been waiting for, but it wasn’t Mari Alkatiri that resigned it was Ramos Horta the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence, we were gobsmacked! Mari Alkatiri did resign his post as Prime Minister the day after but remains an MP to deal with the budget matters until the election of the next government.
All the protesters so far have been from the West. There is still a strong West/East thing going on in the city. One of our staff was punched in the face for being the only Easterner in his village and ended up sleeping in the classroom because he was too scared to return to his house. The next day he returned to his home town. This put a really bitter taste on all the celebrations, the Prime Minister resigning is not going to stop this racism, especially when the guys from the East return to Dili and find their houses burned down, there will be more revenge attacks
Ann and Wayne were at the Hotel Dili when it all kicked off again. Wayne called me to tell me to stay put as there was a repeat of stone throwing, fighting and 3 fires nearby the hotel. Gino was a bit concerned as he has his gas company next to the hotel and if the fires got too close this could be a major disaster. Again in the midst of all this, 12 year old boys throwing stones and lighting fires, Australian troops fully geared up, cameramen and press running around, up pulls Flip with his Pizza delivery!
Another morning we were woken at 6 a.m. by yet another noisy protest. This time though the trucks were waving Portuguese flags not Timorese which was confusing. Portugal had won their game in the World Cup! And of course with the time difference these guys had just seen the match live.
The Philippine restaurant next door has finally opened again, so we popped in for a drink to show them some local support. The girls that work there are from the hills and gave us good news about our housekeeper Maria who disappeared two months ago. She is safe and well but is stuck up in the hills with no money. Ann is now trying to work out a way to get a message to her that her job is still open and send up her wages so that she can return to Dili.
This whole place is ringing with acronyms; it takes you a while to work out what someone is talking about. East Timor has the AFP, the GNR, NGO’s, APV’s, IDP’s, the UN and the RedX. Then you have a completely different language with the journos; ABC, shoot, feed, wingman. It reminds me of working for SAP again!
I’ve added another song to the list, ‘Should I stay or should I go now? – The Clash’. Seriously though, we are starting to get a few divers walking through the door with the return of the essential UN staff. Plus after sitting it out this long watching history being made and never feeling personally in danger, it would be crazy to leave now, so I’m staying put.
Footnote
ABC - Australian Broadcasting Company
AFP - Australian Federal Police
APV - Armoured Patrol Vehicle
GNR - Portuguese Republican National Guard
IDP - Internally Displaced Person
NGO - Non Government Organisation
RedX - The Red Cross
UN - United Nations
Sunday, June 25, 2006
And Pigs Might Fly – East Timor 25th June 2006
Terrible news! Ginger Da Pig is dead! Robbie the adoptive owner is launching a full scale investigation into the case because Ginger disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Robbie went to ‘One More Bar’ where Millie the goat and Ginger Da Pig were housed, to take them for their daily walk around town. When he found Ginger he was basking in the sun, trotters outstretched, so Robbie assumed he was asleep, it was only later it occurred to him that pigs normally roll in wet mud and lie in the shade to keep themselves cool, they don’t normally sunbathe. Thinking nothing of it at the time he duly took Millie for her walk and then returned the next day to repeat the ritual, only the next day Ginger had disappeared.
Obviously concerned as to Gingers whereabouts, Robbie started questioning the staff. The first answer he got was Ginger had been bitten by a snake, yeah right! Where Millie and Ginger are housed there are also ducks that would have created alarming if there was a snake around, so Robbie probed further. The same witness then said the pig had died of starvation! Now given that this is a 50lb pig with enough meat on him to feed a family for a week or two, it was very unlikely that Ginger had starved to death in 15 hours. Also there was no body to verify this claim. Apparently Ginger had been taken away and buried, yeah right again! In a country where rice is in short supply, a 50lb pig is not going to be given a dignified funeral without passing through the bodies of several Timorese first.
Getting increasingly incensed, Robbie started to question the kitchen staff, their explanation was that Ginger had been bitten by a crocodile! At this point of the story I retorted ‘Yeah, and Pigs might fly’, which had us both laughing as it was as feasible an explanation to Gingers demise as any other that Robbie had heard.
In East Timor, the Timorese are very superstitious about crocodiles; they have this ongoing folk tale about an albino crocodile that terrorises fishermen. We tried to imagine a crocodile walking up the beach, across a main road, over a park area, and then scaling a 6ft fence to bite Ginger. Needless to say the vision didn’t work. The Timorese language is very basic, not having many descriptive words, so a headache is ‘Big stone in head’ in Timorese. So maybe a small crocodile was actually an iguana, but hardly likely to kill a 50lb pig.
So Inspector Robbie is no further forward in his investigations as without a body there can be no autopsy to conclude the cause of death. Was Ginger murdered or died of natural causes, if he was murdered was it Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the lead pipe or was it the Timorese chef? I don’t think we will ever know.
Over the last couple of days we have had massive protests in Dili, thousands of people in Dili town centre all shouting ‘Go Alkatiri’. They are not supporting him; they all want the Prime Minister Alkatiri to resign. He has been linked with supplying arms to civilians to take out anyone who opposes him, a claim he obviously vehemently denies. We were returning from a dive at Dili Rock, much to the amusement of the Malaysian troops as the dive site is between two of their road blocks. As we were driving back, more and more trucks of people joined us on the road, women and children included, all singing and honking their horns on the way to the government building. I’ve just watched them return from the protest, a motorcycle convoy waving the East Timor flag following by trucks and microlets with bodies hanging off everywhere. I thought I’d seen the most people possible on one microlet (minibus) in Cambodia. But this beats it, there must have been 30 people crammed on one. The announcement regarding Alkatiri was supposed to have been yesterday, but due to the protest they delayed it until today (still waiting). I hope it doesn’t drag on too long though, as when a crowd that big gets hot and bored, young lads get restless and that’s when the sale of matches skyrockets.
There are still thousands of families in refugee camps. As well as food and water, they have been given soap, shampoo and rather spacious, robust tents. Unfortunately now the camps have a look of permanence about them as the tents are often better than their normal living conditions. Many of the camps are empty during the day as the adults go off to work and the children to school. It seems it’s the night that the people have the most fear of returning to their own homes. There was a rumour of a curfew, but it was only rumour, the Timorese people just don’t want to be on the street at night at the moment.
Needless to say with this activity, the hotels are full of journalists again and Wayne is reemployed as press, so I’m covering the little diving we are doing. A couple of nights ago we returned to the old haunt The Esplanada to meet with some of Wayne’s journalist mates, when in walked two camouflage clad New Zealand soldiers with MP armbands. Ann and I decided that the MP definitely stood for ‘Major Perve’! I think I need to get out more!
Obviously concerned as to Gingers whereabouts, Robbie started questioning the staff. The first answer he got was Ginger had been bitten by a snake, yeah right! Where Millie and Ginger are housed there are also ducks that would have created alarming if there was a snake around, so Robbie probed further. The same witness then said the pig had died of starvation! Now given that this is a 50lb pig with enough meat on him to feed a family for a week or two, it was very unlikely that Ginger had starved to death in 15 hours. Also there was no body to verify this claim. Apparently Ginger had been taken away and buried, yeah right again! In a country where rice is in short supply, a 50lb pig is not going to be given a dignified funeral without passing through the bodies of several Timorese first.
Getting increasingly incensed, Robbie started to question the kitchen staff, their explanation was that Ginger had been bitten by a crocodile! At this point of the story I retorted ‘Yeah, and Pigs might fly’, which had us both laughing as it was as feasible an explanation to Gingers demise as any other that Robbie had heard.
In East Timor, the Timorese are very superstitious about crocodiles; they have this ongoing folk tale about an albino crocodile that terrorises fishermen. We tried to imagine a crocodile walking up the beach, across a main road, over a park area, and then scaling a 6ft fence to bite Ginger. Needless to say the vision didn’t work. The Timorese language is very basic, not having many descriptive words, so a headache is ‘Big stone in head’ in Timorese. So maybe a small crocodile was actually an iguana, but hardly likely to kill a 50lb pig.
So Inspector Robbie is no further forward in his investigations as without a body there can be no autopsy to conclude the cause of death. Was Ginger murdered or died of natural causes, if he was murdered was it Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with the lead pipe or was it the Timorese chef? I don’t think we will ever know.
Over the last couple of days we have had massive protests in Dili, thousands of people in Dili town centre all shouting ‘Go Alkatiri’. They are not supporting him; they all want the Prime Minister Alkatiri to resign. He has been linked with supplying arms to civilians to take out anyone who opposes him, a claim he obviously vehemently denies. We were returning from a dive at Dili Rock, much to the amusement of the Malaysian troops as the dive site is between two of their road blocks. As we were driving back, more and more trucks of people joined us on the road, women and children included, all singing and honking their horns on the way to the government building. I’ve just watched them return from the protest, a motorcycle convoy waving the East Timor flag following by trucks and microlets with bodies hanging off everywhere. I thought I’d seen the most people possible on one microlet (minibus) in Cambodia. But this beats it, there must have been 30 people crammed on one. The announcement regarding Alkatiri was supposed to have been yesterday, but due to the protest they delayed it until today (still waiting). I hope it doesn’t drag on too long though, as when a crowd that big gets hot and bored, young lads get restless and that’s when the sale of matches skyrockets.
There are still thousands of families in refugee camps. As well as food and water, they have been given soap, shampoo and rather spacious, robust tents. Unfortunately now the camps have a look of permanence about them as the tents are often better than their normal living conditions. Many of the camps are empty during the day as the adults go off to work and the children to school. It seems it’s the night that the people have the most fear of returning to their own homes. There was a rumour of a curfew, but it was only rumour, the Timorese people just don’t want to be on the street at night at the moment.
Needless to say with this activity, the hotels are full of journalists again and Wayne is reemployed as press, so I’m covering the little diving we are doing. A couple of nights ago we returned to the old haunt The Esplanada to meet with some of Wayne’s journalist mates, when in walked two camouflage clad New Zealand soldiers with MP armbands. Ann and I decided that the MP definitely stood for ‘Major Perve’! I think I need to get out more!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Covert Pizza Operations – East Timor 16th June 2006
We managed to go diving beyond Metinaro today with one of our local staff Nelson, he felt comfortable so it was almost back to normal for our diving day. Wayne and I di
ved a site he had discovered on an exploratory dive a couple of weeks before, but we hadn’t managed to get back out to it until now. I told Wayne at the end of the dive that he had ruined diving for me as all I look for now is nudibranch and critters, small, rare and unusual stuff. For the unordained, nudibranch are tiny sea slugs that are the Dolce & Gabana of the underwater world, stylish, unusually patterned and often very brightly coloured. Finding a nudibranch is like finding a Tiffany Egg. I saw five varieties on the dive today, three I had never seen before.
To get to the dive site you need to pass through several road blocks. Ann and I decided that the tastiest troops in town were the Kiwis. Unfortunately Australia seem to have sent over every red headed army guy they can find, so the poor pale skinned possums are running around looking like lobsters at the moment. Ann nudged my elbow as we approached a road block the other day and said ‘I don’t fancy yours much!’ This had us giggling as we approached two bewildered looking gun clad Kiwis. When asked if we were carrying any weapons, I told them about my dive knife, but when Ann informed them it was bright pink, they didn’t take it seriously as an offensive weapon.
Today as Wayne and I passed through the roadblock at Hera, the Kiwi boys told us that they would only let us back through if we bought them back some seafood as their ration food was dire. According to one Australian Embassy staff, the troops are not allowed to eat anything but their rations. That’s why we are seeing them in every supermarket then! Apparently, the rule was made back in 2001, when half the Navy went down with food poisoning after eating the local food. That sounds like a bit of an urban legend though!
There are a few people in Dili that are making a killing in these times, the hotels, the car hire companies and Flips Pizza Delivery! Instead of the usual address of 123 The High Street in 20 minutes, it’s, rendezvous at 1800 hours behind the portaloos next to the big tree! Covert pizza delivery! Jim has also been asked to hold a lock-in, where the boys will enter through the back door after their shift without their boss seeing them. This is not for an illicit drinking session though; this is for 6 rounds of bacon and egg and mugs of tea.
More and more clients from the past are turning up. My next open water course could consist of GNR (Portuguese Police). Their boss learned to dive with us the last time he was in East Timor back in 2001 so of course recommended us. Apparently, Army and Police are easy to teach as they are used to taking orders.
Sometimes you hear a song and it takes you straight back to a place and time as if it was yesterday. Well, here’s a few that will always remind me of East Timor:
Talking about a revolution – Tracy Chapman
We’ve got to get out of this place – The Animals
The Boys are back in Town – Thin Lizzy
More and more people are on the streets of Dili now, the military presence is everywhere although there are still many refugee camps. Phone cards are now down to $11 for a $10 card instead of $15. Market stalls are springing up again with an abundance of vegetables and fish and the whole place has a better feel to it.
It’s reported that the majority want the Prime Minister Mari Alkitiri to step down, but he is sticking by his guns, literally! However, there will be the minority that want him in, and in most cases it’s the minority that cause the trouble and unrest. I don’t think it’s over just yet, there may be more to come once some political decisions are made. At the moment it’s a bit of calm before the storm.
ved a site he had discovered on an exploratory dive a couple of weeks before, but we hadn’t managed to get back out to it until now. I told Wayne at the end of the dive that he had ruined diving for me as all I look for now is nudibranch and critters, small, rare and unusual stuff. For the unordained, nudibranch are tiny sea slugs that are the Dolce & Gabana of the underwater world, stylish, unusually patterned and often very brightly coloured. Finding a nudibranch is like finding a Tiffany Egg. I saw five varieties on the dive today, three I had never seen before.To get to the dive site you need to pass through several road blocks. Ann and I decided that the tastiest troops in town were the Kiwis. Unfortunately Australia seem to have sent over every red headed army guy they can find, so the poor pale skinned possums are running around looking like lobsters at the moment. Ann nudged my elbow as we approached a road block the other day and said ‘I don’t fancy yours much!’ This had us giggling as we approached two bewildered looking gun clad Kiwis. When asked if we were carrying any weapons, I told them about my dive knife, but when Ann informed them it was bright pink, they didn’t take it seriously as an offensive weapon.
Today as Wayne and I passed through the roadblock at Hera, the Kiwi boys told us that they would only let us back through if we bought them back some seafood as their ration food was dire. According to one Australian Embassy staff, the troops are not allowed to eat anything but their rations. That’s why we are seeing them in every supermarket then! Apparently, the rule was made back in 2001, when half the Navy went down with food poisoning after eating the local food. That sounds like a bit of an urban legend though!
There are a few people in Dili that are making a killing in these times, the hotels, the car hire companies and Flips Pizza Delivery! Instead of the usual address of 123 The High Street in 20 minutes, it’s, rendezvous at 1800 hours behind the portaloos next to the big tree! Covert pizza delivery! Jim has also been asked to hold a lock-in, where the boys will enter through the back door after their shift without their boss seeing them. This is not for an illicit drinking session though; this is for 6 rounds of bacon and egg and mugs of tea.
More and more clients from the past are turning up. My next open water course could consist of GNR (Portuguese Police). Their boss learned to dive with us the last time he was in East Timor back in 2001 so of course recommended us. Apparently, Army and Police are easy to teach as they are used to taking orders.
Sometimes you hear a song and it takes you straight back to a place and time as if it was yesterday. Well, here’s a few that will always remind me of East Timor:
Talking about a revolution – Tracy Chapman
We’ve got to get out of this place – The Animals
The Boys are back in Town – Thin Lizzy
More and more people are on the streets of Dili now, the military presence is everywhere although there are still many refugee camps. Phone cards are now down to $11 for a $10 card instead of $15. Market stalls are springing up again with an abundance of vegetables and fish and the whole place has a better feel to it.
It’s reported that the majority want the Prime Minister Mari Alkitiri to step down, but he is sticking by his guns, literally! However, there will be the minority that want him in, and in most cases it’s the minority that cause the trouble and unrest. I don’t think it’s over just yet, there may be more to come once some political decisions are made. At the moment it’s a bit of calm before the storm.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Just taking the pig for a walk – East Timor11th June 2006
We get some eccentric characters turn up at the dive centre here in Dili, East Timor. I first came across Robbie walking his goat outside the supermarket on the beachfront. Robbie is a red haired Glaswegian hairdresser that sports a jaunty beret on this head. He's another veteran of East Timor as he’s a Malai that’s been here for more than five years. As families were evacuated, pets were left behind and Robbie came across a ginger pig wandering around. The owners had left the country so Robbie has adopted the pig and aptly named it Ginger Da Pig. Now he takes both Ginger and Millie the Goat for a walk round town every day.
On the subject of pigs, the Monkey Bar actually has a pig track at the back of the bar and sporadically runs pig races. Now these are serious affairs with piggy forms and odds, previous race wins etc. Even though the whole race lasts for a total of about 15 minutes. Wayne and Ann had a 50% share in a racing pig until they were informed that she had got eaten!
The big story by Channel 7 today was weddings! Because of all the troubles there were weddings scheduled that couldn’t take place, so yesterday they dealt with the backlog and saw 18 couples getting married at one church. It's quite a heartening story given the situation here.
The Austra
lian soldiers are doing a good job trying to restore peace but they came here to fight a war and what they got is vandalising, looting gangs that need policing, so more police are poring in by the day. Wayne was up in the hills at a school that has now been turned into a military base. There were loads of Ozzy soldiers with machine guns guarding the playground which is now a helicopter landing pad. As the Blackhawk took off, kids streamed on to the playground to play in the backwash the helicopter created. The soldiers just had to look on, what could they do, the kids weren’t afraid of their guns, they just wanted to play.
I had a good drive around a couple of days ago; there are a few areas where the torching is obvious because of the freshly burnt out cars. But there are so many burnt out buildings in Dili that it’s hard to tell the old ones from 1999 and the new ones. In 1999 70% of the buildings of East Timor were burnt down as a parting shot from the Indonesians as if to say ‘if we cant have them nor can you!’. I often wondered why people lived in wooden/tin shacks and didn’t rebuild the brick buildings. Apparently the burnt out buildings are left because that’s where atrocities were committed by the Indonesians, rapes, torture and brutal murders. The Timorese believe that these buildings are haunted by the spirits of the people killed in these buildings so will not rebuild them. The Timorese are highly superstitious people.
We stopped at a supermarket and outside were greeted by a truck load of Ozzy soldiers. Not a checkpoint, they were there to stock up on their Pringles. Most of them still wore their packs so were almost too wide to fit down the aisles. It’s a strange sight to see a fully clad soldier with a machine gun in one hand and a plastic shopping basket in the other.
We finally got out diving yesterday, on the boat because its safer for the Timorese staff. Poor Jose was horribly seasick all the way though. I got bitten on the lip by a clownfish, who said nemo is cute. Serves me right for sticking my head too near his anemone! We had a pod of dolphins both on the way out and back, around 60 in the second pod, jumping and doing back flips, fantastic to see. This afternoon Jose said he felt comfortable enough to do shore watch at Dili rock. The Malaysian army have set up a checkpoint nearby so we got half the curious squad asking question after question about diving as we were trying to kit up. Jose got on really well with them and was still chatting away when we emerged an hour later, so much for him being at risk, he had the Malaysian army to protect him.
On the subject of pigs, the Monkey Bar actually has a pig track at the back of the bar and sporadically runs pig races. Now these are serious affairs with piggy forms and odds, previous race wins etc. Even though the whole race lasts for a total of about 15 minutes. Wayne and Ann had a 50% share in a racing pig until they were informed that she had got eaten!
The big story by Channel 7 today was weddings! Because of all the troubles there were weddings scheduled that couldn’t take place, so yesterday they dealt with the backlog and saw 18 couples getting married at one church. It's quite a heartening story given the situation here.
The Austra
lian soldiers are doing a good job trying to restore peace but they came here to fight a war and what they got is vandalising, looting gangs that need policing, so more police are poring in by the day. Wayne was up in the hills at a school that has now been turned into a military base. There were loads of Ozzy soldiers with machine guns guarding the playground which is now a helicopter landing pad. As the Blackhawk took off, kids streamed on to the playground to play in the backwash the helicopter created. The soldiers just had to look on, what could they do, the kids weren’t afraid of their guns, they just wanted to play.I had a good drive around a couple of days ago; there are a few areas where the torching is obvious because of the freshly burnt out cars. But there are so many burnt out buildings in Dili that it’s hard to tell the old ones from 1999 and the new ones. In 1999 70% of the buildings of East Timor were burnt down as a parting shot from the Indonesians as if to say ‘if we cant have them nor can you!’. I often wondered why people lived in wooden/tin shacks and didn’t rebuild the brick buildings. Apparently the burnt out buildings are left because that’s where atrocities were committed by the Indonesians, rapes, torture and brutal murders. The Timorese believe that these buildings are haunted by the spirits of the people killed in these buildings so will not rebuild them. The Timorese are highly superstitious people.
We stopped at a supermarket and outside were greeted by a truck load of Ozzy soldiers. Not a checkpoint, they were there to stock up on their Pringles. Most of them still wore their packs so were almost too wide to fit down the aisles. It’s a strange sight to see a fully clad soldier with a machine gun in one hand and a plastic shopping basket in the other.
We finally got out diving yesterday, on the boat because its safer for the Timorese staff. Poor Jose was horribly seasick all the way though. I got bitten on the lip by a clownfish, who said nemo is cute. Serves me right for sticking my head too near his anemone! We had a pod of dolphins both on the way out and back, around 60 in the second pod, jumping and doing back flips, fantastic to see. This afternoon Jose said he felt comfortable enough to do shore watch at Dili rock. The Malaysian army have set up a checkpoint nearby so we got half the curious squad asking question after question about diving as we were trying to kit up. Jose got on really well with them and was still chatting away when we emerged an hour later, so much for him being at risk, he had the Malaysian army to protect him.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Plastic Refugees – East Timor 7th June 2006
The streets of Dili have quietened down, there are still trouble spots but they are mainly in specific areas, not widespread. Outside the Parliament building there are signs thanking the Australians for their intervention but this opinion is mixed. In some areas the gangs are chanting ‘Australians go home’, the Ozzies are disarming people but in some cases this is the only means the Timorese people have of protecting themselves. Wayne came across an Australian woman called Rocky who has run a rehabilitation centre in Dili for years. At the time the Ozzie troops had got all her staff on the floor and were disarming them. Rocky tried to explain to the troops, that her staff were not carrying weapons to loot and fight but to protect themselves and the centre. But the Australian’s job is to disarm and that’s what they did. Wayne met Rocky a couple of days later behind a barricade, when she enquired about her centre Wayne had the unenviable job of explaining that her years of hard work and dedication were burning down as they spoke. The staff could no longer protect the building.
One of the temporary staff in the Esplanada asked Wayne about his house and explained roughly where it was. Wayne checked the area out, now hasn’t got the heart to tell him the whole area is razed to the ground.
There seems to be an East/West divide going on in the city, people cannot return home for fear of being attacked by their neighbours because they were born in the wrong part of the country. We have divers for Saturday but I can’t take any staff out with me because it’s not safe for them. One of the ABC news trucks was attacked with stones on Monday because they stupidly took an East East Timorese interpreter with them to a West East Timorese area.
On the positive side, there was a peaceful march by the rebels yesterday. They delivered a petition to Xanana demanding the resignation of Alkatiri. It went off without incident which is encouraging.
Walking around town you see the refugee camps. These are set up in the squares and churches in the open air housing hundreds of families. What struck me was the use of plastic and nylon, plastic sheeting for sun protection, nylon rope for washing lines, plastic bottles for water, plastic baskets for possessions and plastic bags for food. I saw a young mother washing her baby in a plastic bowl, scooping water over him with a plastic cup. The only organic thing I saw in these camps was the wood on the fire. You see an abundance of plastic all over Asia, whereas china is more acceptable in 1st world countries and plastic scorned upon as the cheap throw away alternative only used for picnics.
It was heart warming to watch the little naked boys playing in the sea again. Of course as soon as they saw I had a camera it was ‘Hello Mister, photo’. That’s the nice thing about digital, as soon as you take the photo you can show it to them, which is responded to with infectious giggling and broad smiles. I once saw a girl in Cambodia taking photos with a Polaroid camera. The best shots she got were the looks on the kid’s faces as their image appeared on the paper by magic.
Aid workers are slowly trickling back into East Timor; many have been here before so we are seeing the return of some die hard divers at our door. We had one guy from the Red Cross enquiring about diving at the weekend that had been a regular customer 4 years before. So the plan is to go diving on Saturday, not sure where yet, that all depends on the situation, but I can’t wait to get working again.
One of the temporary staff in the Esplanada asked Wayne about his house and explained roughly where it was. Wayne checked the area out, now hasn’t got the heart to tell him the whole area is razed to the ground.
There seems to be an East/West divide going on in the city, people cannot return home for fear of being attacked by their neighbours because they were born in the wrong part of the country. We have divers for Saturday but I can’t take any staff out with me because it’s not safe for them. One of the ABC news trucks was attacked with stones on Monday because they stupidly took an East East Timorese interpreter with them to a West East Timorese area.
On the positive side, there was a peaceful march by the rebels yesterday. They delivered a petition to Xanana demanding the resignation of Alkatiri. It went off without incident which is encouraging.
Walking around town you see the refugee camps. These are set up in the squares and churches in the open air housing hundreds of families. What struck me was the use of plastic and nylon, plastic sheeting for sun protection, nylon rope for washing lines, plastic bottles for water, plastic baskets for possessions and plastic bags for food. I saw a young mother washing her baby in a plastic bowl, scooping water over him with a plastic cup. The only organic thing I saw in these camps was the wood on the fire. You see an abundance of plastic all over Asia, whereas china is more acceptable in 1st world countries and plastic scorned upon as the cheap throw away alternative only used for picnics.
It was heart warming to watch the little naked boys playing in the sea again. Of course as soon as they saw I had a camera it was ‘Hello Mister, photo’. That’s the nice thing about digital, as soon as you take the photo you can show it to them, which is responded to with infectious giggling and broad smiles. I once saw a girl in Cambodia taking photos with a Polaroid camera. The best shots she got were the looks on the kid’s faces as their image appeared on the paper by magic.
Aid workers are slowly trickling back into East Timor; many have been here before so we are seeing the return of some die hard divers at our door. We had one guy from the Red Cross enquiring about diving at the weekend that had been a regular customer 4 years before. So the plan is to go diving on Saturday, not sure where yet, that all depends on the situation, but I can’t wait to get working again.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
Come back Johnny the Tooth – East Timor 3rd June 2006
We have 5 staff here at the dive centre all locals of East Timor, 4 officially and then there is Johnny. Maria, the housekeeper, disappeared up to the hills at the very start of the troubles and hasn’t been seen or heard of since. We suspect she’s up in the hills with no money to get back down again but our endeavours to try and contact her have remained fruitless. Nelson and Jose are our main dive hands and are both Advanced divers, they are both staying in refugee camps with their families. Nelson is staying at Arte Morris, an Art centre for Timorese boys and Nelson with Dr Dan. Both these organisations are charities not NGO’s (Non-Government Organisations), so do not have funds from private investors. Arte Morris promote and sell Timorese art as far as Europe and Dr Dan is probably the most knowledgeable authority on malaria and dengue fever in this part of the world. Every other fortnight the proceeds of the quiz night at the Dili Club go to Dr Dan.
Manuel I can only describe as Manuel out of Faulty Towers, ‘Que?’! He speaks Bahasa rather than Tetun and is a man of very few words. If you ask him something and he doesn’t understand, he remains motionless looking at you, so you try again, an awful lot of pointing at things goes on. Manuel had left his bike at the dive centre and we hadn’t seen him for a few days so we were getting a little concerned as Jose and Nelson couldn’t contact him. Wayne was out at the Komoro Bridge yesterday which was the centre of the gang fights. As he approached Australian troops detaining five Timorese men crouching on the floor, he realised that one of the men was Manuel. Picking him up and giving him some money raised the voices of the Australian troops who demanded to know what Wayne had given him. Wayne explained he was an employee and he had given him his wages. Manuel was then allowed to walk away.
It’s very hard for the Australian troops to make a judgement call. Is this a looter? Or is this someone trying to save his own possessions before his house is burned to the ground. Wayne came across another guy who was being detained by the troops; he was trying to take the tin off of his own roof as he feared that the house was going to be torched.
At least though the Ozzies came and helped, along with the Kiwis and Malays, in total over 2000 troops. But the snotty Portuguese have refused to put 120 police in here because quote ‘Portugal did not accept, does not accept, nor will not accept that the Republican National Guard be subordinate to the operational command of a foreigner’. A foreigner! Who do they think they are, with their piddly little force! They abandoned East Timor and allowed the Indonesians to invade in 1975; they are just as much foreigners to East Timor as the Australians are. Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Normality is returning, the trouble spots are much quieter, the supermarkets, banks and petrol stations are open again. A few chicken vendors are open at night, occasional taxis can be seen and an enterprising phone card vendor has set up a new pitch outside the Esplanada, lots of business for him because that’s where many of the journalists are staying. All we need now is for Johnny to return. Johnny owns a vending cart and his pitch is just opposite the dive centre Many a young whippersnapper has tried to muscle in on his pitch to no avail, when Johnny is there, we only buy from him. Because the dive centre has no bar, Johnny is our mobile off licence selling the cheapest Tiger beer in Dili. He also stocks our individual brands of cigarettes, Ann smokes menthol which is not popular with Timorese, but Johnny knows he will have regular demand. Johnny, like Manuel, is a man of little words and I've never seen him smile, but it would be quite hard for Johnny to smile as he has one protruding front tooth, hence the name Johnny the Tooth. Johnny sits outside come rain or shine with his extremely ventilated Freeflow T-shirt which has seen better years let alone days. So when Johnny’s cart appears again outside the dive centre then I can safely say things are getting back to normal.
Manuel I can only describe as Manuel out of Faulty Towers, ‘Que?’! He speaks Bahasa rather than Tetun and is a man of very few words. If you ask him something and he doesn’t understand, he remains motionless looking at you, so you try again, an awful lot of pointing at things goes on. Manuel had left his bike at the dive centre and we hadn’t seen him for a few days so we were getting a little concerned as Jose and Nelson couldn’t contact him. Wayne was out at the Komoro Bridge yesterday which was the centre of the gang fights. As he approached Australian troops detaining five Timorese men crouching on the floor, he realised that one of the men was Manuel. Picking him up and giving him some money raised the voices of the Australian troops who demanded to know what Wayne had given him. Wayne explained he was an employee and he had given him his wages. Manuel was then allowed to walk away.
It’s very hard for the Australian troops to make a judgement call. Is this a looter? Or is this someone trying to save his own possessions before his house is burned to the ground. Wayne came across another guy who was being detained by the troops; he was trying to take the tin off of his own roof as he feared that the house was going to be torched.
At least though the Ozzies came and helped, along with the Kiwis and Malays, in total over 2000 troops. But the snotty Portuguese have refused to put 120 police in here because quote ‘Portugal did not accept, does not accept, nor will not accept that the Republican National Guard be subordinate to the operational command of a foreigner’. A foreigner! Who do they think they are, with their piddly little force! They abandoned East Timor and allowed the Indonesians to invade in 1975; they are just as much foreigners to East Timor as the Australians are. Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox now.
Normality is returning, the trouble spots are much quieter, the supermarkets, banks and petrol stations are open again. A few chicken vendors are open at night, occasional taxis can be seen and an enterprising phone card vendor has set up a new pitch outside the Esplanada, lots of business for him because that’s where many of the journalists are staying. All we need now is for Johnny to return. Johnny owns a vending cart and his pitch is just opposite the dive centre Many a young whippersnapper has tried to muscle in on his pitch to no avail, when Johnny is there, we only buy from him. Because the dive centre has no bar, Johnny is our mobile off licence selling the cheapest Tiger beer in Dili. He also stocks our individual brands of cigarettes, Ann smokes menthol which is not popular with Timorese, but Johnny knows he will have regular demand. Johnny, like Manuel, is a man of little words and I've never seen him smile, but it would be quite hard for Johnny to smile as he has one protruding front tooth, hence the name Johnny the Tooth. Johnny sits outside come rain or shine with his extremely ventilated Freeflow T-shirt which has seen better years let alone days. So when Johnny’s cart appears again outside the dive centre then I can safely say things are getting back to normal.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
We’ve got limes! – East Timor 1/6/06
Yesterday in Dili, the supermarkets opened and the petrol stations. Ann had a field day, she even bought frozen limes, which turned out to be a cross between a lime and an orange, but what the hell, they still tasted good. Supplies were limited but she managed to concoct a fantastic feast for eight people that night. I was the only non-journalist related person in the crowd which is fascinating because you get a completely different take on things. One of the die hard journo’s was concerned about his rookie cameraman because the cameraman had got some superb up close and personal shot that day, but the temptation with the adrenaline buzzing is to get an even better shot the next day, regardless of his personal safety.
The French Ambassador came round. His contract actually expired today, but he has his staff and their families living in his home at the moment, so he’s not going to leave until his staff are re-housed safely, even though as from today he will not be insured to be in the country.
Hector is a very eccentric Australian guy who speaks the most fluent Tetun of any westerner. He lives up in the hills with the Timorese community. Up in the hills there is a shortage of rice, you can’t buy rice or water in the supermarkets because the UN has bought it all for redistribution to the refugees. Hector came down escorting a microlet on his motorbike, the microlet was full of vegetable, the local community here was ecstatic. One old guy was driving past on his motorbike and screeched to a halt, bought a bag of vegetables then drove away singing at the top of his voice. All the villagers seemed to have smiles on their faces and the chicken vendors even set up stall for a couple of hours tonight.
The vegetable truck really saw the turning of a corner because trade s starting to happen again, also many people that are stuck up in the hills with no money and no petrol are now seeing an empty microlet returning to the village with rice after having ventured into the city. That vegetable truck speaks volumes to the local community about safety.
I saw my first Australian army foot patrol in East Timor today, there were only two of them on foot, but it reassures the villagers that they are being protected. There are still gangs fighting on the streets of Dili, but the press have finally got it right, they are gangs of scroates, not army versus police. What makes it worse is many of the gangs have Chinese fire crackers which to the untrained ear sound like gunfire, of course there is still some gunfire but it makes it hard to differentiate. Here, if you insult a Timorese then you insult 30 members of their family, so much of the violence and burning is to do with revenge, also jealousy, if one family has more than another in their Campong.
The atmosphere is definitely calmer today with the Ozzy troops and Xanana declaring a state of emergency yesterday whilst taking control of the country’s forces. That’s the one guy that has the history and charisma to command respect in East Timor, let’s hope a peaceful solution is around the corner. The water is calmer again and I cant wait to get diving!
The French Ambassador came round. His contract actually expired today, but he has his staff and their families living in his home at the moment, so he’s not going to leave until his staff are re-housed safely, even though as from today he will not be insured to be in the country.
Hector is a very eccentric Australian guy who speaks the most fluent Tetun of any westerner. He lives up in the hills with the Timorese community. Up in the hills there is a shortage of rice, you can’t buy rice or water in the supermarkets because the UN has bought it all for redistribution to the refugees. Hector came down escorting a microlet on his motorbike, the microlet was full of vegetable, the local community here was ecstatic. One old guy was driving past on his motorbike and screeched to a halt, bought a bag of vegetables then drove away singing at the top of his voice. All the villagers seemed to have smiles on their faces and the chicken vendors even set up stall for a couple of hours tonight.
The vegetable truck really saw the turning of a corner because trade s starting to happen again, also many people that are stuck up in the hills with no money and no petrol are now seeing an empty microlet returning to the village with rice after having ventured into the city. That vegetable truck speaks volumes to the local community about safety.
I saw my first Australian army foot patrol in East Timor today, there were only two of them on foot, but it reassures the villagers that they are being protected. There are still gangs fighting on the streets of Dili, but the press have finally got it right, they are gangs of scroates, not army versus police. What makes it worse is many of the gangs have Chinese fire crackers which to the untrained ear sound like gunfire, of course there is still some gunfire but it makes it hard to differentiate. Here, if you insult a Timorese then you insult 30 members of their family, so much of the violence and burning is to do with revenge, also jealousy, if one family has more than another in their Campong.
The atmosphere is definitely calmer today with the Ozzy troops and Xanana declaring a state of emergency yesterday whilst taking control of the country’s forces. That’s the one guy that has the history and charisma to command respect in East Timor, let’s hope a peaceful solution is around the corner. The water is calmer again and I cant wait to get diving!
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The boys are back in town - East Timor 30/5/06
More troops are pouring into East Timor, so apart from the Ozzies, we now have Kiwi, Malaysian and Portuguese troops here and yet more journalists. The biggest story of yesterday was the Ozzy troops setting up a food station in the middle of Dili to hand out free rice. Given the normal abject poverty
of East Timor, where many people go without rice in everyday life, no wonder they got 20,000 people queuing for free food. We watched the BBC World News coverage of the widespread violence throughout Dili. According to the reporter, no place was free of violence or safe in the whole of the city, and the food queue was a mass riot. Ann and I looked at each other, and then around the restaurant we had just walked to, had we missed something and walked there with our eyes shut? What amazed us was that the BBC led with a story on East Timor when the absolute tragedy of the Indonesian earthquake should have warranted priority. The report in The Times was the most sensationalist article I've read so far, it’s infuriating, because now I can see how friends and relatives can be completely misled about the safety of their loved ones by watching and reading this coverage.
I'm not denying that there is a very real problem here, but its not army versus police, its gangs of boys looting and torching who have no problem at all with the Malai (westerners) here. Shots are being fired but mostly in the air for bravado, stones are being throw and cars being torched. In fact, Wayne does not like going into non troubled areas for fear of inciting the scroates to play up to the camera. The difference is with him, he lives here. The death toll is reported at 11 people at the moment, 11 too many, but a small number if you compare it to other incidents like this around the world. Only this morning Wayne got the news that a very good friend of his was killed in Iraq.
Restaurants are bravely soldiering on with very limited menus. Everything is served with rice as potatoes and vegetables are in very scarce supply. Flip used to own the Dili Club on the seafront until it was commandeered by the government to build the Chinese Embassy. So he reopened near an area called Komoro, which has seen much of the fighting. The Dili Club is famous for its quiz nights and pizza. Not that the pizza is the best in town, but he’s the only one that delivers. Having been closed for most of the week, he opened for 2 hours and took $500 in pizza delivery orders, that’s a hell of a lot of pizza.
Ann went to pay her internet bill, the office of which was swarming with press trying to feed their stories. The owner was sitting on his balcony with a pair of binoculars, Ann thought he may be watching the battleships, but no, he was watching a whale in the bay spurting water from its blowhole. Surprisingly enough we haven’t had mass cancellations of tourists for later in the year, I guess divers are made of sterner stuff. I saw the same thing in Egypt after the Sharm bomb, the dive industry wasn’t affected as badly as I thought it would be.
We have a sense of Déjà Vu every evening when we venture two doors down to the Esplanada. Its getting very boring, but you have to get out of the house. The same faces every night, the press and the Embassy staff. According to the Embassy, half the Brits are still here, a hardy bunch. The Australian troops have issued two numbers for people to call if they see trouble in their area; the problem is getting this information to the local people. Many are fleeing their homes with their possessions because they don’t feel safe, but have no idea where to go. Whereas the troops are now encouraging people to return home so normality can be restored. We were watching a beautiful sunset when this double mattress walked past, you could hardly see the guy behind it. One of the press was running around the street taking photographs of a lady heavily laden with her possessions on her head. He then stopped to get a different shot and the lady had to struggle into the road to walk round him. I ripped him off a strip for that.
The government have been in meetings all day, and everyone is awaiting the outcome. There is not a simple solution but hopefully there will be one that sees peace restored in this beautiful country very soon. And I can get back to diving some of the best reefs in the world.
of East Timor, where many people go without rice in everyday life, no wonder they got 20,000 people queuing for free food. We watched the BBC World News coverage of the widespread violence throughout Dili. According to the reporter, no place was free of violence or safe in the whole of the city, and the food queue was a mass riot. Ann and I looked at each other, and then around the restaurant we had just walked to, had we missed something and walked there with our eyes shut? What amazed us was that the BBC led with a story on East Timor when the absolute tragedy of the Indonesian earthquake should have warranted priority. The report in The Times was the most sensationalist article I've read so far, it’s infuriating, because now I can see how friends and relatives can be completely misled about the safety of their loved ones by watching and reading this coverage.I'm not denying that there is a very real problem here, but its not army versus police, its gangs of boys looting and torching who have no problem at all with the Malai (westerners) here. Shots are being fired but mostly in the air for bravado, stones are being throw and cars being torched. In fact, Wayne does not like going into non troubled areas for fear of inciting the scroates to play up to the camera. The difference is with him, he lives here. The death toll is reported at 11 people at the moment, 11 too many, but a small number if you compare it to other incidents like this around the world. Only this morning Wayne got the news that a very good friend of his was killed in Iraq.
Restaurants are bravely soldiering on with very limited menus. Everything is served with rice as potatoes and vegetables are in very scarce supply. Flip used to own the Dili Club on the seafront until it was commandeered by the government to build the Chinese Embassy. So he reopened near an area called Komoro, which has seen much of the fighting. The Dili Club is famous for its quiz nights and pizza. Not that the pizza is the best in town, but he’s the only one that delivers. Having been closed for most of the week, he opened for 2 hours and took $500 in pizza delivery orders, that’s a hell of a lot of pizza.
Ann went to pay her internet bill, the office of which was swarming with press trying to feed their stories. The owner was sitting on his balcony with a pair of binoculars, Ann thought he may be watching the battleships, but no, he was watching a whale in the bay spurting water from its blowhole. Surprisingly enough we haven’t had mass cancellations of tourists for later in the year, I guess divers are made of sterner stuff. I saw the same thing in Egypt after the Sharm bomb, the dive industry wasn’t affected as badly as I thought it would be.
We have a sense of Déjà Vu every evening when we venture two doors down to the Esplanada. Its getting very boring, but you have to get out of the house. The same faces every night, the press and the Embassy staff. According to the Embassy, half the Brits are still here, a hardy bunch. The Australian troops have issued two numbers for people to call if they see trouble in their area; the problem is getting this information to the local people. Many are fleeing their homes with their possessions because they don’t feel safe, but have no idea where to go. Whereas the troops are now encouraging people to return home so normality can be restored. We were watching a beautiful sunset when this double mattress walked past, you could hardly see the guy behind it. One of the press was running around the street taking photographs of a lady heavily laden with her possessions on her head. He then stopped to get a different shot and the lady had to struggle into the road to walk round him. I ripped him off a strip for that.
The government have been in meetings all day, and everyone is awaiting the outcome. There is not a simple solution but hopefully there will be one that sees peace restored in this beautiful country very soon. And I can get back to diving some of the best reefs in the world.
Monday, May 29, 2006
Sod the limes! Peace will do – East Timor 29/5/06
In times of civil unrest, refugees, water shortages and burnt out houses, it really pisses you off when someone moans that they are really fed up with the situation because they can’t buy any petrol! To put some perspective on this, Wayne and the TV crew saved a 12 year old boy from being beheaded by a rival gang yesterday, so this whinging didn’t go down too well, obviously.
It’s reported that 50,000 refugees are in 35 camps around the city of Dili. Talking to a representative of World Aid last night, their problem is that the Timorese drivers are too scared to go to the camps so food is not being delivered. I've offered voluntary services to both World Aid and IMO (The International Organisation for Migration), but so far they haven’t taken me up on it. What they really need drivers that know the backstreets of Dili like the back of their hand.
We had our first glimpse of the Australian troops today, an armoured vehicle hurtling past the house, god it was noisy. One of the British Embassy staff agreed last night we are probably in the safest area of Dili. If trouble starts in Embassy Alley then it’s definitely time to leave the country.
Over 1000 troops have been deployed to East Timor. The Australian troops are focussing on disarming the rebels. One of the journalists had a great shot of a pile machetes, swords, arrows and axes, on top of which was a nice pair of hairdressers scissors with pink plastic handles. It reminds me of airport checks for nail clippers.
To top it all we had a phone call from one of our regular divers, he was sitting with a bloke that was stuck here for 10 days (probably on a visa run), who wanted to know if he could get some diving in while he was here. Well if the safety situation and the weather situation calm down in the next few days, then bring it on! This slightly unrealistic request did make us smile.
It’s reported that 50,000 refugees are in 35 camps around the city of Dili. Talking to a representative of World Aid last night, their problem is that the Timorese drivers are too scared to go to the camps so food is not being delivered. I've offered voluntary services to both World Aid and IMO (The International Organisation for Migration), but so far they haven’t taken me up on it. What they really need drivers that know the backstreets of Dili like the back of their hand.
We had our first glimpse of the Australian troops today, an armoured vehicle hurtling past the house, god it was noisy. One of the British Embassy staff agreed last night we are probably in the safest area of Dili. If trouble starts in Embassy Alley then it’s definitely time to leave the country.
Over 1000 troops have been deployed to East Timor. The Australian troops are focussing on disarming the rebels. One of the journalists had a great shot of a pile machetes, swords, arrows and axes, on top of which was a nice pair of hairdressers scissors with pink plastic handles. It reminds me of airport checks for nail clippers.
To top it all we had a phone call from one of our regular divers, he was sitting with a bloke that was stuck here for 10 days (probably on a visa run), who wanted to know if he could get some diving in while he was here. Well if the safety situation and the weather situation calm down in the next few days, then bring it on! This slightly unrealistic request did make us smile.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Wot no gin! East Timor 28th May 2006
We have now run out of gin, we had to drink it with lemon as we couldn’t get any limes, not quite the same. Dili is heaving with press; we even have a cameraman sleeping in my classroom tonight as all the hotels are full. The hotels are also rapidly running out of beer, food and cigarettes as the container ships bringing supplies from Australia cannot get in. There is also a shortage of petrol for the same reason, so even if the supermarkets were open, which they are not, you can’t get there. And as for paying for supplies, the banks are closed with no money in the ATM’s so cash is being brought in by the next plane load of journalists.
Flights are still coming in from Darwin but the Merpati flight from Bali has stopped. Bang goes the evacuation to an exotic location. The UN have upgraded to level 3 security alert so all non essential personnel have been evacuated. Jurgen begrudgingly text me this morning as he didn’t want to leave, saying he was on a flight to Darwin did I need anything? Yes, gin and limes!
Thousands of Timorese are fleeing the city, taxis hare past full to the brim with people sitting in the open boot, however, the Australian troops have gone some way to quell the panic. Apparently the churches are full of refugees. Whereas before the Dili residents fled to the mountains, this time that’s where most of the trouble is, so the inner city churches are packed.
In times like this it is enlightening to see the fish and chicken vendors setting up their barbeques on the beach. Some entrepreneurs have put the price of phone cards up to $15 for a $10 card and occasionally you get an opportunist cigarette seller going door to door. The British Embassy advised us to stay indoors but we ran into both the Ambassador and the 2nd in command at the Esplanada last night. Well everyone has to eat!
The fighting is hooligans, they have no axe to grind with westerners, but as a precaution Wayne and the crew drive around with their arms out of the car so the colour of their skin can be seen. In the midst of the fighting these guys will shout ‘Hello mister’ whilst being pursued by Australian troops. One NZ reporter I was talking to last night almost got caught in crossfire, but I guess that goes with territory.
But as for me, i'm getting bored, our amusement of the day is watching the dogs play. Someone has upset the wind gods, probably Australian troops hot legging through sacred trees, so even if we could go diving, the water is too choppy. Ill never complain about not having enough days off again!
Flights are still coming in from Darwin but the Merpati flight from Bali has stopped. Bang goes the evacuation to an exotic location. The UN have upgraded to level 3 security alert so all non essential personnel have been evacuated. Jurgen begrudgingly text me this morning as he didn’t want to leave, saying he was on a flight to Darwin did I need anything? Yes, gin and limes!
Thousands of Timorese are fleeing the city, taxis hare past full to the brim with people sitting in the open boot, however, the Australian troops have gone some way to quell the panic. Apparently the churches are full of refugees. Whereas before the Dili residents fled to the mountains, this time that’s where most of the trouble is, so the inner city churches are packed.
In times like this it is enlightening to see the fish and chicken vendors setting up their barbeques on the beach. Some entrepreneurs have put the price of phone cards up to $15 for a $10 card and occasionally you get an opportunist cigarette seller going door to door. The British Embassy advised us to stay indoors but we ran into both the Ambassador and the 2nd in command at the Esplanada last night. Well everyone has to eat!
The fighting is hooligans, they have no axe to grind with westerners, but as a precaution Wayne and the crew drive around with their arms out of the car so the colour of their skin can be seen. In the midst of the fighting these guys will shout ‘Hello mister’ whilst being pursued by Australian troops. One NZ reporter I was talking to last night almost got caught in crossfire, but I guess that goes with territory.
But as for me, i'm getting bored, our amusement of the day is watching the dogs play. Someone has upset the wind gods, probably Australian troops hot legging through sacred trees, so even if we could go diving, the water is too choppy. Ill never complain about not having enough days off again!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
What no limes! – East Timor 26th May 2006
East Timor has been full of firsts for me, my first leaf scorpionfish, my first Divemaster course, my first solo dive commercial job, my first earthquake, my first evacuation briefing by the British Embassy and the first time an Australian battleship has obscured by normally idyllic view of the sea. Living in East Timor at the moment is interesting, actually, its not, its bloody boring because we have all be told to leave the country or stay at home, so no diving!
There was a great episode in the series ‘The West Wing’ where the word ‘recession’ was not allowed to be used, so they used ‘biscuit’ instead. Back in April we started with a ‘biscuit’, scrotes running amok, vandalising and looting, somewhat akin to football hooligans. This was quoted by ABC News as ‘Pitched battles on the streets of Dili’, really? Where? Unfortunately, just recently the situation rose to the status of ‘bagel’, then ‘baguette’, and now we are at ‘bloomer’ or ‘damper’ for the Australian troops.
The British Embassy have been pretty cool keeping us informed, they didn’t rise to the hysteria levels of the Australians who evacuated all non-essential personnel after the first shot was fired. They did give us a great briefing regarding our options and evacuation procedures if it became necessary, pack a run bag, keep your passport on you etc. This was served with a smile, orange juice and biscuits (the edible kind), all very British. In an open forum of questions, the most important question raised was ‘Does anyone know where I can get some limes?’, if we were going to be confined to barracks we needed to stock up on the essential things such as food, water, gin, tonic and of course, limes. A G&T is just not the same without it!
That briefing did change the atmosphere, having to pack my bags made me weigh up the options of leaving. Wayne was assessing which room in the house was the safest, the one surrounded by most internal structural walls, to shield from bullets. That was a bit too much realism for me.
Driving around later in a lime pursuit, the streets of Dili were quiet, most of the cart vendors had packed and few cars were on the road. But the beaches were lined with smiling Timorese faces, they were watching the Australian battleship coming across the horizon, a welcome sight because the vast majority here just want to see and end to it. They had 25 years of fighting, with their homes burned and their love ones tortured and murdered, the last thing they want is a small faction reeking mayhem in their country.
The hotels are packed with journalists, one joker even checked in the Esplanada with a surfboard! He’s optimistic. My boss being an ex-war correspondent, and knowing the Dili streets like the back of his hand has landed himself a few days work as a driver. Well, we may as well use the dive truck for something as we can't go diving. He came back yesterday full of adrenaline, he’s having a great time back in the saddle. He brought in a couple of bullet proof vests, those things are really heavy, how anyone is supposed to run with that thing on, god only knows, its about the same weight as scuba gear.
There is fighting, there is bang-bang (a journo term!), there are dead (reportedly), but living with two ex-journalists has taught me to put things into perspective, it's not in my backyard. I live on the waterfront in Dili, in embassy alley. It seems essential here that all embassies have a huge amount of land and a sea view. So in a way it’s probably one of the safest parts of Dili as very few Timorese (or anyone else for that matter) live on this stretch of road.
Dili is a small place and the rumour mill is rife, people gossip and the press pick up on it, half the time its blown way out of proportion. I’ve heard everything from Xanana Gusmao has overturned the government and put the military in charge, to Xanana’s house has been attacked by a machete wielding mob, all of which just wasn’t true; it's like Chinese whispers in a small city like this. What doesn’t help is the Australian TV networks using footage from the violence of 1999, most public viewers would think the footage was from today, not 7 years ago.
At the moment our peace is broken not by gunfire, but by low flying helicopters. Everyone is optimistic that the situation will be resolved promptly, especially when the Australian forces that have been shipped in here actually outnumber the Timorese Army and Police together.
There was a bit of panic this morning with Timorese packing bags and leaving the city, but we have now been informed by Wayne our personal eye-witness reporter, that hundreds of Australian troops are marching down the main street of Dili, reassuring the locals that the city is safe, which is exactly what is needed.
We all hope that it is over soon, as the country is beautiful, the people so friendly and the diving is some of the best I’ve ever done in 14 years of diving.
East Timor has been full of firsts for me, my first leaf scorpionfish, my first Divemaster course, my first solo dive commercial job, my first earthquake, my first evacuation briefing by the British Embassy and the first time an Australian battleship has obscured by normally idyllic view of the sea. Living in East Timor at the moment is interesting, actually, its not, its bloody boring because we have all be told to leave the country or stay at home, so no diving!
There was a great episode in the series ‘The West Wing’ where the word ‘recession’ was not allowed to be used, so they used ‘biscuit’ instead. Back in April we started with a ‘biscuit’, scrotes running amok, vandalising and looting, somewhat akin to football hooligans. This was quoted by ABC News as ‘Pitched battles on the streets of Dili’, really? Where? Unfortunately, just recently the situation rose to the status of ‘bagel’, then ‘baguette’, and now we are at ‘bloomer’ or ‘damper’ for the Australian troops.
The British Embassy have been pretty cool keeping us informed, they didn’t rise to the hysteria levels of the Australians who evacuated all non-essential personnel after the first shot was fired. They did give us a great briefing regarding our options and evacuation procedures if it became necessary, pack a run bag, keep your passport on you etc. This was served with a smile, orange juice and biscuits (the edible kind), all very British. In an open forum of questions, the most important question raised was ‘Does anyone know where I can get some limes?’, if we were going to be confined to barracks we needed to stock up on the essential things such as food, water, gin, tonic and of course, limes. A G&T is just not the same without it!
That briefing did change the atmosphere, having to pack my bags made me weigh up the options of leaving. Wayne was assessing which room in the house was the safest, the one surrounded by most internal structural walls, to shield from bullets. That was a bit too much realism for me.
Driving around later in a lime pursuit, the streets of Dili were quiet, most of the cart vendors had packed and few cars were on the road. But the beaches were lined with smiling Timorese faces, they were watching the Australian battleship coming across the horizon, a welcome sight because the vast majority here just want to see and end to it. They had 25 years of fighting, with their homes burned and their love ones tortured and murdered, the last thing they want is a small faction reeking mayhem in their country.
The hotels are packed with journalists, one joker even checked in the Esplanada with a surfboard! He’s optimistic. My boss being an ex-war correspondent, and knowing the Dili streets like the back of his hand has landed himself a few days work as a driver. Well, we may as well use the dive truck for something as we can't go diving. He came back yesterday full of adrenaline, he’s having a great time back in the saddle. He brought in a couple of bullet proof vests, those things are really heavy, how anyone is supposed to run with that thing on, god only knows, its about the same weight as scuba gear.
There is fighting, there is bang-bang (a journo term!), there are dead (reportedly), but living with two ex-journalists has taught me to put things into perspective, it's not in my backyard. I live on the waterfront in Dili, in embassy alley. It seems essential here that all embassies have a huge amount of land and a sea view. So in a way it’s probably one of the safest parts of Dili as very few Timorese (or anyone else for that matter) live on this stretch of road.
Dili is a small place and the rumour mill is rife, people gossip and the press pick up on it, half the time its blown way out of proportion. I’ve heard everything from Xanana Gusmao has overturned the government and put the military in charge, to Xanana’s house has been attacked by a machete wielding mob, all of which just wasn’t true; it's like Chinese whispers in a small city like this. What doesn’t help is the Australian TV networks using footage from the violence of 1999, most public viewers would think the footage was from today, not 7 years ago.
At the moment our peace is broken not by gunfire, but by low flying helicopters. Everyone is optimistic that the situation will be resolved promptly, especially when the Australian forces that have been shipped in here actually outnumber the Timorese Army and Police together.
There was a bit of panic this morning with Timorese packing bags and leaving the city, but we have now been informed by Wayne our personal eye-witness reporter, that hundreds of Australian troops are marching down the main street of Dili, reassuring the locals that the city is safe, which is exactly what is needed.
We all hope that it is over soon, as the country is beautiful, the people so friendly and the diving is some of the best I’ve ever done in 14 years of diving.
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