Time flies when you’re having fun

Heck, its a week before Christmas and I’ve barely thought about that tinsley event.  I must confess that my little-uns managed a successful winging and whining campaign that led to their noble anti-plastic father buying a plastic christmas tree! (once again, shame on me).  But here we are with a plastic Christmas tree lovingly decorated in purple tinsel and silver baubles flying in the face of every eco, moral and spiritual fibre of my body.
 
Serenity doing time at an old prison for whinging so much about not having a Christmas tree.
Back to less shameful topics…

I had a visit from an old friend, Marty, who came to drive the whole water filter thing forward.  He roped in his Timorese friend, Gaspar, to be involved in testing and hopefully developing a strategy for getting water filters successfully into people’s houses. 

Strangely, many Timorese in Dili have enough money and persuasion to buy filtered water for their houses.  They can actually filter their own drinking water using one of these ceramic filters.  Gaspar hopes to go to Luro to see how villagers have been using systems similar to these and what they think about it.  We think that Timorese will consider buying this product.  Gaspar may be able to set up a small business assembling filter systems and selling them.
Cynth has been working very hard helping the girls in the sewing room meet various orders before Chrissy.  One highlight was making a croc for the opening of new facilities at the Xanana Reading Room.  Xanana (TL Prime Minister) read us a crocodile story while a bunch of Timorese kids sat on cushions made by Belle Kria.  We also had the job of stretching a couple of his canvas paintings onto frames. 

Cynth and her confidence in stretching canvas
These were painted during his time in Cipinang prison in Indonesia.  (He was imprisoned for around 10 years?)  I was very nervously firing staples into Xanana’s canvas, but Cynthia was taking it all in her stride.

Back of painting:  ‘Cruel ? and life’ Xanana

Xanana, Cip(inang Prison), August, ‘94
One cool seed delivery was to Atauro.  Tobias got a job to distribute over a tonne of seed to 6 villages along the west coast of the island.  The little boat was a tad overloaded but the seas were calm. 

Loading seed into our boat in Dili.

Tobias gets the good seed to farmers on a rocky coast on the island just as the rains arrive.  (its packed in recycled water bottles).
They have very small cobs of corn and low yields.  In some villages they build a small house to store the corn with tin sheet wrapped around the posts to stop rats getting up and into the corn.  This becomes the family shed and stores grain, seed, fruit, legumes, timber and tools.




Corn cobs still in their husk, stored in the shed.

Seed and Jesus Comics to the island.

Going out with the kids in the late afternoon to catch dinner with a very long home made spear gun.
Timor Leste was once a Portuguese colony.  At Maubara there still remains an old prison that stopped operating in 1939.  Prisoners were sent here for crimes such as not paying taxes.  If you had no money (like most Timorese) you could kindly opt for doing forced labour which, if you disagreed could also land you in a place like this.

The cells were in the foundations, note the lower window, while the prison staff lived on top I suppose.

Soldiers barracks next to the prison.
  In 1925, a political prisoner, Manual Carrascalao was deported here from Portugal and tortured at the age of 24.  He ended up getting out, finding a wife, and became the manager of a successful farm up in the mountains behind this prison.  He did all sorts of cool things at this farm including coffee and vegetables and there is a fascinating round solid granite stone up there which I assume was for a flour mill.  This farm, called Fazenda Algarve, is hidden at the end of a rough road.  I found it in my search for old Portuguese weather stations because we have some old weather data from this site that is more complete than many other sites.  The farm still operates very well, is still owned by the Carrascalao family and is a testament to the skills of this entrepreneurial young man.

The old granite mill stone lying on the ground at Fazenda Algarve – fair chance Manuel had something to do with this time-less piece of rock.

On the Run

I went on a big 3 day trip to the south side of the island to inspect some corn fields.  This is part of the work I do for an agricultural NGO called Seeds of Life.  My job was to look at their problem of drying corn.  The southerners like to get in 2 crops of corn in the wet season so the first crop has the problem of how to get it dry before it goes rotten.  Basically drying corn is about spreading it out on the ground or on tarps for a few days until its dry enough for shelling (taking the kernels off).  What happens if it rains during those days?  Your crop could be stuffed.  Its sort of important to avoid this.  A farmer can usually cope with this problem with the normal meagre yield but since East Timor is progressing we have the pleasant problem of how to dry several tonnes of corn in one go.  For most farmers groups visited, SoL will provide new large tarps (plastic sheets) for drying.  One group of seed producers is looking at a yield of around 4 tonnes so the plan is to assist them to build a simple thatched shelter of 6m x 20m for undercover drying.  The exciting thing about this particular task is that SoL is not just paying for it but loaning them the finances (aprrox. $1200).  Then they will buy the seed and pay them the price minus the loan.  SoL is happy to pay a good price, $1.50/kg as opposed to their normal 80c/kg, so the locals seem pretty happy (4 tonnes would yield $6000).  The reason I like it is that its not just another donated gift.   Being a loan, the Timorese need to weigh up the benefits of the drying facility against the cost that ultimately comes from them.  The ultimate question will be, “Will I lose more than $1200 worth of corn if I didn’t have this drying facility?”  Given that a couple of years ago they lost almost the whole crop due to this problem then  I think it’d be a good investment.  We got to stay in a very well appointed Nun’s accommodation facility while there.  They were also already well stocked with Bibles which made me happy.  The guy in the hat is Budi, an agriculture advisor from Nepal that I work with.
Straight after this I was off again on a two day journey with some jovial Japanese to Venilale in the mountains behind Baucau.  Bit of a bummer as it meant 5 days away from the family.  We drove passed a site in the mountains where 60 years ago, the Japanese forced Timorese to dig caves into the mountains to store artillery to fight the Aussies.  Strange isn’t it – driving happily in a car with a Timorese, 2 Japanese and me the Aussie where 60 years ago our grandfathers fought each other.  Hmmm… anyway, back to the story of doing penance for our sins … This was to inspect a site and meet a group for a small biogas digester.  I had a rushed meeting friday night with a Japanese expert and subsequently changed my neatly thought out design for a digester :(  .  Its a cool mountain location which is concerning as biogas (methane from poo) is best produced at around 33 deg. C.  They put on a very nice big feed on Saturday and since we got no where near finished I’m pretty sure they served it up again on Saturday night (no fridges mind, and no guarantee the beast was killed that day either) and since we still didn’t finish Saturday night, I’m pretty sure they served it up again on Sunday morning – reason being, I’ve been suffering terribly bad diarrhea and have been on the run ever since, so to speak.

Soibada – Mary’s Heart

They say that Soibada was once planned to be the capital of East Timor. It is right in the heart of the country and is home to the national sanctuary for Mary, the mother of Jesus. In its hay day it was the centre of excellence and the main training centre for Priests. Many famous folks like Jose Ramos Horta spent schooling days here.


   

My family in ruins!

Those days are gone now and the town is left with the ancient ruins of a bygone era. There is an incredible feel as you wander through the deserted old stone buildings. The Timorese boys led us into dark and dusty rooms with the old relics of the church. One boy motioned to a body under a blanket and said in all seriousness, “That’s the dead lady.” Cautiously I lifted up the blanket to find a statue of Jesus, crucified. I was surprised – perhaps a little horrified. That here in this place after such teaching, they still didn’t know who had died for them.
In Soibada, there is a children’s home which we visited with our friends – Darren and Celeste, and Josh, Josiah and Renee. A couple of lovely nuns here look after around 40 kids. Darren and Celeste brought up a heap of stationary for the kids and checked out the laptops that they brought last time they were up. We were able to give some women’s sanitary pads from Cynthia’s sewing room kindly donated by funds from friends of Celeste (she’s been busy fundraising in Melbourne). I also got to take them around 70 scriptures and share a story with the kids on the gospel of Mark.  The juice was running so I got the kids to act out some scenes which they really enjoyed.  I walked around with Sister Mary, one of the nuns and asked what their needs were.  She said that water was very difficult for them.  There are lots of issues surrounding their water difficulty.  We found two potential sites to dig for water but unfortunately these sites were sacred and couldn’t be touched.  It was looking grim when Sister Mary finally mentioned that they have a little problem with their kitchen in that when they sweep the floor a puddle of water forms always in the same spot coming from underneath the concrete.  This is downhill from a potential spring – it would be funny if God heard Sister Mary’s heart and gave them water right there in their kitchen.  I am not sure though if I will ever get back to help them with their water problem.  Many issues like this don’t have a quick fix.  It is better to walk with them over time to truly know the problem and give more time to help them through it.  Never the less it was great to be there and encourage them in their ministry and see how they operate.  I pray that God looks kindly on this children’s home and blesses Mary’s heart.
 

Chugging Along

Click on the movie to download while you read if you want to.  Its 8Mb, a walk through our new home nearlyish complete.

We are all fairly well.  Israel is a bit sick.  It probably doesn’t help that he tears around outside most of the day in the dust and poo from various different living organisms.  Samuel has been away for another 4 days trying to run some semblance of a building program.  His latest pull-your-hair-out drama is the windows and doors.  It was eventually agreed that all the windows and doors need replacing.  He arranged a subcontract through the building contractor to get them professionally made.  Both the contractor who is a Timorese architect trained in London and the head carpenter came on site to measure up the doors and windows.  Now they are being delivered on site only to find that many of them are 10-15cm out in width and length.  This turns a window installation job of 2 hours into 8 hours in this country.  Its just a major hassle that wouldn’t have to happen if only they could use a tape measure.  I will learn my lesson one day I suppose.
Friday, 20th, May, was the 9th anniversary of “The Restoration of Independence of Timor Leste”.  They put in ‘restoration’ to make the point that they got independence for a few months back in ‘75 only to lose it again to the Indonesians.
The Mission Base (which is about to undergo a name change) is chugging along without much involvement from Samuel.  We just check it out once a week, suck in our breath at the interesting building techniques, and go “cant wait to move in”.  Check out the movie if you can wait for the download. 




We still distribute some Bibles.  We are waiting for a big wig in the Nazarene Church to come and talk about the design of their complex.   There’s a bit of a design here.  Its Samuel’s first go at using a real CAD program. 
Sese, the evangelist, got a motorbike and is able to get around and visit different places and villages.  He also has connections to the Catholic Bible publishing group which can give me a way in to get Bibles.
We gave Mateus a small loan to buy materials to help build a school in the mountains and this is moving along.
We are involved in other odd jobs whenever people can nail us like advice for a microfinance org on solar and battery backup power systems so remote workers can crunch numbers using excel on a laptop and print forms for village applicants.

Murderers and Thieves

We are happy to report that we are all well.  We have an announcement to make about an increase in the size of our family.  I might as well make it official – much to my chagrin – we have a cat.  Not that I dont like cats and all.  Its just that I think they belong in Egypt with all those mummies.  But one must have a positive attitude on things so I will admit that it does do the cute thing … sometimes.  It has pooed on me though which I will count against it and the verdict is still pending as to whether it will prove a worthy member of the family and knock off a few rats.  Not that I dont like rats and all.  Its just that I think that they belong … well somewhere else.  We humans are a nasty lot.  But the cat does keep Cynthia and the kids very happy so I will be content with that.
Much of my time through the week has been spent in a place called Baucau putting a new roof on an agricultural station in a village called Triloka.  Baucau itself is the second biggest ‘city’ in the country and has some beautiful old buildings built in Portuguese times.  Many of the Portuguese used to live here as the climate was milder.  It is built on the side of limestone cliffs and is oozing with spring water everywhere.  There is so much water in this place it bubbles up out of potholes in the streets.  The roof replacement has been difficult.  Some of the men I work with have killed more men with machetes than I care to think about.  We were up on the roof the other day waiting for something to be passed up and one of the men tells me about the torturing he went through in the past – during the times of Indonesian occupation.  Indonesian rule spread from the west to the east as they tried to stamp out the resistance and catch the rebels.  Some of the Timorese sided with the Indonesians and would turn in their brothers and kill them for a fee - $200 a month.  It doesn’t seem much, but it would have been a pretty good wage back in the 80’s and 90’s.  Anyway, that survival spirit still lives on and I find myself in a bit of a diplomatic challenge as they nicely explain that there’s going to be trouble if I don’t give work to so and so.  Add to that the thieves who seemed to be able to steal building materials before they touched the ground.  Roofing never seemed so hard.  Throw in a flat tyre, landslips, barely standing bridges, more rats and a broken fan belt out in woop woop and you’ve probably got a pretty good picture of the last couple of weeks.  Its work though so I cant complain I suppose.
The mission base/our home is still coming along and roof timbers have been half installed.  We are designing a complex for the Dili Nazarene church which is pretty exciting.  We are giving some support to Mateus to build a school in the mountains.  We are also being there for a young man called Sese who has a vision for discipleship groups across the country.  
The Sewing room is still chugging along.  Sinta has another order of 18 cloth books for the library in Gleno.  Mending jobs keep flowing in so she has been a bit busy.  A week ago we tried to employ a second trained woman (Sintas friend) however our neighbour kindly suggested it would not be a wise idea to employ someone from another area.  Apparently it has to be family, or someone from this small village/suburb.  Sinta could train someone but it means she cant be working at the same time. And at the moment we have just been too busy to spare her to train.  Still trying to work out how to move forward.  We are waiting with bated breath for the arrival of a crate of vintage machines and fabric etc.