Brendan, Bernadette, Therese, and I stayed in the volunteer house with everyone. It was a blessing to get to see them again because they are our closest family here since we were with most of them for three months in Rome.
Journey From Dili to Baucau
After trying to catch a mikrolet to Baucau for a couple of hours, we gave up because each one that pulled up was packed. Many people who work and study in Dili are from Baucau and everyone was going home for Christmas. Luckily a few of the Sisters were in town and needed to go back to Baucau, so we all crowded in for the three hour trip, three people in the back of the pick up truck with boxes of Christmas stuff.
While we were waiting to picked up by the Sisters, Brendan had a go at palm tree-climbing. He was pretty good, but the coconuts weren’t ripe yet so he didn’t bring us down any : )
During the trip I was inside the truck with the Sisters because everyone else wanted to be in the back, but it was good because I got more commentary on stuff that we passed and learned some from the Sisters and Dogmara.
Most of the trip was along the coastline and we were all in awe of the beauty of the ocean. I think that’s one of the greatest resources that the East Timorese have: the raw beauty of their land. We’ll show you pictures, but it’s different when you’re here. In a brochure we saw the best word it used to describe East Timor was “unspoilt.” At first I wasn’t sure it was a word, but they were right either way – the land has not been spoiled or changed very much and the hardcore people who come to visit here will see things that they can’t see many other places in the world I think.
Here in the distance you can see Cristo Rey – the statue of Jesus Christ, the King. He watches over the swimmers at Cristo Rey Beach, the strip of white sand you can see in the distance. It is the second biggest statue of Jesus in the world – right after the statue in Brazil. We’ll get better pictures when we have a chance to hike up there.
Besides the great ocean views, we saw refugee camps along the way. Many people who fled Dili during the fighting have stayed outside the city and set up little communities higher up in the mountains. It’s just shocking that it’s been almost three years since then and they are still there. We also see similar refugee camps around the city of Dili, where many families still reside. To those of us who are new, it’s easy to wonder why they haven’t gone home now that the situation is better, but as you are around the city more you can still see evidence of the conflict – burned out homes and businesses. These people might have lost everything during 2006 (or in the 1999 conflict with Indonesia before) and had no money or way to begin again. It’s all a lot to think about, but I’m sure we’ll keep finding out more about the situation while we’re here. After we had passed some of the refugee camps and some villages – all with very friendly people and kids yelling “Hello Mister” to us – we went back into the uninhabited hills. We saw the mountains where marble had once been mined with big stones all over the hills and evidence of the process. On a more somber note, we saw the forests on the hills that many of the local people think our haunted. After the vote for independence in 1999, the Indonesian militia pulled out, wreaking havoc as they went. Many Timorese were massacred up in these hills.
On a happier note, we saw the new school that the Canossian Sisters are building in Manatutu, a big village between Dili and Baucau. It won’t be like the Comoro school where we are teaching, but it will be like the schools they have set up in Baucau and Nurobo, West Timor.
There they have a 10-month program for young women to help them learn things that they will need to know either to be a mother or get a job. They have classes on cooking, sewing, hotel and restaurant management, English, computers, and other practical classes. The girls come in from many of the outer villages and board at the school. I’ve heard that it’s been very effective and from the looks of it, I believe it (Dogmara gave us a tour of the school in Baucau).
Pretty nice old school sewing machines, with the manual foot pedal and everything, but we were amazed by the clothing we saw hanging up. It looked store ready!
They also have involved the girls in some business initiatives. At the school they produce and sell soap locally, but even more importantly they’ve developed a vitamin powder for children. The vitamin powder has been picked up by an NGO who have bought tons of it to give out across the island, especially in the rural villages. Just a few people making a big difference!
Everywhere we’ve been we’ve been so impressed by the work of the Canossian Sisters and am so proud to be volunteering with them! They have been in East Timor for 130 years and the people have a deep respect for them. When we introduced ourselves to people in our neighborhood and told them we were volunteering with the Canossians they said they appreciated the Canossians because of their work with the poor and all the young people whose lives they touched through medical work and especially education.
And for those of you who are a little afraid for our safety, with the Sisters we’re about as safe as we can be. The people in our neighborhood see us with the Sisters often, and we’re always in close contact with them or visiting with them at the school or in the convents. It’s quite a blessing.
Exploring Baucau
We made it to Baucau, had a joyful reunion, and eventually got some sleep. The next afternoon we all went for a hike around town (it is like a hike because it’s in the mountains and super hilly).
While we were hiking around, out of nowhere we here a voice, “Mr. Egan, Mr. Egan!!!” It was one of Brendan’s English students from the Canossian university in Dili. He was home in Baucau for Christmas and came running over to say hi. At that moment he had been hanging out with some friends who were artists. So we asked if we could see their work in the one room art exhibition that they had set up and he showed us around. Their work was beautiful – there were carvings and painting and drawings. He showed off his friends’ work proudly. He said he also used to carve, but since he’s at university he hasn’t been able to do it.
Here is Brendan with a local artist and his semester 1 English student (on the right).
Here is one of the paintings in their exhibition. It shows a traditional East Timorese house next to a waterfall.As we left the art studio we saw some of the other teenage artists across the street working on their nativity.
To explain more, nativities are the only Christmas decorations that we’ve seen in East Timor, but they go “all out” creating them. Families and groups of teens all over the city seem to have a competition on who can make the best nativity. They are made from wood, have roofs of dried grasses, and many have paintings of the Holy Family in them. In Dili, many of them had Christmas lights all over. So Christmas lights weren’t used on individual houses, just on the nativities which were the highlight of each neighborhood.
To explain more, nativities are the only Christmas decorations that we’ve seen in East Timor, but they go “all out” creating them. Families and groups of teens all over the city seem to have a competition on who can make the best nativity. They are made from wood, have roofs of dried grasses, and many have paintings of the Holy Family in them. In Dili, many of them had Christmas lights all over. So Christmas lights weren’t used on individual houses, just on the nativities which were the highlight of each neighborhood.
It’s amazing how focused their Christmas is on the real meaning of Christmas: Jesus’ birthday for goodness sake!!! It was a little bit shocking and soooo refreshing to have no commercialism, no Santa, just Jesus… But we’ll tell you more about how they celebrate Christmas later, but as for the lead up to Christmas, the nativities seemed to be the biggest thing.
In Baucau we saw many nativities as people frantically finished them before Christmas Eve. Here are a few examples.
They even had two-story ones. Here’s a Swiss Family Robinson-style nativity.
Creating nativities from scratch was obviously time-consuming, but beautiful family affair that helped people get ready for Christmas. We finished the hike by walking up the hills and up some steep stairs to a local grotto/cave where we prayed together before heading back down to work on supper : )
K, talk to you soon!
Love,
Rachel and Brendan
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