Today the ballot papers have arrived in Maliana! I say Maliana because I'm not sure if they have made it to any of the other districts other than Dili. After three trips to the helipad we almost thought the chopper wasn't going to make it, between the bureaucracy of getting the material on board and the heavy rain that was threatening to fall at any moment, we held our breaths...But it did arrive, 4 hours late and through the torrential rain we managed to get all our boxes out onto the STAE car, monitored all the time by CNE and accompanied by PNTL (Timor Leste Police Force). The chopper, however, had to wait another couple of hours until the rain subsided to go to the other districts that were still waiting for their ballot papers!
At one point, we even though that the date of the elections would have to be changed. After all, there were 750,000 ballot papers to stamp because of the death of one of the candidates! With the help of young Timorese volunteers and by calling all the troops (STAE) that were nearby back to Dili, STAE was able to stamp out all the papers on time, albeit having to sleep at the headquarters and work through the night in shifts!
I also found myself working at night this past Saturday. We spent all of Saturday filling up the ballot boxes with the non-sensitive material: pens, notebook, stapplers, ink pads, rulers, nails - yes, nails...the voting will be done by nails given the high illiteracy of the country, people will just run a hole through the candidate that they want with the nail... talk about being punched in the face!
So Saturday STAE headquarters had all 405 ballot boxes destined to be sent to the subdistricts and polling stations and polling centres and someone needed to guard them so lucky me, I got the first shift! I was stationed at STAE from 6 'till 9:30pm just watching ballot boxes...did I fail to mention that it was me and another 8 guys! Honestly, I don't really know why they needed me, but at least I had plenty of time to sort out my itunes! I should count myself lucky that there was public electricity and I could spend that time online listening to music, I think I would have gone crazy otherwise! I knew that it was time to call it a night however when the STAE guys decided to put their music at the highest decibel their radio could handle - I don't know if this was to keep them awake through the night or to warn outsiders that there were people there, all I know it scared me away from my guard post!
Now all we're missing is the ink...you may be wondering, what do you need ink for if you've got nails? Well, here, in order to prevent people from voting twice, after they vote they need to dunk their index finger in a pot of indelible ink which proves not only that they have voted but also that they can no longer vote again, it take at least a week for the ink to come off so they are ready for the second round of elections should it come to that! The Timorese are very proud of thei inked fingers and I'm really looking forward to the great photos I'll get with people with their index fingers up :D
All I'm hoping for now is for a really sunny day on the 16th which is when about 40 cars head out of Maliana with all the ballot boxes and voting cabins and material out to each and every polling station and centre in the district of Bobonaro (68 polling centres and 81 polling stations). If it rains like it did today we can say goodbye to the helicopters - we have 6 inaccessible places that NEED helicopter access but if there is inclement weather the chopper won't fly and Plan B and C need to come into action - by foot or by horses!! Horses don't like me so I'm really not looking forward to having to rely on one to get me across!
We have 3 more days of night shifts guarding our precious electoral material. If it has to rain, let it be during these 3 days - just let the chopper land tomorrow so we can get our ink!
At one point, we even though that the date of the elections would have to be changed. After all, there were 750,000 ballot papers to stamp because of the death of one of the candidates! With the help of young Timorese volunteers and by calling all the troops (STAE) that were nearby back to Dili, STAE was able to stamp out all the papers on time, albeit having to sleep at the headquarters and work through the night in shifts!
I also found myself working at night this past Saturday. We spent all of Saturday filling up the ballot boxes with the non-sensitive material: pens, notebook, stapplers, ink pads, rulers, nails - yes, nails...the voting will be done by nails given the high illiteracy of the country, people will just run a hole through the candidate that they want with the nail... talk about being punched in the face!
So Saturday STAE headquarters had all 405 ballot boxes destined to be sent to the subdistricts and polling stations and polling centres and someone needed to guard them so lucky me, I got the first shift! I was stationed at STAE from 6 'till 9:30pm just watching ballot boxes...did I fail to mention that it was me and another 8 guys! Honestly, I don't really know why they needed me, but at least I had plenty of time to sort out my itunes! I should count myself lucky that there was public electricity and I could spend that time online listening to music, I think I would have gone crazy otherwise! I knew that it was time to call it a night however when the STAE guys decided to put their music at the highest decibel their radio could handle - I don't know if this was to keep them awake through the night or to warn outsiders that there were people there, all I know it scared me away from my guard post!
Now all we're missing is the ink...you may be wondering, what do you need ink for if you've got nails? Well, here, in order to prevent people from voting twice, after they vote they need to dunk their index finger in a pot of indelible ink which proves not only that they have voted but also that they can no longer vote again, it take at least a week for the ink to come off so they are ready for the second round of elections should it come to that! The Timorese are very proud of thei inked fingers and I'm really looking forward to the great photos I'll get with people with their index fingers up :D
All I'm hoping for now is for a really sunny day on the 16th which is when about 40 cars head out of Maliana with all the ballot boxes and voting cabins and material out to each and every polling station and centre in the district of Bobonaro (68 polling centres and 81 polling stations). If it rains like it did today we can say goodbye to the helicopters - we have 6 inaccessible places that NEED helicopter access but if there is inclement weather the chopper won't fly and Plan B and C need to come into action - by foot or by horses!! Horses don't like me so I'm really not looking forward to having to rely on one to get me across!
We have 3 more days of night shifts guarding our precious electoral material. If it has to rain, let it be during these 3 days - just let the chopper land tomorrow so we can get our ink!
Very interesting, Filipa! I have been learning a lot!!! The ink - or lack of it! - plus the nails, ... I am praying for all the rain to pour now and up to the 16th, so you don't have to ride a horse to your destination... good luck!
ReplyDelete