Big Brother came to town

Mao Boot (to be read Maun Bot) came to Maliana today. it means Big Brother. That is what people call Xanana Gusmao, Timor's Prime Minister and leader of the CNRT party, a contender for the legislative elections.

This morning, as always, on waking up, I turn to my right to see what time it is...I don't have an alarm clock so I do this by looking at my electricity extension which has a light on it, if the light is still on, I know it's far too early for me to be up since electricity gets cut off at 6:30am. Today, however, the light was on but by looking at the window I could tell that it was already later than that, it was 7:12 and the electricity was still on! To what did we owe this priviledge?? My flatmate J told me, Xanana is coming, that's why!

To this I can only think of two reasons and neither are good. The first is: Xanana is coming so he allows the District Administrator (DA) to keep the electricity on to remind the people of what a great leader he is (none of the other candidates were given the same priviledge when they came to campaign...) or the second would be: the District Administrator thought that if Xanana is coming he must have electricity, he's the Prime Minister after all...none of these reasons are good, they are quite awful actually!!! So, do I need to thank Mao Boot for our good fortune in our extra hours of light or the DA? We keep hearing rumors that Maliana is to have 24/7 electricity any day now...with our luck it will happen after we have already left!

Xanana came to Maliana to campaign for his party, CNRT, he came to promise more things that apparently he hasn't been able to accomplish this time around and he came to ask the people to keep their trust in Mao Boot. There were thousands of people, on foot and in dump trucks, all lined up at Maliana's football field listening entranced to Mao Boot speak. It's uncanny, and actually a bit disconcerting, the power that the myth of Xanana holds over the Timorese people! They are ready to trust him blindly... Kind of reminds of 1984's Big Brother...It's very likely that his party will have a high result but he will not, however, win the majority, he already failed to do it last time around so he will need to form a coalition, let's just hope that the people will understand this time. The 2006-07 violence sprung from the fact that the party with the most votes failed to win because it failed to create a coalition and the people didn't understand this and rebelled against the winning coalition...

Meanwhile, however, at STAE bobonaro headquarters, we're busy checking 64,900 ballot papers, ONE by ONE! The ballot papers arrived on Tuesday with a ceremony and much fanfare. This time, STAE ordered the printing to be made in Indonesia to safeguard against fraud, it also inlcuded some nifty secrets in each ballot paper to assure their authenticity - honestly, I'm quite impressed - our ballot papers in Portugal are quite humdrum compared to the snazzy Timorese ones!
We haven't even gotten through half today, with more than 10 pairs of able hands doing the job. Every little flaw, scratch or ink stain needed to be verified and recorded, we even had to wear gloves to make sure we didn't damage them in the process!

My back is sore and my hands stink from the medical gloves but I'm happy because this is actually the fun part of the process...that is until our colleagues start putting "Ai ai se eu te pego" music in the office while we're checking the papers! Please, someone do me a favor and kill Michel Telo, he's causing me headaches!!

Tomorrow is Saturday but a working day for us with quite a few more boxes of papers to check. The night watches have also started - the ballot papers need to be under constant vigilance and we take turns doing it - my shift starts tomorrow so no weekend rest for me.

Oh well, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, with elections only one week away and my departure only 3 weeks away, everything is greeted with a smile these days!

A very special day

Today, June 21st, marks 5 months since my arrival in Timor Leste, a first time UNV arriving with bright eyes and excitement and adventure on her mind.

It also marks the 1 month countdown until my departure from Timor Leste, a weary, somewhat disappointed and exhausted shadow of her former self...

I have one month to go...somehow that seems to sum it all.

I will be counting these days avidly, deliriously wishing for that imminent day to arrive!

When I was called up for an interview to come I was asked 4, maybe 5 questions. One of them was, "are you ready to live in a post-conflict country with minimum to basic conditions?" Having lived in Angola during the civil war when power cuts and water shortages were more frequent than not, when we would wake up in the middle of the night with gunfire and where the sight of crippled or amputated men, women and children was a daily occurrence, I said "Yes, of course". And to be honest I was, I still am. I have never been one to cringe at camping it out, living with the bare necessities, making the most out of a dire situation...an optimist if we must stay, but living in Timor has taken a very unexpected toll on my sanity and well-being, two things which I am in a hurry to recover...
Don't get me wrong, I really liked my experience here. It has been like no other that I have ever had, in all senses. My national and international colleagues have been great and the elections have been really exciting, something I will never forget...

But I feel beaten down and everyday that passes something else occurs that only further instills in mind the need to go, to depart...maybe to come back another day, in a couple of years, when this country has had a better chance to grow, where it is not crippled by incompetence and nepotism. This country deserves more, it is beautiful, where, time willing, tourism will flourish and bring with it new riches and opportunities for its people. It has great resources at its fingerprints, an oil wealth to make any country jealous but its development is slow, unstable, uncoordinated and unfortunately riddled with corruption. Its Portuguese ancestors have not helped instill a better code of morality and productiveness... you can see that many of their mistakes were once our mistakes, that's our fault, I admit that. But there needs to be a better stepping stone from this. There needs to be a way out of this lackadaisical attitude towards the development of their own country, a better use of resources to reach where its most needed.

This country has been through a lot, more than its far share, it's seen death in every family, in every generation. It is scarred by its past and trying to create its own mark in the world, away from its violent and tragic history. But out of this brutal history it should flourish, the right way, not by recreating the mistakes of the past but by learning from good practice. This country is difficult enough without adding more unnecessary drama to everyday work. There needs to be a better understanding of this country's needs. Its foundations, like those of a house, need to be solid, stable and durable. I look forward to seeing these foundations grow into what they deserve to become, what the people deserve to see...but for me, my road in Timor ends here, in one month.

Let the countdown begin.

Oh, dear!

A security advisory on crocodiles:

Given recent incidents of crocodile related sighting in Timor-Leste, staff members are reminded of the continuing danger posed by crocodiles. Staff members should be vigilant at all times when entering either fresh water or sea water. In order to reduce your personal risk level you should not swim in areas historically prone to crocodile sightings/attacks, or any location alone, at night, dawn or dusk. For those who partake in spearfishing, either use a bungee line to thread your fish onto, or return your fish to shore immediately after spearing. It is not advisable to secure dead fish to yourself whilst spearfishing. Divers who encounter crocodiles under the water should safely and quietly remove themselves from the water, under no circumstances should crocodiles be approached or photographed. Furthermore, we recommend that you note whether members of the host community are swimming or remaining on shore in groups looking out to sea (a sure indication that a crocodile may have been sighted). If there are no members of the host community in the water, you should seek their advice before entering yourself. If in doubt you should not enter the water. Staff members are requested to continue reporting crocodile sighting to SOC. This in turn, enables UN Security/ Wardens to broadcast SMS alerts to all of our colleagues as required.

UN Security

Right, now it's even more unlikely that I'll be dipping my toes in Batugade beach! I'm really looking forward to crocodile-free waters for the summer, I must say...although, to be fair, I have yet to see a real live crocodile anywhere on this island...I keep looking but with no success. All I get are gecko eggs in my electrical outlets, not quite the same, but interesting enough. Oh, Timor, what else have you got in store for us?

A tremendous lack of sleep

The 16th of this month will mark 4 months since I've been in Maliana and nearly 5 since arriving in Timor. In these past 4 months, there has not been one night where I can say I have slept well. By well, I mean, well...when you wake up and you do not feel tired or riddled with back pain and where your eyes look fresh and aren't puffy or sore. I can honestly say that the last time I slept really well was back in New York, in the biggest and noisiest city, of all places...


To be true, I am a city girl, always have been. I like my forays into the country, picnics and camping and to my father's country house or my mother's but the most time I ever spent there was usually one week, consecutively, in the summer, when you don't have an alarm clock to wake you out of peaceful slumber.


I live in the country here, Maliana is the biggest city in Bobonaro, hence it is its capital but it is still the country by anyone's standards and it comes with country afflictions. I tend to wake up with murderous thoughts on my head of killing the neighbor's cow, let alone its roosters! All I can say for Timor roosters is that at least they don't start at the god forsaken hour of 4am like the Lao roosters tended to do. But start they do and apparently have a really hard time stopping... Being an avid reader of Asterix in my childhood (okay, I admit, I still read them!), a rooster to me always had one very specific purpose, to crow when the sun comes out...apparently this isn't the case or otherwise their biological clock is messed up because the sun hasn't even shown its head and they're already off crowing away much to my chagrin!


But if it were only the odd rooster and the blasted cow...they are part of nature, I have to endure them, unless I actually do turn into Rambo and sneak into the black night and kill them...no, never mind, I don't think I'll be doing that (must be the effect of reading The Road that has brought these urges on!) but unfortunately my lack of sleep is mostly manmade, much like climate change!


In Lao PDR, when a Lao is throwing a party, his biggest concern is how loud he can get his sound system to go. I'll explain, it's a symbol of wealth if you can get your loudpseakers to sound in a radius of 1-3km from your party. it means it is potent and therefore expensive. Yes, it will probably disturd the neighbors (if they haven't been invited) but it is the custom so there! But the Lao at least are fair...they turn up the volume as loud as possible for an excruciating number of hours but they never go past 1am or 2 at the latest. Not so in Timor! When they throw a party, they really throw a party and they last until dawn...


This past weekend was no different. Our colleague - well, actually the head logisitics officer - in STAE just came out of mourning. Here in Timor, when a family member dies you mourn them for a year - yes, a year - and you do so by wearing black. Women will use a black scarf on their head and men will dress all in black, for an entire year. And by the end of the mourning year you throw a party. This party will most likely put you in debt as you have to invite and feed everyone, not to mention the beer and alcohol that you have to buy. Our colleague threw his 'end of mourning' party this past Saturday, hence I didn't get to sleep until about 6am (my only respite came when the electricity failed and the party would go silent until the power came on again - this happened about 3 times that night)...as just as I was finally dozing off, our guards decided to sing! Unfortunately they do this VERY often. We have had to politely tell them on numerous occasions, such as on a peaceful Sunday afternoon when you are trying to nap and catch up on the lack of sleep to please keep it down, but they still keep singing - very badly at that - and at any given hour of the day...


So, already after having faced a weekend of no real good sleep I was looking forward to Sunday night. I actually slept alright, no major coil digging its way into my twisted back. I had even planned to wake up and go jogging - the landscape is most beautiful just as the sun is coming up - but alas, at 6am, our neihgbor's guard dedides to go for a walk while listening to the radio right outside our door!! It was the last straw! With rage I jumped out of my bed, only to find M, my roommate with the same thought in her head, kill the radio! I marched outside in my PJs and begged that guard to shut off his radio!!! He did luckily, while apologising profusely - "no need to apologise just don't do it again! Please!" and made my way back into my lumpy bed to try to find sleep again for the remaining hour until the alarm went off...


This is a constant battle between nature, the guards and me...considering I'll be leaving in a month I don't think I'll be the winner of this fight but I do know of a bed in Brooklyn that has my name on it!

Farewell to Ameerah Haq

This week, UNMIT has had to say goodbye to its SRSG (Special Representative of the Secretary General), Ms. Ammerah Haq, who, as of next monday, will become the head of UN Field Support in New York.
This was her message to us on her farewell:

Dear colleagues and friends,

The time has come for my departure from UNMIT and Timor-Leste, to take up my new duties as the head of the UN Department for Field Support. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve with you over the past two and a half years, and I would like to thank you all for your contributions to the United Nations' work in Timor-Leste.

I am especially grateful to all our Timorese staff, who have welcomed me so warmly, and taught me so much about their country. I am so pleased that my last official event in the mission was the graduation ceremony for the National Staff Capacity-Building Programme yesterday. I know that each and every one of you will continue to contribute to the peace, development and prosperity of your beautiful nation.

For international peacekeeping staff, Timor-Leste offers an inspiring opportunity to the see first-hand the progress that is possible in countries struck by conflict, if their people, leaders, and international partners are committed to a brighter future. I feel very proud to have accompanied Timor-Leste for a short part of its extraordinary journey, and to have led a UN team so committed to helping the Timorese people achieve their aspirations.

Earlier this week, at my fantastic farewell party, I was once again reminded of the warm sense of community that we enjoy in this mission and in the UN Country Team. Thank you all for making that evening, and my entire time here, so memorable. I leave you now in the very capable hands of Finn Reske-Nielsen, knowing that you will extend the same extraordinary support and friendship to him as you have done to me.

With thanks and warm regards,

Ameerah

Ameerah Haq
Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIT

The Deputy SRSG, Mr. Finn Reske-Nielsen, will therefore replace her and become the new SRSG until UNMIT closes up shop on December 31st by taking down its flag from the mast in its headquarters in Dili.

Mr. Reske-Nielsen, was also, by coincidence in Lao PDR before coming here, like me, although I missed his presence entirely since he left right before J arrived.

He also came to pay us a very special visit yesterday in Maliana. What was supposed to be an electoral visit to the political candidates of the parliamentary elections and to the electoral UNVs, such as myself, somewhat became hijacked into a courtesy visit to the Maliana Regional Security Centre, much to the chagrin of the UNVs that were looking forward to sharing their questions and concerns with our UNEST boss regarding the forthcoming elections...but as politics goes, anything can change at the last minute. It was still a nice visit, it even involved a tea with the head of the Pakistani forces - well, not for me of course - but we did get to see the Pakistani army dressed in full rigour which isn't something we see everyday.

At the moment, everything is quiet on the eastern front, everyone is hoping and crossing their fingers that there won't be any problems or violence in the forthcoming elections and that UNMIT can close as expected. People's major concerns at the moment are what's going to happen to them when UNMIT leaves as the unemployment hole created by its departure could be quite damaging to the national economy! In the case of national staff, the government has promised to take in some of the staff and UN agencies have also pledged to do their share, let's just hope it's not a false promise...it would be a shame to waste all the training and experience that the national staff have gained since the arrival of the UN. As for the international staff, most are looking towards the next mission, some have already been called to Libya and Syria is also on the horizon. As for me, I'm New York bound in one month and I already know finding a job there won't be easy and the application procedures are anything but...all I can do is keep applying and keep my fingers crossed!