I’ve been in Timor-Leste for two months now, and have started to settle into a routine. I thought it might be of interest for me to share what I did last week, to give you an idea of my experience living and volunteering in Timor-Leste.
Monday
I’m Partnering for Good, which is part-time volunteering for accompanying partners of full time Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) volunteers. I’m supporting HAMNASA, one of the largest local NGOs in Timor-Leste who work with remote communities to improve health outcomes.
I start the week meeting with their Gender lead, one of the many international people in Dili. From Southern India she worked in Bangkok before arriving in Timor-Leste last year. Awareness of the importance of gender issues in development has come a long way in the past decade. The largest project HAMNASA is delivering is focused on reducing Gender Based Violence (GBV). The statistics in Timor-Leste are shocking, with over half the women in some municipalities having experienced violence.
In the afternoon I met with Rob Kay, an Hawaiian travel writer and member of the East West Center. This was established in the 1960s to strengthen relations and understanding among the peoples and nations of Asia, the Pacific, and the United States as part of Cold War diplomatic efforts. Rob was funded to spend three weeks here, in order to write about technology transfer from the US to Timor-Leste, particularly through the stories of Timorese who have studied at the East West Center in Hawaii. I met him through a local tour operator I’d met through my non-HAMNASA work to help promote Timor-Leste as a travel destination.
I was a little early on my walk there so made a second visit the the lovely An-Nur Mosque. Afterwards I made a second, and more successful, visit to Nicolau Lobato Presidential Palace, who let me into the grounds this time!
Tuesday
Important VSA admin today completing my baseline report. At the start, middle and end of your assignment they’re keen to understand your understanding of development and engagement with local communities. Hopefully it’ll go up!
Also important house admin as pretty much every other day I do a hand wash of our clothes. Washing machines are relatively rare in Timor-Leste. There are few laundry services, more common is for a local to come to your house and hand wash clothes in your sink!
I needed to visit the VSA office, and took the opportunity to visit the Tais Market on the way. HAMNASA needed photos of female economic empowerment for their materials, but it was more difficult than expected to get decent photos, though one came out ok.
On my return home from VSA I visited the visitor information office (Centro de Informação Turística). I was their first visitor in a week! I was interested in how I could potentially help them with materials for visitors, and raise their visibility. I shared a bunch of ideas including QR codes with links to useful websites, sharing information about the information office at the airport, providing information on local tour operators, and creating a self guided one day tour of Dili.
There are many relatively small and easy things I hope to able to help with while I’m here to make it easier for people to visit Timor-Leste. In the afternoon I created a Google Map with information on how to get to Atauro Island, as this was one of the most common questions asked by visitors. The map shows where you can catch ferries, planes, and speed boats to the island, and where tickets can be bought. I’ve shared this with Atauro Island tour operators and the information office.
The information office is close to one of my favourite places in Dili, the amazing fruit markets. I go there 2-3 times a week to buy cheap and fresh passion fruit and bananas. Unfortunately their delicious mangos are now out of season. If something is out of season in Timor-Leste you literally cannot buy it!
This week I started running before dinner, something that seemed an impossibility just a month ago. It is incredibly hot and humid in Dili but I am adjusting to a degree. The streets of Dili aren’t really suitable for running given the amount of rubbish, traffic and dogs, but the waterfront is pretty good, though you definitely need to watch your step to avoid tree roots and uneven paving. Many Timorese can be seen out running in the evening, but slightly surprisingly in four evenings I ran this week I was the only malae (foreigner) to be seen.
Wednesday
Started the day with a lesson in the local language Tetun. I’ve never had an aptitude for languages but thankfully Tetun is easier than most, and I’m enjoying learning it far more than I expected to. Generally little English is spoken in Timor-Leste, particularly outside Dili, so it is useful to be able to speak some Tetun.
I made a second a more successful trip for photos for HAMNASA at Taibesi Market, one of the largest markets in Timor-Leste. Many of the stall holders encouraged me to take their photo.
While there I visited the nearby Pura Giri Natha Dili, a Balinese temple built by the Indonesians in 1987 for the many soldiers from Bali stationed in the East Timor. It had fallen into disrepair but is now being restored. It surprised me that the government is spending $1.2m restoring it given that there are very few Hindus in Timor-Leste and that it dates from the horrific Indonesian occupation that is still fresh in the memories of half the population.
Much of the day was spent preparing materials for productivity training I was to give to HAMNASA staff on Friday.
Thursday
More hand washing before a morning meeting with HAMNASA’s main contact at USAID, their largest funder. They have a number of Timorese staff but all the leadership roles are held by Americans who rotate between countries every two years. It was a good excuse to visit Ha-Ha Kafe, one of a number of malae focused cafes in Dili, serving excellent coffee and smoothies, at prices that few locals (particularly outside Dili) could afford.
Galeria Memoria Viva was nearby. It is President Ramos-Horta’s former house, filled with the results of a life well lived.
The rest of the day was spent developing training materials on photography for HAMNASA. I’m delivering training every Friday for the next couple of months so have plenty of preparation to do!
Friday
I visited ETDA (East Timor Development Agency), which was established in 1999, making it older than Timor-Leste (which became an independent country in 2002). They provide a range of vocational training courses including computing skills, ceramics, hospitality and tourism. I met with a Director to understand how I could help them, and ended up giving an impromptu lesson on productivity to 50 students!
A number of the students recognised me from my TikTok channel Exploring Timor. I’m a minor celebrity in Timor-Leste! One was such a fan that she wanted a selfie together before I was able to leave.
On my way home I passed a couple of tourists outside the cathedral. I’ve seen almost no tourists in the two months I’ve been here, so this was a bit of a novelty. I gave them some suggestions in things to do, places to eat, and how to get around on the microlets. I couldn’t live in the many places in the world overrun with tourists. Wellington is generally fine other than when multiple crises ships arrive, but I enjoy seeing them here in Timor-Leste.
After I worked on ideas for the tourism information office I wrote an article for the Tararua Tramping Club (my local hiking club in Wellington) about hiking in Timor-Leste for their monthly magazine The Tararua Tramper (pages 20-21).
In the afternoon I delivered my first HAMNASA training session. It was an interesting experience delivering training on productivity to people whose English is variable. I had translated the slides into Tetun (using Tetun.org, which is not always accurate!) but relied on the better English speakers to help translate for me, particularly given the rather technical nature of the training. It seemed to go well though, which gives me confidence for the rest!
On the way home from HAMNASA I did a food shop. In Wellington I would shop once a week and get everything I needed. In Dili I shop 3-4 times a week at 3-4 different supermarkets in order to get probably a quarter of the variety of what I could buy in New Zealand.
The heat and humidity takes its toll here and I generally crash out to bed around 8pm and rise before 6am to enjoy the relative cool of the morning before the sun rises. I’ve accepted that it simply isn’t sustainable to get as much done in a day here as at home, which is quite enlightening in some ways.
Saturday
I have mixed feelings about Saturday mornings. I love going on the Dili Saturday Walks but am less keen on the 5.30am start required to make their 7am departure. You need to start early to avoid the worst of the heat and humidity but basically the afternoons are a write off.
This week we car pooled up to Dare, in the hills behind Dili, and went for an enjoyable hike further up the hills for some stunning views. It was the first time for one of the walkers and she underestimated the difficulty of hiking here and had to turn around. The climate and terrain has a similar effect to altitude where a 5km walk feels more like 10km or 15km in more temperate environments.
In the afternoon I wrote an article for Guide Post Magazine, a monthly Dili publication in English which is a little like a community paper. I was using it to promote Exploring Timor, to raise awareness and seek feedback on the site.
Sunday
Yet more hand washing before heading to Dili Rock at Tasi Tolu for a snorkel. Unfortunately it was unusually windy and it turned into extreme snorkelling with swell, currents, and poor visibility! The sea here is about 27C which is good for staying in, but less refreshing than you might hope for.
Around midday I experienced the first of two power cuts for the day. We’d been lucky to not have any in Dili for a few weeks, but prior would regularly have 2-3 power cuts a week, lasting for up to five hours. That feels like forever when you have no fans or air conditioning, and just drip with sweat while sitting.
After lunch I headed to HAMNASA to join them in travelling out to Atsabe in the Ermera municipality, I was helping by photographing and videoing their community engagement activities. It took close to six hours on some of the worst roads I’ve travelled on to finally arrive as the sunset. The scenery was often spectacular though, and it was interesting to travel through communities among the way. Half an hour after arriving the power cut out for the rest of the night…
