Slow pace...try to understand...indeed a good excuse for not taking quick action

I have given myself 4 weeks to be patient about the pace of everything in my new place. I don't want to rant because I keep reminding myself of what my mom always tells me whenever I am in a new place, met people for the first time or we have a new member to the family, 'first impressions last'...this may not originally be mom's quote but she always remind me of this.

Four weeks of finding a house which would really keep up to my satisfaction but I failed. Asking colleagues, friends of new friends and some Filipinos. Deciding to settle for less as I have been spending enormous amount of money on food from eating outside and having running stomach all the time, I will soon be moving to a house which I would initially occupy for 6 months hoping that by the end of the contract, I would find a house I really like. The move to the new house was delayed for a week because of the late processing of initial payments.

The first thing to be done supposedly when you join an organization is to get oriented about your work and your organization, but 4 weeks have passed both have not been done. Giving the benefit of the doubt that people are busy, which I observed for the last two weeks due to pressing project proposals but I guess, 4 weeks is too much. I have read all the documents for self-learning but all these are for information purposes because I have no idea what to do with all these information.

Since I came in, I was using my laptop computer which is fine for me because I thought it would last for only a week or two, but 4 weeks have passed, I am still using my personal laptop. I have given specifications of my computer requirements because I need to develop database. Indeed they gave me one but very old one, MS Office 2003 and celeron processor. Another delay and up to this time, I am clueless if I would indeed get a new one or not.

I have been in development work for quite a significant number of years and I noticed that slow pace of work has always been an excuse for undone or delayed things. I would like to believe so but I always ask myself, would I accept such excuse? I hate pushing people but no matter how much I tried to control myself, I couldn't.

Development work is challenging but unless people who are helped to be developed won't have the commitment to do so, capacity building is another waste of money and resources. Development Workers may show example of how things should be done but unless the people who are helped in the change process are not willing to help themselves, nothing will happen.

Welcome Ceremony

After late information the night before that I’ll be joining the field visit, we set off early to Liquica, which is 45 kilometers from the capital of Dili. Initially, I thought the visit would only be in an ECCD center which my organization was helping but I found out later that we were going to another place for the inauguration of 2 houses built through KOICA as part of their program on reconciliation. Two families whose members were separated during the ‘crises’ were provided with housing assistance as well as to locate missing family members.

When we arrived at the site, a group of elders composed of men and women welcomed us with the traditional ‘tais’. After putting tais to the guests, there was a traditional singing and dancing as we were ushered to our seats.

As we were seated there was also an offering of beetle nut, beetle leaves and lime with tobacco which is to be chewed as part of the welcome ceremony. I tried to avoid this ceremony by pretending to take photos and joined the crowd. This was followed by another singing performed by the elders with some chantings in the local language. Then, there was the ribbon-cutting ceremony that was done by the Ambassador of Korea to Timor Leste assisted by the CEO of ChildFund Korea and Regional Director of ChidlFund International. Speeches from guests ensued and followed by lunch.

The lunch offered to us was very humbling as you can see in the pictures. This is one of the things I miss in community work, something that draws me back to the basics of development work. It was very humbling to be with these people who were so delighted with the help they receive from my organization. It was a great way of learning a cultural practice in this country. I’m sure there will be more to know.

Lospalos

My first weekend in Dili was spent in the field accompanying staff from our affiliate office in Korea which was also an orientation for me. The place was the end of the island on the west side called Lospalos. It was an adrenaline-rushing trip as the roads were not only winding but also ravines where literally you would end up in the ocean. Nonetheless, the view was really breathtaking along the winding in and out of the sights of oceans and hills.

Random stories of war, culture and development issues were told. However, I would be narrating them in separate posts, otherwise there would be too much information here and reading would be boring.

Lospalos is a sub-district of Lautem district which according to locals has been a heavy concentration during the ‘crises’. People here speak a local dialect and Portuguese more than Tetum. After seeing Dili, you wouldn’t expect so much from a District when it comes to facilities. We stayed in a hotel called Roberto Carlos which was the best in town. The hotel was owned by Portuguese-Timorese couple. There were a number of Malays (foreigners) staying in the hotel. Outstanding was a UN Police who probably thought he owns the hotel with his noise either from the music player that was eardrum breaking and his boisterous voice. Though, I was not surprised as UNPol from UNMIT has a ‘not-so-good’ reputation in Timor and even among Malays.

Lospalos has very basic facilities with a line of shops numbered 1-9 which sell all sorts of stuff. Across the line of shops is Timor Telecom which I noticed has a significant presence in all sub-districts. To see the town, we went to the market to buy fruits and mosquito repellant. Among the fruits, only bananas were available which decreased my appetite as these are found on a concrete floor in the market which is 12 inches away from a stagnant canal.

As we were leaving the market, the Koreans were attracted by a group of people across the street. Apparently, there is a cock-fight and other gambling activities where you see people from all ages. Noticeably, no women were around. Older men were busy with the cock-fight while kids were glued on a game which involved a giant dice. I did not bother to check it, hence I couldn’t explain what sort of game they were really playing. One thing I realized though, this gambling must be an influence of Portugal as similar activities can be seen in the Philippines which was an influence of the Spaniards.