I scribbled this abridged version of my experience in Timor-Leste while up in the air traveling from Dili to Singapore on my way to Manila. The end of my two-year placement in Timor-Leste.
Today, i have left the land of lafayaek bringing with me happy memories and several lessons learned from my two years stay. Timor-Leste is s small country nestled between Australia and Indonesia. I came to this country with so many questions and anxieties in my mind. The usual questions of how are the people? What's the living condition like? What will I do during my spare time? How can I make friends? and all sorts of other question about life and living in a foreign land.
Answers to these questions slowly unfolded as I lived each day of my two years in Timor-Leste but I would sum it up as one of the best chapters of my life's and career's journey. Life was not a bed of roses but everything was manageable. Developing friendships was not difficult although true and real friends was a tough one! But there were friends who remained true until I stepped on the plane and continued to be friends until now. Life was made easy with friends around who helped me quickly adjust to my new living environment. Navigating around was easy with the size of Dili making it easy to familiarize one's self with the surroundings. The most basic stuff that a foreigner would need is available from the groceries with the proximity of Australia and Indonesia where most of the goods are coming from. There were occasions when the groceries would run out of milk or butter but this is life in an island so you just have to bear with it or whenever you get the chance to have it, there is a tendency to hoard the goods.
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| I have chosen this photo because of the flag |
Work was initially challenging. I have to navigate myself around in order to understand the structure of the organization but through my initiative I have understood how it operates. As a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, I found it difficult to make people understand and embrace it because I am a foreigner who has come to install systems for the most sensitive part of program/project management. There was resistant at the beginning but i was aware that this is a normal reaction from people in an organization which has never touched on M&E and a Malay (foreigner) has come to look at the impact of our work to the lives of the people we are helping. There were individual differences and dynamics that I have to deal with but I managed to deal with it. In the end, everything turned up well. I have made friends in the organization on a personal level. The overwhelming celebrations accorded to me and the personal accounts from colleagues about my contributions in the organization confirmed how I made a difference though personally, I was really fully satisfied. Nonetheless, in this kind of work, small change means a lot!
I have learned great lessons from developing friendships. There were friends whom I thought to be real but failed to sustain the real essence of friendship. There were friends I had put under the category of acquaintances. There were friends who never left me no matter what. There were friends who gave me so much lessons and insights in life, who helped me look at the other side of me, as an individual.
It took me long deciding to leave but it's a career move, a professional growth. I will surely miss my life in Dili but life has to move on. To those who are so dear to my heart (you know who you are! ), thank you very much for making my life and living in Dili, colorful and wonderful. It's not goodbye but see you!
