Raj In Timor 2

20/11/2007

Hey guys.

End of an eventful first week in East Timor. Phase 1 in progress: settling in, language acquisition, community penetration, data collection and community analysis.

Settling in.

[Picture: Yudha + Chocolate]

I've moved in with Yudha, PPHBC's missionary and community development consultant in Vatunau, a seaside village about 40 kilometres West of the capital, Dili. Amandi, Yudha's live-in helper, is the best-looking single male among the three of us. Our house is small and squeaky, but wholly adequate.

[Picture: House]

Electricity is erratic - but more 'erra' than 'tic'. We get maybe 8 precious hours a day now. One of the three main generators that supply all of East Timor is down, so I expect the rationing to continue at least for the next couple of weeks.

The allegedly November to April rainy season is around the corner, so fresh water from the mountain spring/reservoir isn't a problem right now.

Wastewater from our house goes either to the septic tank or the 500 square metres or so of vegetables, fruit trees and maize in our very respectable garden.

We have a varied schedule for most days of the week, but most start and end the same way. Up at 430. (Yes, 430!) Bible study. Clean the house. Gas the ants. Feed the chickens, the dogs, the pigs, the parrot, the fish - in no particular order. Water the garden. Breakfast. Amandi sets off on his 2-hour walk to school. Yudha and I on our assorted work. Amandi returns. Lunch. Nap (after all, it was 430...) Clean the house. Work on the garden. Dinner. Study, study, study. Bed 10-12.

Kitchen duties: Yudha cooks, Raj/Amandi eat. Good deal. Yudha is a sheer wonder in the kitchen, he managed to conjure up a pizza earlier in the week. With Bee Heng Chiang's bak kwa and canned sardines on our gas stove, no less! I am unutterably blessed.

Language acquisition.

Studying Tetum is consuming a tremendous amount of time, energy and brain cells. Having spent the preceeding 4 months learning from texbooks, I'm in the curious position of having a reading/writing fluency far ahead of my halting oral fluency.

Mealtimes present a useful, if exhausting, opportunity to practice Tetum. Between the three of us, Yudha, Amandi and I end up flinging some combination of English, Indonesian, Tetum and Portuguese at each other. Yudha insists on expanding our already embattled frontiers with occasional monologues in French.

The trial by ire came on Sunday when I subjected our local church congregation to my 15-minute sermon, almost entirely in Tetum. And elicited nary a raised eyebrow! Suffice to say, they are an exceptionally gracious bunch.
[Picture: IPTL church, Vatunau]

Community penetration.

Identifying, meeting and getting to know some of the key players in our village of 260 households has been made easier by the groundwork already laid by Yudha and PPHBC's short trips in the last two years. The strolls around the neighbourhood, house visits, the twice-a-week primary health clinic and weekly English classes are making the bearded Indian man progressively more recognizable in Vatunau.

The children are a joy - the entire brown-haired (protein malnutrition), wet-nosed, barefooted, giggling lot. So far, I've got a lot of social mileage out of wiggling my ears. I'm saving The Amazing Glove Of Death for later.

Data collection and community analysis.

Understanding the playing field is the single most complex task I have right now. I'm studying country information, mapping with my GPS (thanks HT!) and started spreadsheeting some of the data from our clinic for later epidemiological analysis. But it's the long, calculatedly casual conversations with various people met along the way that have been the most enlightening.

And humbling. The number and intricacy of the community's moving parts, is astounding. As is the depth of some of its wounds. There is much to do. I have no illusions of my adequacy to address all of the needs. I am glad I have Yudha beside me, and PPHBC behind me.

-raj

Blog In Timor 1

20/11/2007

Hey guys.

End of week 1 in East Timor, alive and well.

Blog is up: http://rajineasttimor.blogspot.com/

No more mass emails from me.

- raj

The Two-Wheeled Terror Of Timor

(Credits to L for the titillating title...)

15/11/2007

Borrowed Pak Leo’s motorcycle this afternoon. Perilous 4-kilometer ride to Liquica Hospital with Yudha to meet Pak Filomeno, the district health director.

This Honda [Something] is a 100cc pygmy that has been worked mercilessly by Pak Leo and pretty much anybody who can ride a bike in Vatunau for the last 7 years. And it shows.
Getting her started requires a brutal kicking, the engine is anaemic, frame rattles like a jar of teeth, lights don’t work.
The buttocks-shaped hole on the foam seat inadequately accommodates my standard-issue-Indian-buttocks.
Shifting gears is a vehicular Russian Roulette. I hold my breath, kick the pedal and hope for the appropriate the gear. Odds 1-in-4.
Brakes don’t work, so I keep her trotting along at a pace that would allow Yudha and I to skip off and run out of the way should we be faced with the prospect of a collision. I don’t think I’ve hit 30kmph – but then I can’t be sure, the speedometer doesn’t work either.
Approaching a junction is a particularly faith-stretching manoeuvre. Implement boots-to-road technique to slow down. Avoid stopping, as that might precipitate another engine flatline requiring painstaking resuscitation. Honk gratuitously. Look out for any approaching traffic that might necessitate an emergency offroading. All clear? Prayerfully throttle up through the junction. Phew!

Risk to life, limb and neurological integrity aside, it was an awesome ride. Views of the coastline and hills are spectacular, and the nakedness of being on a motorcycle brings a sense of vulnerability and proximity to the land that I don’t think I could ever have ensconced in the metal hull of a car. I can think of no better way to see Timor.

Wait, I can: A bike with brakes.

- raj

Raj In Timor 1

11/11/2007

Dear friends,
Most of you are already aware that I will be heading to rural East Timor for Christian medical humanitarian/rural developmental mission work for 6 months. I leave today, I should return to Singapore 4/2008.

My church, Pasir Panjang Hill Brethren, has been working on an area development programme in the village of Vatunau, rural Timor from 2005. We have one missionary on the ground.
I will be joining him, I will be working with him in 4 major domains:
- Health (community health worker training, public health infrastructure, running a small clinic twice a week)
- Water/Sanitation
- Agriculture
- Education/Livelihood/Microenterprise

The reasons for my going are varied and complex, but one idea undergirds all of them: the pursuit of congruence - I want my life to be consistent with my theology.
I told Jesus in December 1998 that I would follow him.
Right now, I see his footprints lead to service among the poor in Timor.
I follow. Gladly.

I will probably be online once every month or two; I may not be contactable by phone.
I will try to email you guys periodic updates on me. If time and bandwith allow, I will put up a blog with photographs.

I am grateful, to the many of you who have talked, prayed, and walked with me through the months of preparation.

Here we go.
- raj