COUNTRY: Timore-Leste
PROGRAM: UniBreak
PROJECT: Teaching, Healthcare and Development
WRITTEN BY: Alisha, Zoe and Holley
Bondia! Timor-Leste Antips Team #1 checking in with our final blog. Not sure where to begin...has been a big last week full of farewell parties, goodbyes and plenty of emotions!
None of us knew just how fast a month would go, or how much a month could change us all. Anyone who looks at four weeks as merely a fraction of a life, has never witnessed how much a child can change and develop in such a small amount of time! Moments like watching an eleven month old malnourished child hold their head up for the first time and hearing the first laugh of a three year old, will always be held dearly in Holley and Alisha's hearts. Likewise, watching students go from basic English words to being able to string whole sentences together were amazing moments for Zoë. This one little month is one we will never forget!
All of us said goodbye in our own ways and were lucky enough to each have farewell parties thrown for us. While Holley and Alisha's last day started out like all the others, it ended in a way they had never expected.
After deciding to make the most of their last day with the kids, the girls came in after playing outside to find the eating area completely transformed. The table was laid out with Timorese delicacies and what appeared to be every chair from the centre around it. They had walked into their own surprise farewell party! The way that everyone came together (staff, children and family) to say goodbye was overwhelming. Tears were held back as speeches were made and HIAM tais' were presented, with Alisha feeling particularly touched by the thoughtfulness shown by having her tais presented to her by the little girl she had become so attached to, Eduarda. Cuddles and cake was the perfect way to say goodbye! Zoë said goodbye with a massive prize giving quiz, where she witnessed the power that a sticker has over a child. Once word got out that she was giving away prizes, she had all four of her classes shouting answers at her whilst the teachers laughed in the background. It was some of the most intense, fun, loud few hours of her life! At her going away ceremony, she was given so many lovely gifts from the school, including traditional handwoven tais and earrings, and felt so touched to have been part of this little school.
In an attempt to capture the ambiance of Timor here are a few "only in Timor" moments...
• Seat belt buckles are more useful as air freshener holder than as a means to keep you safe
• Goats are loaded into the boots of taxis
• People find the most unhealthy ways to cook the most healthy foods (fried bananas are the best!)
• You are constantly amazed at how much rice such small people can consume
• Even the pigs are skinny
• All meals, not matter what they include, are served with a fork and spoon
• You drink fruit juice out of a can with added clumps
• A little box with three beds becomes your home
• You go through a million boxes of bottled water and get blisters from opening them
• You find people who have so little but give so much!
Just as we feel like we have settled into Timorese life, it is now time to say goodbye. As we sit here writing this on our final day, while excited to go home, we know how much we will miss so many antics of daily life that have become normal to us in our month in Timor. Holley and Alisha will particularly miss their babies at the centre, and the affection that came from being "Mana Malae" (foreign sister). Zoë will miss the crazy conversations bent over a Tetun to English dictionary, the 'sister I love you' called out every time she went to school, the clapping games and the secret handshakes.
To future volunteers, enjoy every moment because it will be over before you know it!! We all hope to come back and visit this amazing country in the future!
For the final time, adeos!
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