You have to really like the game to play soccer on a field as dry and stony as this but the Atabae youth really enjoy it.

Soccer is a very popular sport in Atabae and elsewhere in East Timor and is seen as a good way for the youth to enjoy themselves. FPET has provided some modest amounts of money over the years to support the sport and also musical and other activities for the youth.

There is now a very active youth group in Atabae that FPET is currently negotiating with for further activities. The group has indicated an interest in assisting the parish to establish a plantation to generate cash to help fund the parish operations.

Two soccer teams are lined up with David Hall and other organisers for this photo.

Like many rural areas in East Timor there is a very limited cash economy in Atabae. This has presented a challenge for the parish to raise the money needed to fund basic parish needs. Few have significant spare cash to support the church but many can contribute some time to assist in doing various work to generate funds for the parish. This in turn is intended to lead to the parish being able to have sufficient income to provide the educational and other services it is providing to the community. FPET is working with the Atabae community to ensure all the development activities FPET supports are done in a way that will be self sustainable in the future.

All Saints Day and All Souls Day, the two feast days which mark the beginning of this month are major events in East Timor. The Halls report that "Mass was heavily attended on both days with families taking in bowls of flowers and candles to be blessed before being placed on family graves. Many people spent many hours walking into the mountains to different villages ensuring that all graves were visited." Then on 12 November, the 15th anniversary of the Santa Cruz cemetery massacre in Dili, was marked throughout East Timor by commemorations of that horrific event and those who died there.

Meanwhile, the Halls have been very busy with negotiations for the erection of some water tanks, a new school building in Atabae to accommodate the rest of the school, new refrigerators and repair of the existing one to enable safe storage of vital vaccines in the health clinics, youth group support, the provision of technical training for young people and a number of other matters including Margaret's role in community health.

These candles were lit as part of the Atabae commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the Santa Cruz cemetery massacre in Dili on 12 November.

Peter de Haas (Chairman of Connect East Timor [CET] and former President of FPET) discussing plans with Jorge Leite of Atabae who is doing the routine maintenence of the CET radios in Atabae sub-district.

The higlight for FPET this month has been the visit of four East Timorese to participate in a CET organised workshop to plan the further development of the CET project which is committed to providing affordable communication by two way radio throughout rural East Timor. The first radios were installed in the Atabae sub-distirct in May 2005 and have proved very reliable and useful, especially in gaining access to help in emergency situations but also helping villages to share information about many things.

Eddie from Balibo and Stephen from the East Timor Ministry of Communications and Transport are discussing with Jim Johnson (President of FPET) the further development of the CET project in the rural areas of East Timor.

CET is planning to install radios in the Balibo and Lacluta sub-districts in 2007 and has conducted this workshop in Brisbane to improve the skills of the East Timorese involved as well as get their input into arranging the consultation processes in the affected communities. Four members of FPET and some from other East Timor friendship groups participated in the initial sessions of the workshop. These sessions considered managing cross cultural issues and were facilitated by PALMS.

Here is a photo of the Atabae Choir which came second in the district singing competition at Maliana. Margaret Hall said that the singing was beautiful. All of us who have heard East Timorese groups singing have been impressed by the quality of their singing. Such events have special significance and value when times are difficult as at present in East Timor.

The children in the area are numerous and cheerful but their parents and FPET continue to be concerned about their health and future prospects. When Margaret and David Hall recently visited district villages, they were eagerly greeted by these children. FPET has been helping with education and intends to work with the local community to find appropriate employment for all the children when they complete their schooling. The future of their community depends very much on enabling the young people to become effectively employed.

The Halls have been able to move quickly on some matters that they were working on before having to depart because of the recent violence in Dili. One long held FPET goal has been to start a local Community Representative Committee in Atabae to formalise community involvement in the planning and execution of FPET supported projects. A meeting of nine local representatives with the Halls established this committee and set its initial direction.

The committee considered and agreed to ask FPET to support two local people as trainee managers and co-workers with David and Margaret. Members agreed that over a five to ten year period these trainees would be able to take full responsibility with local community funding supporting them. FPET sees this as a vital step in achieving sustainable community development within the community.

A new youth group has also been set up - mainly through the initiative of the youths themselves. FPET expects to be helping them with small amounts of funds for basic sporting and other equipment.

The earlier violence in Dili abated during the month so Margaret and David Hall were able to safely return to East Timor on 21 July after an absence of seven weeks.

The Halls report that, "Our first sight of how the problems of the last few months had effected the population was the refugee camp in the airport grounds. We saw several more camps as we travelled into town, in church grounds and parks and at the Dominican orphanage. We found out later that the orphans had been taken to West Timor for safety."

"Fr. Marsellus thinks the trouble is over and everyone can move forward. Many refugees had moved out of Dili to the western end of the country and several hundred had stayed in Atabae. It was clear from the many trucks loaded with personal property heading towards Dili that a lot of people felt it was safe to return home."

"Our interpreter, Jorge, has much the same views now that things have calmed down although he did say that he was glad to leave Dili quickly having gone in on one occasion to buy stock for his shop. He also said that the people were very happy to see Australian troops and that they feel they can trust the Australians.".

"The most obvious difference from the time before we left in late May was the many happy smiling faces we saw as we moved around. People are feeling safer and are getting on with life. Fr. Marsellus told us that Atabae had not had any problems apart from population increase."

There are many widows and orphans in the area and FPET provides some modest financial support which is greatly appreciated. These are some of over 200 widows and orphans who have recently been assisted.

Conditions are obviously very difficult for most in East Timor at present. As well as the obvious problems from the recent rioting and disruption of markets, the United Nations World Food Program director for East Timor has advised that due to only $US2 million of the $US5 million promised has been provided for food aid by donor countries, the distribution of critical vitamin and protein supplements has had to be reduced. This is expected to aggravate the chronic malnutrition which is affecting 40 per cent of the population, especially young children and pregnant and breast feeding women.

For more news of the humanitarian crisis in East Timor, what is being done to help and how you can also provide valuable support, click on this link to the Caritas Australia website.

Margaret and David Hall are still waiting in Australia for conditions to improve in East Timor to enable them to return and continue their work which they had only begun in Atabae sub-district.

Just like northern Australia, East Timor has had quite a wet season and the main road west from Dili has suffered some serious damage.

It is difficult to accurately assess the current circumstances in East Timor but the situation remains brittle because there are some unresolved issues requiring attention. However, personal reports we are receiving suggest that confusion, rumour and fear among the people has amplified the problems and caused a significant exodus of people from Dili to country areas where they feel safer.

We are not in a position to comprehensively report the situation ourselves so we recommend our links, especially the ABC South East Asia News service and Dili Coffee East Timor Links but be aware that media reports may be of variable accuracy because of the degree of confusion and rumour in East Timor. Our links page might provide access to some other relevant news.

The FPET Toyota troop carrier parked, in the dry in 2005, outside the house used by FPET volunteers. David and Margaret Hall are now living there and using the vehicle.

Margaret and David Hall are still busy getting settled in at Atabae, meeting the people and learning Tetun. It has been difficult geting around the outlying vllages in the wet weather but that is not likely to last much longer. They have had several trips back to Dili for various supplies and also to get their two year visas which are still not finalised.

This view inside the house, taken in 2005, shows candles and insect repellant on the table and many water bottles which are all basic requirements for visitors in East Timor.

The Halls now have a generator set up for the house which was previously wired by the army, ready for a generator or mains supply. This enables better lighting and easier recharging of phone and notebook computer batteries. Margaret is a keen photographer and we are looking forward to receiving some photos from her later in the year.

David and Margaret Hall are now in Atabae and are busy settling in for their planned two-year stay there as PALMS volunteers working with the Atabae community and FPET.

This month also sees the addition of a new FPET newsletter which includes a couple of items relating to our involvement with support for education in East Timor. Education, especially primary education, is a very high priority in East Timor. There is an enormous problem to overcome the widespread illiteracy, lack of school resources and trained teachers throughout the country.

Alice Abu (on the right in this picture) started the three year Bachelor of Teaching course at the Marist Teachers College in Baucau last September. FPET had asked Fr Marsellus to select two potential students, one female and one male, from Atabae Parish to apply for admission to the teaching course. Only Alice was successful in gaining admission but she is now well settled into the course and reported to be doing well.

Alice is boarding with a family in Baucau and finds that to be more like home than the alternative of a larger boarding house arrangement. Even so, it would have taken quite a bit of adjustment to move so far away to the second largest city in East Timor after always having lived in a small village community.

FPET is providing funds to financially support Alice and expects to support more Atabae students in future years as a way of getting better trained teachers for the local primary schools. East Timor is very short of well trained teachers. The Baucau college is the only internationally accredited teacher training facility in East Timor. There is no East Timorese accreditation scheme at present.

The Baucau college only takes 50 students each year so competition is strong for places. The Marists seek students from all districts to help achieve a distribution of the graduates throughout the country. The first graduates of the college will graduate later this year.

FPET members are excited that David and Margaret Hall have completed their preparation with PALMS and are now expecting to move to Atabae for two years of volunteer work there in March. We are very happy to have another volunteer couple taking the lead in guiding our relationship with the Atabae community.

Margaret, a very experienced nurse and midwife, will be working to increase access to health services and generally improve community health as this has been a high priority for the community for several years.

David will develop skills among youth towards effective community participation, provide training and support to the indigenous nurses in health promotion, community education, water supply maintenance and project management.

Deacon Gary Stone (on right) leading FPET prayers for David
and Margaret Hall as they prepare for their move to Atabae

INDEX OF NEWS AND OTHER STORIES