Here are some impressions gained by a young married couple, Ben and Sally Kildea, when they visited East Timor in November 2005 along with Jim Johnson, Sally's father and President of FPET. This privately funded trip to learn more about East Timor was the first visit to East Timor for all three of the travellers.

Ben's story

Sealed roads link Dili and the other major regional centres. Although sealed, the condition of these roads is extremely poor, characterised by narrow widths, tight corners, landslips and poorly conditioned surfaces. Although the Timorese adapt their driving to suit these conditions (foreigners seem to be the fastest drivers), stories of horrific car crashes were often heard.

Water supply in East Timor is generally reliant on wells and springs. There are no reticulated water systems similar to those in Australia. In remote areas the smaller villages typically have one or two wells which service the entire community. Rainwater tanks are few in remote areas but would potentially ease pressures on other sources. In one of the remote villages we visited the only source of water was from a spring which was almost dry at the time of visit. In many rural areas, walking several hours to obtain water is not an uncommon part of daily life.

In Dili the electricity supply is highly unreliable. Supply is sporadic with the potential to fail at any time. We did not encounter reticulated electricity outside of Dili. Portable generators are scarce as the purchase price and running costs are beyond the means of all but the wealthiest of the rural Timorese. Many areas have electricity reticulation systems which have fallen into disuse since the Indonesians departed East Timor.

Sally's story

The first week of our stay we spent travelling around East Timor, the highlight of which was when Sally and Jorge (our Timorese interpreter from Atabae) attempted and Dad and Ben managed to climb Mt Ramelau, the highest mountain in East Timor. Unfortunately when they reached the peak the fog had set in and they could see not more than a few feet ahead of them. In this week we also visited one of Dad's friends, Joan Benhem, who was teaching English to high school students in the little village of Soloi up in the mountains. She was lovely and really interesting to talk to. She has done a lot of volunteer work in third world countries and was able to give us a realistic perspective. During our time there, Ben and I were able to solidify many of our ideas about what we would do if (or as we have now decided, when) we go back as volunteers.

The second week we stayed in Atabae in the House rented by the FPET. The house was very nice but not very private. As we had no facilities of our own we shared our next door neighbours squat toilet and bucket shower which was right next to their kitchen. That's how good neighbours become good friends!

One of the things we had planned while still in Australia was that I would be able to spend some time in the Atabae clinic working with Senor Alfredo and the other nurses. I was very interested to find out as much about the provision of health care in East Timor as possible. One of the first things I found out was that Timorese health care is very confusing and like so much of Timorese culture appears quite disorganised to Australian visitors. On the first day I volunteered to go on a mobile clinic and immunise, weigh and measure babies up in one of the remote villages without even knowing what I was doing. I thought I was just agreeing that I knew the name of the town but the next thing I knew I was being bundled into a utility with six or seven other people (not including the four or five on the back) all of whom laughed at me when I tried to put a seatbelt on. After about ten minutes off the main track I decided to wear their amusement and put it on anyway! I got teased (good natured teasing) a lot on these trips. It was mostly in Tetun but as the Tetun word for Australian is 'Australian' it wasn't hard to figure out that they were talking about me. Apparently as far as the Timorese are concerned all I have to do is open my mouth and try to speak and I'm about as funny as Billy Connolly! It's a bit disconcerting when merely introducing yourself produces riotous laughter but you get used to it after a while. The nurses I was working with regularly used three or four languages, counting in Indonesian, documenting in Portuguese, speaking in Tetun and practising their English on me, but by the end of the three days we were able to communicate reasonably well.

The clinics themselves involved driving to a village, setting up shop under a tree or in a local shelter, waiting a few minutes for what seemed like the whole village to turn up and then measuring, weighing and where required immunising their children under five. If malnutrition or illness such and measles or diarrhoea were identified, the mothers might be given some medication if it was available and told to take their child to hospital for treatment. This would usually mean an eight hour walk to Atabae village where they could then catch a bus to Dili or Maliana. The nurses had no rubber gloves, no sharps disposal bins and no facilities for washing their hands or equipment between children. I noticed quite early in my stay that Timorese babies didn't wear nappies. Babies can get quite frightened at being handled by a strange nurse and by the end of the day most of us were wet from more than the rain. On the last clinic day I went to in Aidabaslala, (about a two and a half hour drive from Atabae), we had a downpour in the afternoon which flooded the village and either flooded or completely washed away most of the creek crossings on the way home. The trip took twice as long on the way back and we got home well after dark as we had to rebuild sections of the road with rocks and palm branches, on the way.

I was surprised and humbled by how fondly Australian visitors are remembered by the people of Atabae. Everywhere I went people would ask me about Nick and Jane or Gary Stone or others who have visited in the last three years. From what I saw in East Timor I think that the new volunteers Margaret and David will be well received as part of the Atabae community and well utilised also. For my part I can't wait to return and visit all my new friends.

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