I think I mentioned before that we are actually currently “Trainee” Volunteers who will be “sworn in” as Volunteers mid December. At that point we will be assigned our “Permanent Sites”, organisations and locations (with new Host Family) which we will be with for the following 2 years. The current Pre-Service Training (PST) is a combination of culture adjustment, language training and (for my group) training in the Community Economic Development (CED) needs of Timor-Leste. it ALSO is like a 3 month “interview” where we are in-focus 24/7 for everything that we do (the way we present ourselves, integrate, dress etc… the full gambit).
As part of our CED training last Friday, myself and Ian interviewed the local Coffee Shop owner to discover ways they could improve their business. Ways of promoting business, developing a business, record keeping, profit margins and budgeting, which may seem standard to most of us, are not implemented in the vast majority of Timor-Leste businesses. Simple changes can make a big difference here. Some photos from our investigation below. We drank a lot of coffee 😁 and ate “Doci”:
Afterwards we found a local pool hall (just 2 tables) which Ian had some great economic development ideas for. Turns out this is one of the places to gamble. It was a fun break before we (Peace Corps Education and Economic Development Teams) had a group game of football and some badminton at the local square 🏐. It was hot 🥵, but I still rocked my jeans 👖!
As another part of our CED training, we visited a local startup organisation which has developed a business manufacturing fertilizer from cow dung. They pay local farmers for the dung, transport it to their facility, and use mulching machines (provided by USAID grants) to mix the dung with plant based waste to create the fertilizer which they can then sell on. Pretty cool stuff and, effectively, a business created from what already existed. This is a typical economic development activity we will try to support (and hopefully facilitate creation of) as CED Volunteers. Some pics from our visit below 😀. (Last picture shows a typical heavy afternoon rain we encountered while there 🌧).
Typically our Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are split between a morning Tetun language session and an afternoon CED session. The Tetun sessions are challenging (for me 😑) but fun. We have a group of 4 learners and we meet on my host families porch. Our teacher (Mana Else) is super patient and a great teacher.
All day Wednesday and Saturday mornings we have more general training. Last Saturday we learnt how to start a fire and cook in the typical way most people cook in Timor-Leste. It was fun 😁. The volunteers we have are all awesome young people. Some photos shown below. It was smoky 🔥😪. We have the same problem at my host family. I hope I can figure out a better ventilation system for the smoke before I leave 🤔.
Today (12th November) is National Youth Day and was set up to commemorate the Santa Cruz Massacre in 1991 where over 250 protesters were killed by Indonesian forces during a peaceful protest regarding Indonesian occupation. I recall seeing this on the news in the UK as a teenager. There was tight restrictions on ANY reporting in East Timor at the time, and it was only brought to the attention of the outside world due to two USA journalists and a UK journalist (Max Stahl) who were at the protest undercover. To the brits, Max Stahl was actually a Children’s TV presenter on Blue Peter in 1978 before he became an investigative journalist / war correspondent. Thankfully that is in the past and Timores people are moving forward. We will light candles (lilin) on the porch tonight to commemorate those who died in that event and during all of Indonesia’s occupation. Some more happy moments from my last week below (Mana Berta with Raphael, a new football for Raphael, our Puppy [I have named “Oreo”, who I have started training 🐕🐶] and Diva offering me a “doci”).
Last photo below. How to train your chicken to stay near the home 😁. The chicken on the left is trained 👨🏫 and overseeing the white chick on the right who is “in training” with a string on his leg attached to a metal bar 😏. Thanks for reading! Take care out there (Haree Dalan) 🙏.
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