Letefoho

Well, I am now firmly back in Timor-Leste and continuing my activities with my organizations in the community. I have the following new activities I am working on (to give you a flavor of some activities I do here):

• Manusae Fatin Turizmu – Designing them a “banner” and getting their location on Google Maps.
• Fatuquero Fatin Turizmu English Club! – I am starting an English practice club at the Fatuquero Fatin Turizmu where I bring doughnuts from my host Mum (Mana Berta) and we have coffee, read through a news article and discuss in English/Tetun with the group which works on/runs the Fatin Turizmu. It’s a way of them practicing English. Many people here have English vocabulary in their brains, but very little opportunity to practice.
• Bookkeeping Class – Bookkeeping is not my specialty, but it’s a needed skill here in Timor where, in many organizations, there are minimal (if any) financial records and an understanding of business bookkeeping. I hope to be able to teach some fundamentals to the organizations I support. As Timor-Leste move towards joining ASEAN in October, activities such as bookkeeping will become more and more necessary for organizations here.

Letefoho Visit

Letefoho is a small village deep in the heart of Ermera (my municipality) and about 20 miles south from me. It is famous for it’s coffee, in particular, and there is a “Cafe Letefoho” coffee shop in Dili which is part of a Japanese owned business which produces coffee in Timor-Leste (Letefoho) and exports worldwide.

My plan was to cycle to Letefoho and stay in a guest house ran by the Japanese Cafe Letefoho organization for 2 nights (and do some networking to support my organizations). As people know from my previous blogs, most of the roads are quite terrible here and riding my bicycle on them, and getting somewhere, is part of the challenge I enjoy. South of Gleno, in Ermera municipality, there are (virtually) no paved roads. Roads are either solid rocky (large rocks) harsh surfaces which are the foundations of roads built by the Indonesians whose asphalt (tarmac) has long washed away OR they are dirt roads (maybe Portuguese construction and older) whose surface is long gone and are primarily dust, rock and dirt in the dry season and mud in the rainy season.

My route planning from Fatuquero was not great 😂 and I wrongly trusted Google Maps (and some colleague advice) on the best route to take for the first half of the journey. The route looked to be a relatively main road, but the first half of this “road” turned out to be a super steep (10-14% grade) narrow road of the “solid rocky” type. This meant I had to push my bike up much of it. The positive was that I was able to interact with many people who would not normally see a westerner. So I did a lot of stopping and chatting on the way (some photos below). I even had a quick coffee with a family who I stopped to ask directions! I feel so fortunate to be here and do this 😀 and at times it feels surreal.

Above: Photo of Mana Zuara who invited me in for a quick coffee as I was finding my way. She is a great example of a Timorese who has English vocabulary in her head, but needs the opportunity to practice. By the time I left she was already remembering English words.

As I finished the tough first road and got onto a more rideable dirt road I went the wrong way 😂 and rode about 2 miles in the wrong direction (hence you see the “squiggle”, above, in the middle of my route to Borehi).

With the 2nd half of roads rideable, I arrived in Letefoho. It is a very small place (much smaller than Fatuquero). I stopped at the main road and asked some older women for some directions however their Tetun seemed pretty poor. The local dialect here is Mambai and some of the older people primarily speak that language (some of my more talented volunteer counterparts have learnt some Mambai….. I only know the basic “how are you” in Mambai 😑).

When I finally arrived at the guest House I received a very warm welcome and a fantastic dinner (made by the guest house manager Mana Silvie). I had dinner with Jun, the Japanese manager of the organization.

My bike performed like a trooper and held together well. If this bike makes 2 years here then it will deserve a medal 😁🥇.

Cafe Letefoho and Peace Winds Japan

I had a great conversation with Jun, who has been here for 6 years and is the manager of the Cafe Letefoho location here in Letefoho, which has its main office in Dili. The organization is part of Peace Winds Japan who are an NGO working around the world to (I quote) “bring innovative approaches in helping lives at risk affected by humanitarian crisis and social issues”. Peace winds has locations all over the world including Iraq, South Sudan, Ukraine, Uganda Kenya and Nepal.

Jun was a volunteer, like me, previously for the Japanese organization JICA based in Uganda (I know a number of JICA volunteers here in Timor-Leste). So we had a lot in common as we chatted. Jun explained that their organization grows and processes coffee in Letefoho and then sells here in Timor-Leste and also exports all over the world. They also purchase coffee from local growers and act as distributors for that. Overall, the organization is providing jobs, income to Timor-Leste and a means for local people to be able to find an export market for their coffee. The coffee here is certified organic (they received certification from the US Department of agriculture USDA) and because it is grown at the high elevation here (Letefoho is at approximately 4700ft elevation) the coffee is premium and has a premium taste.

Below is the packaging that Cafe Letefoho use for their coffee. I want to design and find similar packaging for my disability group, FJDE, to use for their coffee which they make and sell because it allows people who buy the coffee to see the beneficiaries and is a great promotional tool. Thankfully Jun will help me out with some contacts that I can work with to design and get packaging delivered into Timor-Leste to support me with that 🙏🙏.

Estatua Cristu Ray Letefoho

On my day here I took a hike to a local Christ statue called Cristu Ray Letefoho. It sits about 2 miles outside Letefoho on a peak at 5400ft elevation. The views from the walk were amazing and I was also able to speak to many people along the way. I met a guy named “Ameriku” who was on his way back to his hometown after visiting his friends in Letefoho and we climbed the Estatua Cristu Ray together. He was on a 4 hour walk back home using paths through the mountains! I was impressed 🗻. The statue itself was built in 2001 and took over a year to build (it was opened by current President Xanana Gusmao in July 2002 which is only 2 months after Timor-Leste independence was fully established!). It was “refurbished” in 2019 and looks like it is undergoing another refurbishment currently. Photos below with some captions 😁.

Above: The steps up to the main statue are designed to be like a snake, with a cool tail right at the end 🐍.

Above: The statue itself is under renovation. It seems pretty close to being completed.

Above: From the top of Cristu Ray looking South East. Maun Ameriku is contemplating his 4 hour hike back home 😂. The “shark tooth” peak you can see in the top right is the highest point in Timor Leste, Mount Ramelau, at 9797ft elevation. The mountain is culturally important here, believed by locals to be the home of ancestors’ souls. More to come in a later blog……

Above: The beautiful Letefoho Church. My photo did not do it justice, so I include a photo I found on the web also. The spire has two hands together in prayer. Very striking and unique.

Above: I found this stone carving as I walked up teh Cristu Ray. I asked one of the locals and they said it was once part of a larger statue that, I assume, was damaged at some point. I suppose the person who carved the statue would be happy that at least some of it is left for people to see 😔.

Above: Some local youths on an unusual shrine.

Above: The view from the top of Cristu Ray (looking west) showing Letefoho village in the distance. At the bottom of the steps you will notice a new building being built. Maun Ameriku told me that this is going to be a guest house of some sort, to support tourism here.

And Back Home

I wrote this blog from the Cafe Letefoho guest house where they (only 2 days ago!) installed a Starlink satellite internet box (SpaceX), so I was able to use this to my advantage. Pretty quick internet. I actually have a Starlink internet box included in one of my organization funding proposals in order to allow local Fatuquero youths and entrepreneurs to have stable internet access for video interviews and conferences (where currently people would need to travel to Dili to have some sort of internet bandwidth to do those activities).

Tomorrow morning I will cycle back to Fatuquero. I will use a modified route (see below) which I believe will be rideable (some of the route I have previously took when I visited Manusae Fatin Turizmu so I have some familiarity). Mostly downhill, so I am going to take it easy. Until next time, thank you so much for reading and all your support 🙏🙏!!!!!