condoms and graffiti

November 2, 2009
The “Did You Know” list must be amended:

58. The Timorese consider it polite to ask “ita ba ne'be?” when they see you. This translates to “where are you going?” Therefore, an international walking down the street will often get asked by stranger, “Mister! Mister! Where are you going?” I usually respond: “La hatene” (“I don't know”)

59. None of the houses in TL have addresses. And there are very very few street signs and the streets that are marked are more often referred to by a completely different name. The best way to give directions in TL is to refer to common land marks, for example, “Turn left at the giant Jesus statue, if you reached the fish stalls you've gone too far.”

60. The TL is on the American dollar.

61. TL has two independence day holidays. One celebrating the short lived independence of 1975 (in May) and another celebrating the current independence of 1999 (at the end of August).

Here are a few other interesting items I've noticed:

After 1999 TL wanted to change its currency from the Indonesian rupiah. For the next two years the money system was very complicated as people used Indonesian, Australian, Portuguese and American dollars. In stores items would often have four different prices on them. The Portuguese and Australian dollars were the first to drop off, followed by the Indonesian rupiah. Currently TL used American cash but has its own coins.

I've found it interesting that the two major Catholic countries in South East Asia (TL and the Philippines) are also the two countries that eat with knifes, forks and spoons. This is just a thought that I have been mulling over.
I have now seen one midget and two albinos in TL. I still haven't seen any special needs children.

I was also wondering about illegal drug issues in TL. I've heard that cocaine is a problem in brothels and that people do smoke marijuana (although I haven't smelt any yet). Apparently drugs were a much bigger problem during the crises of 1999 and 2006 when there were military and gang wars.

Glasses? No one wears glasses. I have only seen about 10 people in 4 months of living here wearing glasses. All of these people have been elderly. I imagine the elderly people who have glasses have them from the Indonesian or Portuguese occupations. None of the nationals wear contacts, contact solution isn't even sold in TL.

Spreading information in the districts is mostly done by radio broadcasting or bulletins at the local church. No TV. No newspapers. No billboards. There is a newspaper that circulates around Dili that has articles in Tetum, English and Bahasa Indonesian. However, I have heard that less than 4 percent of the population reads the newspaper.

Last weekend we were in the districts trying to recruit students for our agricultural program. In two of the major districts the radio system was broken. The best way of letting the local communities know about our program was putting up fliers at the local church, asking the local priest to make an announcement about our program and then giving the church a donation. The second best way is to just talk out program up with local groups of people hanging out around town having a cigarette. The cool part is that it has worked, we've had a number of students sign up from those districts that we've visited.
Oddly enough I have seen beautiful new “School Zone” and “Bridge Ahead” signs out in the heart of ET where there is certainly no English speakers… who was the brains behind that idea?

I have also seen graffiti that said: “F*CK OOF”, which I thought was pretty funny.

I saw a used condom on the sidewalk: Usually I would think, “that’s gross” but now think, “wow someone used birth control, great.”

The price of food in the market is directly correlated with their quantity (Ah! Basic economics!). Although this is a fairly obvious fact, it goes to show how fresh I'm getting my vegetables when I can't buy cucumbers because, well, cucumbers aren't growing now.

“The closer I get to the Timorese, the further I realize I am from understanding them”. This is what a Father who has been living in TL for 40 years said. At first I thought this statement was silly and counter intuitive, but now I'm slowly realizing how true it is. In the beginning when I first arrived I thought that I was becoming more and more intimate with the Timorese and their culture. Now that I've been here a while I realize that the the more I learn about their culture, the more I realize I don't understand – and will probably never understand. I suppose having cultural secrets is a clever way of keeping a culture alive, especially when there is so much Western influence within TL. It allows for the people to maintain a unique identity.

This one's for my dad:
Getting a loan in TL: There are no banks in the districts, and often the local people have no ownership certificates for their homes, therefore cannot put up any corralteral to make a bank loan. As a consequence micro finance NGOs have a system where they start by giving small loans and slowly increase the loan amount so long as the borrower continues to make timely payments. This way people can build their credit and borrow larger and larger sums without the enticial collatoral. It helps to keep in mind that because villages are so small, the microfinancers usually have a fairly good idea who will be able to pay back their loans with interest and who is going to have to continue borrowing from family.

I find it so interesting how people without a lot of money spend what money they have. For the Timorese, weddings and funerals are extremely important affairs.

Funerals: Everyone is invited to a funeral. If I was invited to a funeral, my family would be expected to provide something for the family whose member past away. For example, I would give the deceased person's family a pig from my family. The deceased person's family would then record what my family gave so that they could give back one third of the value of our gift (perhaps a third of a pig or a small goat).

After the funeral the family is expected to put flowers on the grave everyday for a week, every week for a month, every month for a year, then annually. The family wears black for 1 year if someone young has died, but only has to wear black for 6 months when someone old has died. It's interesting that funerals are big events and birthdays are not. I was talking with one of my coworkers and he said that deaths are more celebrated than births because your ancestors will take care of you if you treat them well in death.

I'm writing this part a few days later: I just spent the weekend celebrating the All Saints and All Souls festival with one of my coworkers and his family. I have a correction: although the Timorese believe that if they take care of their ancestors their ancestors will take care of them, by pooling together and going through the extensive (and often very expensive) mourning process as a family, they are actually taking care of each other.

Wedding are also huge events. I mean HUGE. Last weekend I attended a wedding of a middle class Timorese couple. Once again, everyone is invited to the event. I was invited by a coworker who didn't even know the bride's name. At the reception there were about 500 people, all of whom were fed dinner. The cake was ten layers, the bride's dress was white and beautiful, the groom was wearing a three piece white suit complete with a baby blue vest and white gloves. The guests were dressed to the nines. And all the guests received a small gift when the entered. The amazing thing is that this was completely the norm. My coworker estimated the cost at $20,000. In all likelihood the families will be paying for it for the rest of their lives but it's considered money well spent because being able to throw a party like that is a status symbol.

The dancing at the wedding deserves a special mention. As a lady I sat at the side of the dancing floor with my hands in my lap. The band would start playing and a man would walk across the dance floor – making no eye contact – approach... approach... then suddenly look up and peg his dance victim with a stare and extended hand. If it happened to be me (and once they released that the 'malae' could dance, it often was) then off we went, two-stepping across the dance floor with the other couples. After the song was over, we would briefly nod thank you, and then return to our seats. Only to have the whole process start again.

Interestingly, for all extensive purposes the couple that got married were pretty much married before they threw the huge bash. Many couples that get married already having been living together and already have a small family before they actually say the vows.

NB: For traditional ceremonies, such as a wedding, often the groom’s family will give the bride’s family a buffalo and in return the bride's family will give the groom’s family a pig. However, in these traditional exchanges buffalo and other animals can be substituted by money, however the party that is responsible for giving a pig must give a pig.

In sum: Give buffalo/money = ALWAYS pig

This exchange is no joke. Our driver was all set to get married to a woman whom he had already started a family with (they have a young boy). The wedding was planned to be at the end of October (I even knew what I was going to wear). But then one week before the big event, word got out that it was called off because the bride's family wanted our driver's family to give a buffalo, but his family was only prepared to give a goat and some beer. Now... well lets just say, the relationship is on the rocks.

Traditional bride negotiations: Grooms family comes over to the bride’s family’s home and then men sit together and discuss the barlaki, or the price of the bride. The men are the only ones allowed to talk although many guests are invited to attend the discussions. The discussions are very serious and men bargain by putting something similar to poker chips on the table. The groom cannot be apart of the discussions and neither can the bride. They are not even allowed to listen. Often in the districts these negotiations take days. And after each day of negotiating all the guests are provided with dinner.

Back to employment in ET:
I have a coworker that has spoken with some students who have told her that they do not want to get a job because if they start earning an income their family members will ask them for all of their money. So in order for them to keep their earnings they either have to lie to their family or move out of the country.

School is starting soon! The students will be arriving on November 9th which is really exciting because the students have had an extended holiday this summer because this year the government decided to switch to the southern hemisphere calender. Therefore, the students have been out of school for almost 4 months now.

One of the challenges that we have had with the schools is the lack books for the students. Rather, the lack of access to books for the students. In two of our schools there are quite good libraries that are stacked with books on agriculture, however, whenever one of the LOL staff go to the schools and ask for the library to be open, no on ever seems to know where the key is. The issue seems to be that the teachers are afraid that if they open the library the students will steal the books. Therefore, all the books are locked behind a door and none of the students get to use them. This is very frustrating, and certainly something that we're going to work on for this year.

MUCH LOVE,
m