You’ve probably already seen the photos I posted on Facebook
or on this blog of my trip to the district of Liquica. I’ll just tell you here
a little about what happened during the trip:
I travelled west on Monday morning (7/10) with two research
assistants (Benny and Gomis). It’s not a long trip to Liquica district; we travelled
through Liquica town and headed straight for Maubara. Maubara is a lovely place
to visit though we spent less time there than I had originally anticipated. We
had previously got in contact with the Xefe de Suco (village boss) and he said
we would be welcome to come along and speak to the community. The problem was
that the Xefe we spoke to was in charge of the Suco of Maubara-Lissa, which is
not the one located in the centre of Maubara town. We went on a hunt to find
Suco Maubara-Lissa; we were told it was far away. Oh yeah, it was far away
alright.
Got a lift part of the way there, for about 20 minutes, up a
mountain. We disembarked and hiked the rest of the way, about one and a quarter
hours. Certainly had not anticipated this; we were short on water and I was not
really prepared for this kind of travel. Particularly when it came to shoes. I
would pay for this in spades.
Of course, the Xefe wasn’t actually there at the Suco when we
arrived, despite us having called him several times during the morning. It was
only when we arrived and spoke to one of the Suco representatives that we were
informed that the Xefe was in Dili. Of course. Why would the Xefe not think to
mention that to us on the any number of occasions we called him on Monday? This
is fieldwork (TIF).
Fortunately, the other Suco representative turned out to be
very useful. He guided us to an aldeia (a small, local community, at a level lower
than the suco level) and we spoke to the community there. And when I say we
spoke to the community, we spoke to the men there. The women of the community
we observants. And only two or three of the men there spoke. They generally referred
to the oldest person there first to respond to my questions. And he didn’t
speak Tetum. He spoke Tokodede, so we needed someone to help translate for us.
The first question I asked, which I thought was fairly simple and straight
forward, asking about the challenges the community faced, elicited absolutely
no answers… at all. Nothing. We tried several times to ask the question in
various ways. Nothing. To be honest, it initially seemed they didn’t understand
the question. Or perhaps they weren’t prepared to talk about this to us… not
sure, still. I tentatively asked the second question, with a growing feeling
that this interview would be a wash out. I saw myself asking question after
question, and getting zero responses. Thankfully, they began to start
conversing and we had a decent conversation about some of the topics I was interested
in.
The Suco representative offered us to meet another aldeia for
another interview. Apparently, there were some FRETILN guys out there. Sure,
why not, since we’re here and everything. He took us on a walk through the
jungle. Oh yes, it was quite a hike through the mountains. Totally unprepared
for this kind of hike. An hour or so later, we reached this aldeia. The community
was mainly made up of older people, not many kids and younger adults were
there. There were so many machetes around the place, I must admit I got a
little unnerved. They were all very friendly and welcoming… and happy to speak.
They even invited us to eat a meal with them. Wasn’t too sure what we were
eating but I couldn’t refuse, I just ate a perfunctionary amount (TIF).
An almost two hour walk back to Maubara ensued afterwards and
I already knew my feet were in trouble. It was mainly a descent on a very
dirty, rough road filled with loose rocks that had no grip at all. I felt it
was only a matter of time till I slipped on my bum, or fell forward onto my
face. I survived, along with the rest of the crew and made it back to Maubara.
Not before sticking my head in what I took as a creek, but was later (of course)
told was dirty water. I seem to be ok, no stomach complaints etc so perhaps I
got lucky on that one.
Accommodation. Well, we had nothing organised but we were
lucky enough to be led to the Xefe de Suco of Maubara town and he offered to
feed us and put us up for the night. I had no problem with paying him for these
services but when it came time to working out how much, I had no idea what to
do. Not enough would be an insult, and I didn’t have a lot of funds on me
either. When I asked how much would be appropriate, I was usefully informed
that it was up to me. Great, thanks, really useful. (TIF) How should I know???
Erred on the side of generosity.
Oh my feet. There’s not much else to say about the trip
besides my feet. We travelled to LIquica town on Tuesday morning and found the
CNR office. We got the details of the four parties that were active and made a
plan to meet them after they returned from work. We got two done, and there are
two more we hope to meet on a quick return trip. My feet got destroyed. Period.
Been in bandiads, bandages and antiseptic since Monday evening. My final
comments will focus on the lovely place we stayed at in Liquica town on Tuesday
night. Great place called Black Rock Restaurant, they’ve got tents near the
beach for good prices. Definitely recommend if you travel to Liquica. And no, I’m
not getting a commission for saying this.
Ate logo, Evan
