Bits and pieces

Just a few things. Maybe I shouldn't be writing this now, I'm not really in the mood, but whatever. Just a few dot points to accompany my photos.

- Dad's visit has been nice, timed well with me experiencing a slight downturn in my energy. Reduced my work activities and slowed down.

- Trip to Osso-Huna was nice. Visiting the school that was assisted by Tear, a group that my father, among others, was involved in.

- Almost two weeks to go before my Visa break. Feel like I could stop now but got two more trips planed next week.

I'm going to write again when I'm up for it; not feeling it right at the moment. Ate logo.

Evan

Pics from Osso-Huna

West Side Story Part One

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

More pics from Liquica

Some pics from Liquica District

Collecting my thoughts and scheming for the future…

I have just hit the two month mark here. Wow. It’s gone quickly.

I feel like it’s been a fairly productive period for me thus far; I’ve linked up with my existing contacts, started making new ones, and begun conducting interviews (including a longish adventure into three districts). I’ve been asked a couple of times by a colleague how many interviews I’m aiming to do. Honestly, I could give her an answer then, and I couldn’t give you one now either. My only reply would be that I’m going to do as many as I can physically manage. I don’t have a magic number to arrive at; I don’t know how much is enough.

Perhaps I will reach a point with my interviews, after I meet, or try to meet, all the people I would like to speak to, when I can say that, well, that’s all folks. Or maybe, and more likely, I will hit a physical, mental and emotional wall and just have to stop. I feel like I could spend almost an endless amount of time here doing interviews; it could just go on and on. Of course, I actually have to stop at some point, analyse the data, and write the thesis. And my time here is supposed to end at the end of January 2014, I will then have about 7 months to complete the remaining parts of a first draft of my thesis (4 chapters, plus an intro and conclusion). I’ll hopefully have six months to clean it up. I think by January 2014 I will be fed up with it all, and also probably reasonably satisfied with the quantity and quality of the data I would have collected by then. I’m just trying to mentally prepare myself for this, and also set realistic targets for what I can get done between now and January.

I’m just gonna tell you about my plans and schemes for October (best laid plans etc…) for the rest of this blog (I’m knackered). I’ve got two trips planned to visit two more districts, Liquica and Ermera. I’ll be going with one or two other people to assist me with language, introductions etc. These trips will take up about a week or so of the month. I’ll again be wanting to speak to political actors in these regions, but also with people in the community, looking to assess their relationship with political parties.

My father is also making a trip here for about ten days, which will be really nice. I’m a little homesick and having some family company will be encouraging. I’ve found myself recently texting and calling friends and family on a fairly regular basis. I just feel like I need that kind of contact. I guess I’m a little lonely and isolated here. So yeah, if you want to email me or hit me up on FB, please do. Messages are very welcome! Dad and I, with a friend and colleague of ours, Jose, will make a trip to Ossuna to visit a school that a group my Dad is involved in has been helping out.

Hmmm, I will also continue to chase after interview targets I have already identified… and I’ve got my hands on a contact list of all the current members of parliament. Will be cold calling them and hoping a few of them are cool and ready to speak (this will be very hit and miss). I might also be doing a similar thing with crashing the offices of political parties and seeing if I can chat some people up that way. Hmmm, by the end of October, I’ll be close to returning to Darwin for a little break. Three months is as far as tourist visas go here so I’ll take a few days off and return to finish off my trip. Right, anyway, that’s enough. Hope you’re all well. Love and peace. Evan