Last week I had a meeting in an IDP Camp with the site coordinator. When I arrived there was a crowd surrounding a person lying on the ground. The site coordinator was already there and was quite worried as he was having trouble getting questions answered. There was a woman was unconscious on the ground. She was breathing and had a pulse but was totally out. A man held her and claimed to be her husband. He said this has happened multiple times before and it was due to black magic. Previous times he has brought her to a spiritual healer which helps her regain consciousness. We sort of debated for a minute what to do. They said they had already called the ambulance and there was no answer. I agreed to do what the husband wanted which was give them a ride to the spiritual healer. I did and upon arrival realized the healer was a some type of martial arts master. Anyway there were many police around so we just dropped them off and went back to work. I still don’t know what the right thing to do was. Morally I did what I thought was right, follow the wishes of the husband. Although according to INGOs and such I probably should of only called the ambulance.
Then late in the afternoon I got pick up some 1400 plastic jerry cans and deliver then to the airport to catch a helicopter ride to Suai, a southern part of Timor which has recently had a large flood. All the bridges have been knocked out so helicopter is the only way in. Some Oxfam staff got to go along on the ride to do an assessment. Unfortunately I didn’t get to go but maybe next time.
This weekend was the parliamentary election which went off well. There were very few problems reported even less than the previous two elections this year. I heard of some people voting multiple times, some police restricting media access, and patients in clinics not being able to vote although prisoners were allowed. We should get the initial results of the election early this week with official results at the end of the week which hopefully won’t result in any violence outbreaks. So far it Fretilin in the lead followed by CNRT as expected.
Jesse Shapiro
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IDP Technical Support & Service Advisor to
Direccao Nacional Aguas e Sanemento (DNAS) Timor Leste
Oxfam Australia
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(+670) 732-6275
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