metinaro pics

Water truck filling at the well we rehabilitated in Metinaro drastically reducing our expenses and increasing our water trucking efficiency.








My crew building a pit latrine. As you can see we a firm belief in safety. We also have the standard "guy leaning on a shovel", a guy sitting down, and the comic relief pointing at there shotty work.










Here we are finishing up a temporary 5 latrine block in the Metinaro IDP camp.

Finally able to upload a picture. Here is me at work doing a water survey in November.

More news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6418299.stm

 

Back in the doo doo

Got back into Timor last night after a week in Bali.  I ended up doing just what I needed to and nothing more.  a little shopping the first day then just relaxed the remainder of the week.  I was going to go for a hike, go surfing, go to ubud, and some other stuff but just decided sitting by the pool, eating well, and hanging about was a better.  I did end up going to a good dance club which I haven't done since coming back to Timor and got my dancing feet going again.  But really I just slept a lot. 

 

I came back to Timor just as security has begun to get worse.  Timor is on the international news again.  You can read about it on bbc and cnn.  Tension has risen and most people are not going to work, they are just waiting to see if the violence blows over.  I have asked that none of my staff come to work this week as it doesn't seem worth the risk.  Although we will keep some basic services going such as water trucking as it is important and could make things worse if it was stopped.  It is frustrating as we can't get work done in this automosphere.  I don't know but best case scenario for East Timor doesn't look great and worse case probably means civil war.  Who knows really with tons of rumors flying around.  I am pessimistic about Timor future but optimistic that the violence and political instability will not get worse.  The upcoming elections do seem unlikely to happen though and violence will probably continue at its current level.  AVI has decided to evacuate Timor again which is not a good sign.

 

The situation near my house is not great so sarah have are not staying there right now.  Our area is not bad but two really bad areas are on either side of us.  We got out yesterday after I returned and are now staying with friends.  As I left my house there was an illegal road block just down the street with glass rocks and maybe 50 youth.  They waved my by as to get me out before they were about the fight.  We will definitely wait until it gets a bit calmer before going back.  anyway still safer that US and way more interesting. lv jesse

 

jessepants@gmail.com
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flipflop...not a shoe...a lifestyle.

Bali

Safe and sound in Bali at last!  Bali is gorgeous.  It is weird being
in a real city again it is sort of making my head spin but i am on top
of it.

I left timor on Saturday with my giant duffel bag, an extra change of
underwear, my swim suit, and my toiletries.  Basically not much.  when
i got in I went straight to bed.  Woke up the next day to rain and
decided to jump into it early and get shopping out of the way.  I went
to the mall and bought some new clothes and a laptop.  With all that
out of the way I am going to spend the rest of my time relaxing on a
beach somewhere.

I met up with some other Timor people who are also in Bali last night for
dinner.  we ate at a french restaurant on the edge of some rice
patties.  It was quite spectacular, food and atmosphere.

Now i am at the beach near my hotel and making the hard
decisions...where to get a massage?  paz and lv

jesse

The worst of weeks

Although I am excited to finally take a vacation at the end of next week I have had a rough week.  First off I have been told that my grandfather well and is in the hospital.  My mom and brother have gone to see him and are keeping me informed.  Second due to a financial problem at work I had to fire 16 workers over night.  It is amazing how making a decision and executing it like that is really so difficult.  It was complicated by the fact that they were all good workers and were given no warning.  I really felt bad and couldn't eat much all day or sleep a wink.  These men were my friends and they used to trust me.  This is really my first time ever managing people so I guess it I have taken it a bit hard.  Being someones boss sounds all good until you have to do the dirty work.  Especially when it is someone else's.  This experience has made me look forward to my coming vacation even more than before.  I just need a bit of an escape from this world to reorient myself.  Cheers,

 

lv jesse

--
Jesse Shapiro
Water and Sanitation Engineer
Plan International
jessepants@gmail.com
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flipflop...not a shoe...a lifestyle.

Vacation

After 7 months back in Timor I have arranged to finally have a small vacation.  At the end of Feb I will be going to Bali for a week.  This is a common destination for people to go to from Timor especially when they need a short holiday or a visa run.  I am so excited.  I have been so jealous after I have seen most foreigners leave once, twice, and some four times for Bali just in the last 7 months.  I don't know what I will be doing.  Probably what everyone does.  Sit on the beach and relax, have a beer, maybe go see a temple.  Anyway I need it as Timor is starting to get to me.  I will leave on feb 24th and be back in Timor on the 4th.  Join me if you can.  paz

 

lv jesse

--
Jesse Shapiro
Water and Sanitation Engineer
Plan International
jessepants@gmail.com
------------------------------------
flipflop...not a shoe...a lifestyle.

Look! Timor has traffic signals?

Last Thursday was the beginning of a new age in Timor.  The first traffic lights in Dili began working.  Recently everyone watched as they were erected and sat dormant for maybe a month or so.  Everyone in Dili theorized about what would happen when they turned on.  How were they to work when electricity goes on and off multiple times a day for hours at a time?  We also imagined the chaos and wrecks when some cars follow the lights and others didn't.   Well this week we all got to see.

 

Thursday morning I was driving through a central area where there is common violence problems, the Jardim.  I saw a large crowd ahead in the road and heard lots of noise.  I immediately slowed down but soon realized that it was just the new traffic lights that cars were slowing down for.  At the intersection was a large gathering of mostly youth all watching as if were a comedy show.  As everyone, even taxis, stopped on red and went on green.  The crowd pointed, shouted, and laughed.  Cars actually came to a complete stop.

 

It is now four days later and I have not seen any accidents yet.   Most people seem to actually be following the lights and the system seems to be working.  My only complaint is that the light pole was built directly at the line in the road you are supposed to stop at.  So when you stop there it is difficult to actually see the light.  If you go past by even a meter it is impossible to know when the light changes.  Anyway lets hope it continues to work.  paz

 

lv jesse 

--
Jesse Shapiro
Water and Sanitation Engineer
Plan International
jessepants@gmail.com
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flipflop...not a shoe...a lifestyle.

Photos of Timor's struggle

Check these out.

 

http://www.dominicnahr.com/gallerytimor01.html

--
Jesse Shapiro
Water and Sanitation Engineer
Plan International
jessepants@gmail.com
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flipflop...not a shoe...a lifestyle.

Leaving the PC behind and coming back to Timor.

Hey y'all.  Things are good and busy. 

 

Some peace corps volunteers have started to return to Timor for visits and to look for work.  They include Joe and Sarah C who used to live on the island.  Sarah M also returned last week to start work with Tais.  My group is making a serious come back!  oh yeah, that is a challenge.

 

Cedric and Jen came back from their vacation and are now married.  Para benz!  Just as my house sitting gig ended for them I found a great house in town.  Sarah m and I just moved in this week and are enjoying are new place.  It is in Villa Verde and is an old Portuguese house which is great because it has revolutionary things like good ventilation and passive lighting.  It is also got colored concrete floors, a good layout, high ceilings, and ac.  I think we were real lucky on this one.

 

All the foreigners are coming back from vacation now.  It makes me real depressed when everyone of them asks what I did as I have not much to say but I do like their stories.  I am quite jealous.  I have just realized I have been here over 6 months with no vacation.  I gotta do something about that.

 

Work is great.  Water and Sanitation at Plan is going strong and we now have close to 40 staff, most who are dedicated to the emergency work.  We have made some changes and looks like we will separate the emergency and development programs here.  This will work out well and keep things from dragging down the development program.  It is also good for me as I will now be running the emergency water and sanitation side.  We are still discussing it though as no one knows how long the emergency will last, in fact Timor has basically moved beyond the emergency.  My first week at Plan the Metinaro refugee camp had 3L of water per person per day.  Now we are at 17 or 18.  That is good news and is one indicator that Timor is moving away from the emergency.  Although no one knows what could happen once the election starts later this year..  We will all just have to wait and see.    

 

I will write again soon.  Hope y'all are well.  take care. lv jesse    

--
Jesse Shapiro
Water and Sanitation Engineer
Plan International
jessepants@gmail.com
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flipflop...not a shoe...a lifestyle.