Just Coffee

I recently met with two city administrators from the Ainaro side of the Madison Ainaro Sister City Alliance (MASA) here in Timor-Leste.

Tear gas. Damn that hurts!

I am 28 years old today.

Dili's first rains of the wet season have arrived! Thankfully this brings a short respite to the oppressive heat for however short a time. I heard it speculated by some that this year the wet season would come late but much to everyone's pleasant surprise, it is right on time. As the rains come more frequently over the next month the hillsides around Dili, and all over Timor-Leste, will change from barren brown to lush shades of green.

ROMIT Group:

From the vegetable seeds that we have received, we organized ourselves in order to prepare a site as a vegetable garden.

1. First we cut/turn the earth.

2. Second we fence the site.

3. Third we plant the vegetable seeds.

The other day was my workmate friend Julio's birthday. He had a rash on his arms when I got to work so I took him to a pharmacy (called 'chemist' here by the Australians) and bought him something for the allergy. On the way back to work we stopped by the post office where I received an early birthday card from my cousin. Julio had never been in the post office before (never had a need to) so I took him in and showed him how it worked...the p.o. boxes, etc. Afterward, in the car, he asked if he could look at the card that my cousin had sent. I said sure. When we got back to work Julio quietly said that it was his birthday.

Somehow I managed to get through each of the thirteen districts, or states, of Timor-Leste in just one week! Three weeks ago I traveled first through the western and central districts to the towns of Maliana, Suai, Same, Aileu, Gleno and Licquica. I then traveled through the eastern districts to the towns of Manatuto, Baucau, Los Palos, and Viqueque. To top it all off I was helicoptered to the remote district of Oecussi before coming back to settle in Timor-Leste's capitol, Dili. It was an exhausting whirlwind trip that I wouldn't want to repeat in such a short amount of time, but also a great experience.

Hand woven Timorese bags

I have just received 50 hand made Timorese bags woven from locally grown palm fiber. These bags were woven specially for Just Coffee by a group of fifteen women who call themselves Grupo Naroman. 'Naroman' means shining or shining light.

Grupo Naroman was formed in early 2007 after last year's crisis as a way to work together to find a market for their products. Previously the women weavers had been individually selling their products to people in a nearby community who were paying them a low price and then going on to resell the product in Dili or elsewhere.

Weekend in Turiscai

Part 1:
Last Friday night we came on a most insane adventure to visit and stay with a friend on his coffee farm. I have traveled to isolated places in Timor-Leste before. Between places here and areas in Central America, I have been on bad roads more than enough times to make my stomach churn just thinking about it. I have never, however, been on a road like the one that we traveled on last Friday night.

Last week I traveled to the mountain town of Ainaro, Timor-Leste to meet with members from the Ainaro side of the Madison Ainaro Sister City Alliance (MASA). This sister city relationship has been a project of the Madison chapter of the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) since February 2000. Since that time members of ETAN Madison have traveled to Ainaro to meet with community leaders, distribute aid supplies, and assist with reconstruction projects, amongst other things. Although the sister city relationship had been strained by the 2006 conflict in Timor-Leste, members from both sides are now working to reestablish contact and continue plans for the future. One of MASA's annual events is the Tour de Timor Bike Ride sponsored by our very own Just Coffee!

After 2007's Tour de Timor the remainder of the Madison event's t-shirts were brought to me in Dili by a Madisonian who came on the recent Just Coffee East Timor delegation. On my recent visit to Ainaro I met with members of MASA to whom I gave the Tour de Timor t-shirts as well as greetings of solidarity and well wishes from their sister city across the globe, Madison, Wisconsin.