We arrived back in Lospalos last week after a few days in scorching Dili, a week in tepid Tonga and ten days in freezing cold Melbourne. There’s been a change in the weather here in the last four weeks; it’s getting hot and seems the dry season has arrived even though it’s way too late. It must be all so confusing for farmers, but then they have their own way of understanding the change. There’s also been so many people pass away over the past few days here but there’s also a local understanding as to why this is happening. In both cases – broadly speaking – according to local belief, the active connection to the spirit of the land and ancestors has been lost and so the whole system has been thrown off balance. Now people focus on ‘money’ and ‘development’ so the rituals that maintained the connections with the things that kept the balance have faded away. Sad…welcome to capitalism!
Our three-week ‘international’ sojourn was interesting and a wonderful experience. This was Elsa’s first time out of East Timor and as is to be expected, it was difficult for her to adjust. Our first destination was Tonga to attend the ACWW (Associated Country Women of the World) triennial conference, hosted by the Country Women’s Association of Victoria. The ACWW is a global women’s organisation with over 9 million (yes- 9 million!) members and the CWA are one of the many organisations involved. The organizational model of the ACWW is pretty amazing. They’ve divided the globe into nine areas and Australia and the Pacific fall into the South Pacific Region. The conference was more like a big meeting where member organisations present their activities, vote on resolutions and generally get together. Two Tongan women’s organisations managed logistics for the conference with support from the South Pacific Area President and her helpers.

Elsa was invited to speak on the last day of the conference and blew everyone away with her heart-felt presentation. We also signed CTKDS up as members of ACWW and in true Timorese fashion gave gifts to the organisers and host organisations. It was very moving. Sadly, the way things worked out we didn’t get a chance to see much of the landscape and visit the rural communities but we did see many beautiful cultural performances and even a recording of ‘Search for a Star’ which was recorded live at our hotel!
After even days in Tonga, we headed to Melbourne, totally unprepared for the cold snap that hit the day we arrived- this is where the culture shock hit hardest (and not just for Elsa). The city, the speed; the cold, the language… the busy-ness of it all. Rachael picked us up at the airport and we spent our first two nights with Sally, Marcus, Maleve and Mira in Footsacry. ETWA then ran a beautiful event which was very special as I got to see so many, many great friends and Elsa finally got to meet people she had heard so much about. ETWA members as always took care of us and welcomed Elsa with open arms. I caught up with family at my niece’s baby shower the following day and hung out with Clinton for a few days before our next major event in Archies Creek down near Leogatha. This was a black tie event organised by the crew from Change the World… an amazing and highly lucrative fundraiser raising in excess of $20k for our work here. Thanks to David, Anne, Wayne, Belinda and the team for your incredible hard work! Also a big thank you to the musicians and the owner of the venue and his hard-working staff.
Other activities included meetings with the Friends of Lospalos, AVI, Rotary and Andrea, the beautiful architect who has volunteered to design the Sustainability Centre. Dinner with the Santos family; lunch with my family and a party at our apartment in the city to say hello-goodbye to friends was a lovely end to the social side of our visit. Our last appointment was an afternoon tea with the CWA of Victoria in their heritage listed building in Toorak thank you very much 😉
In both Tonga and Melbourne we made great new contacts and opened up opportunities for partnerships which will support our work here. It was a whirlwind and a wee bit overwhelming at times but the memories will linger through the stories we’ll share here with everyone here.
Thanks to everyone for your support and generosity during our stay, particularly Clinton, Sally, Rachael, Marcus, Sophie, Darrylin and ETWA members and Machelle from the CWA.
Until next time!
Deb