It sounds a bit dramatic but i kinda get that feeling from the reports coming in from Lusa the portuguese news agency and other sources. Apparently the gang war ranging in the airport area has become so bad that the Comoro bridge was blocked off and the airport actually shut down, and attacked by the people living in the camp nearby. The AirNorth flight was cancelled and apparently 2 international soldiers were hurt in the fray, and that real bullets (not GNR rubber ones) were flying about. One of my colleagues visited the airport in an armoured vehicle to inspect our stores there. We have our logistics base there holding hundreds and thousands of supplies for the emergency. He got there through the backroad and managed to ensure that the supplies were safe but for now, we won't be able to get those school bags to the kiddies out in the districts which is a bummer. I'm really quite disappointed with the state of affairs here. Just last week, things were still quite calm but now the #$%%^^&* are out making trouble again. And with the airport closed - it's bad bad bad PR in the world man! It's like Lebanon being attacked by Israel except our airport got attacked by angry disenfranchised locals.
It blows my mind when I think of the people destroying their own country's properties - i guess when you can't see any hope in the future, you just don't feel like you have a STAKE in the country and thus don't see a point protecting the economy or the nation. The reasons are so multi-faceted and complex it's hard to pin down a reason for this. Is it just poverty? or the culture of violence nurtured through hundreds of years of resistance and wars? or the lack of education? We're frustrated. Our Timorese friends even more so. This sense of insecurity weighs on our minds daily.
Oh lord, bless this nation.
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