tribute to Caicoli

'Been passing by this setup for the last few days while on the way to work. It's right outside the old UN house in Caicoli. Ironic huh, a scene of love, sacrifice and goodness that the Holy Family embodied, yet set in the most contrasting environment - a home that used to be but now burned, pillaged, destroyed and down to its skeletal remains, with graffiti decorating it. You can see it both ways - the Holy Family healing the wounds or someone with a real bad sense of humour.
I have a special thing for this area because I used to eat at the warung right across the old UN house every single day. The ibu used to sell the yummiest (and most unhealthy) fried chicken and for $1 only, you can get kangkong & banana flowers (for warding off malaria), 1 piece of fried chicken, rice, and sometimes even bean soup! A West Timorese, she would also go to English Mass every Sunday at Igreja Aimutin where we would see her and chat with her too. But since the crisis, her shop is now closed, and we hardly see her anymore in church. Last I heard, she's now living with her husband and son in Balide. I miss her $1 meals....

This area is also particularly heartwrenching for me because I have seen it in much better days. There is a small loja here selling snacks, soft drinks and where people would sit and gossip after lunch. Now, it's always shut.

There was also an English school in a small shack that some of my colleagues would go to after work. It doesn't exist anymore. This was how it looked in better days...

One of my colleagues lived a few doors away and his house too was completely destroyed, and everything was stolen, down to the last piece of zinc on his roof. It's kinda sad that i only knew where he lived after his house was looted, when other colleagues pointed it out to me each time we drove past. It must be so painful, to see your house, yet be unable to return. He told me that when the crisis erupted, he didn't want to leave at all, but when the houses nearby started burning, he had to run away with his family.

He brought nothing at all, safe for the clothes on their back and a statue of the Blessed Virgin. Of course, everyone kinda knows that those whose homes were not destroyed belonged to the right group. Amidst the empty shells of homes in Caicoli, you still see the families whose homes were left untouched, so it's kinda awkward when you pass through, and you know who is aligned to whom.

Dang, i'm getting super nostalgic here........... I guess, it's like death you know... they always say you see a bright light at the end of the tunnel and your memories of your life start flashing before you. I guess, that's me now. Although i know i will be back, but i can't help feeling the nostalgia...for the good ole days when i could walk home without feeling anxious, take a microlet and go shopping in Comoro Market (where are my market shots???), sit on the beach eating ayam bakar....

Anyways, i haven't done this for a long time - going around with my tiny camera. I took these shots yesterday after my 'Timorese dad' told me he had bought some Akar from Atabae. What's Akar? Apparently it's sago from palm trees, which is processed into solid cakes.
You have to soak them in water, dry them and then use them for making dosi or cake.I'm more accustomed to seeing Sago made into round balls and used in desserts in thailand, singapore, malaysia etc. Not in cakeform.... intriguing. Incidentally, the akar was one of the most essential food used during the resistance. The women in the OPMT (Popular Organisation of Women in TL) used to harvest and prepare sago in sacks and distribute them to the Falintil fighters so that they could survive for long periods in the bush without exposing their cover and stay alive. Cost for each block of akar - $1 ONLY!!!! You can ask the Timor Travel guys who ply the Kupang - Dili route to help you buy some since they pass Atabae on the way.