AND WE THOUGHT OUR DROUGHT WAS BAD - KIDS DYING IN EAST TIMOR
FRIENDSHIP CITY
Port Phillip mayor, Darren Ray, is appealing to local residents and
businesses to give generously to aid the drought-stricken community of
Suai in East Timor. Last week, six Suai children died of malnutrition
and another four were evacuated to Dili Hospital for treatment.
"$10,000 has already been donated via this year's rate payments but
that is not going to save the dying kids or relieve the very real
suffering of their families. Just as our residents are paying their
rates, I make an urgent and special appeal to them to dig deeper into
their pockets over the next few months," he said.
Cr Ray explained that in 2000 the City of Port Phillip made a ten-year
commitment to help rebuild Suai, a coastal town almost totally
destroyed in the wake of the East Timorese vote for independence the
previous year.
"Just as Suai was getting slowly back on its feet, it's been knocked
for six again by the same terrible drought afflicting much of Australia.
It's been tough here but the ramifications for East Timorese communities
such as Suai are devastating. The major difference though is that in
Suai there aren't supermarkets with plenty of food in them.
"The market produce in Suai has really dried up and there does not seem
to be any relief in sight. The wet started in November so people in the
surrounding Covalima district planted rice, corn and other crops but
then the wet stopped. The crops have died and they've lost their seed
stock. The few crops which have survived the drought were recently
destroyed in a severe storm.
"Normally, farmers in East Timor expect El Nino to inflict a drought
every five or seven years and plan for this. However, they haven't had a
chance to build up stockpiles of seed since the terrible events of 1999
when the Indonesians and militia literally laid waste to all crops,
animal stocks and physical infrastructure," he said.
Cr Ray said that the friends of Suai, the Port Phillip community group,
had donated $6000 to the Suai hospital to provide nutritional
supplements to children presenting with malnutrition.
"The best help we can give is money rather than goods. Getting goods to
Suai from Melbourne is still a logistical nightmare. With cash, the
local community can bring in seed stock from Indonesia. It also gives
them the resources needed to start digging bores," he said.
Over the longer term, Cr Ray said, friends of Suai would be working
with the Suai community committee to pinpoint areas of greatest need.
"Over sixty people, including lots of women, turned up to a recent
meeting to form a new Suai community committee which will be run on
collective principles. Office bearers were elected last week but all
meetings are open to anyone in the community who wishes to attend. This
is the single most positive achievement to date between the friendship
groups here in Port Phillip and on the ground in Suai. Sheryl Hazel who
was appointed late last year by Australian Volunteers International and
the council to work closely with the committee as an international
advisor," he said.
Ms Hazel is an experienced community development officer who has worked
extensively with youth in outback Australia. It's not been easy going
for Ms Hazel who has had a motorbike accident and suffered from bouts of
dengue fever and malaria since her appointment.
Friends of Suai has refurbished a community centre in Suai. The centre
has been running nine computer classes a week and a community radio
station funded by the World Bank. However, the radio station has stopped
broadcasting because it no longer has the funds to buy the diesel to
operate its generator. Funding is being sought for the resumption of
broadcasts. Friends of Suai has also supplied refurbished computers to
Suai students studying in Dili. Friends of Suai and the local branch of
Rotary are also committed to rebuilding a preschool in Suai.
Cr Ray said that it was difficult for most Australians to grasp the
difficulties experienced in the rebuilding of Suai and other parts of
East Timor.
"I visited Suai last year and, even though I'd been told what to
expect, I was still shocked by the degree of devastation still evident.
Resources and services Australians take for granted just don't exist or
are prohibitively expensive. There is still no full-time power supply.
Buying the diesel to run generators is not cheap. Some buildings still
lack roofs or roofs that don't leak so, when it does rain, equipment
like computers can get damaged. There aren't enough teachers so primary
school children are lucky to get two hours a day schooling and high
school children, four hours a day.
"Official government documents (mostly from Dili) are written in
Portuguese which is not understood by a lot of people so there are real
communication problems. East Timor is a very poor country but the prices
for many things are on a par with Australia.
"On the positive side, eight of the people who've done computer courses
at the youth centre have gotten jobs with local non-government agencies
(NGOs). A children's day held at the centre as a community Christmas
event was a raging success," he said.
Cr Ray said that people could make donations to friends of Suai through
their rate payments or by sending a cheque to friends of Suai c/- the
City of Port Phillip, Private Bag 3, St Kilda 3182.
Residents could also make donations or find out what work the council
is doing in Suai by calling its Suai Coordinator, Lee Kirk on 9209 6598,
0412 801 341 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Enquiries: After hours
Carmel Shute Darren Ray
Media Officer Mayor
Tel: 9209 6163 Fax: 9525 4640 Tel: 9527 5364
Mobile: 0412 569 356 Mobile: 0413 334 523
Council webpage: www.portphillip.vic.gov.au
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