Hau serbiso iha Centro Bakhita, foho Kapas!

For the past week I have been working at the Bakhita Centre in Emera. The centre is situated high in the mountains in a small village called Eraulu. On my way to Eraulu I stayed with another PALMS volunteer, Ellie, in Gleno - a village about 40 minutes from the Bakhita Centre. It was great! On Saturday night we had a dinner with the teachers who Ellie works with, she is helping them with skills to teach English in their schools. So it was a night of English practice for the teachers, and it gave Ellie and I a chance to learn about the Timorese traditions and customs.



It's great staying with Ellie....Gleno is a picturesque little village in the mountains. It's nice and cool, quiet and relaxing. We often sit out on her porch and have a 'chin-wag', drinking local coffee from the Emera district, talking also to little kids who love to keep us company. Every morning we keep an eye on the pipe out the back, when the water starts flowing we grab our buckets and fill them up. This water we use to fill our mandy in the bathroom, boil for drinking etc. The families who live behind Ellie also fill their buckets, once the water stops the little kids strip and have a soak, then the women begin washing clothes, blankets, sheets etc.



I'm getting much better at buying food from the markets. Actually, it's a lot of fun and it gives me a chance to chat to the women and practice my Tetum. In Gleno, markets line either side of the main road, the women sit behind the tables under a little roof, with their products in little piles. Usually you can buy a pile for about 50c to $1, it's very colourful with piles of tomatoes, potatoes, beans, carrots, egg plant, onions, garlic, green vegetables etc.



After staying with Ellie for a couple of days, Anders the coordinator of the Bakhita Centre Health Clinic, dropped by to take me further up the mountain. They had just received their new ambulance from Australia, so I was lucky to be their first patient as we winded our way up the mountain into Eraulu. As we approached the centre, the siren and lights were in use, informing the large crowd of people waiting to celebrate the arrival of the new ambulance. A tais was placed on the bull-bar before we got out and had a little ceremony, the ambulance was blessed. We sat on a traditional mat 'mate biti', chewed betel nut 'mama bua no malus' and drank whisky 'hemu tua sabu'. The chief of the suco gave a speech, followed by music and dancing. Young people played guitars, banjos, tambourine, drums and a keyboard. The ceremony took place to celebrate the arrival of the new ambulance, but also to offer protection for the ambulance.



The Bakhita Centre is situated in such a beautiful part of Timor. The main house reminds me of a large ranch house with steps leading down to the clinic. Looking out from the veranda is a huge area of wetland, where horses, buffalo, and pigs graze. This wetland is surrounded by mountains. In the mornings the clouds are low, it's beautiful and cool. Anders, the coordinator of the clinic, was invaluable during my stay, teaching me so much about the local culture. He has been working in Timor for about 2.5 years and has fully immersed himself into the community. His knowledge of the Emera district, the people, culture, traditions, way of life is so immense. With this he has been able to develop such a connection with the people and the community. Without his help, it would be impossible for me to develop such a dental program in the surrounding schools in such a short time.

So now I'm back in Dili at Bairo Pite Clinic with a huge challenge ahead of me: organising dental screens in the schools of Eraulu, dental outreach services via mobile clinics from Bairo Pite, health promotion, training health workers in Atabae, teaching English, gaining info on salt fluoridation...............but firstly, I'm desperate to buy a motor bike! Sorry Mum and Dad, I promise I'll drive well, I'll forget what I've learnt from Dad and Chad.....promise!

My first three months have whizzed by.....My experiences in Timor have been so amazing, yet quite challenging and confronting. It's interesting, the first few months living in a new culture, I feel I have so much to learn, there is so much that intrigues me, and even more that confuses me. But, it's a challenge, and one that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

For the past three months, I have been working mainly at Bairo Pite Clinic in Dili. It's a busy clinic, on average we see about 20 or more dental patients per day, and most require/request extraction. Some great advice that I think of often: 'Extracting teeth, often takes sheer grit and determination. Visualise the tooth out and whole'. It's amazing how well this visualisation technique works! I often have to visualise myself fit and full of muscles, because after the 10th extraction for the morning, I'm just about ready to 'Hau atu ba toba' (go to bed)! We have made a few small changes to the dental clinic in Dili. We gave it a spring clean, tidied the walls ready for new Tetum oral health posters, improved some infection control breaches, introduced new patient record sheets and medical history records, introduced a policy for treatment of children/adults with facial swelling and we are slowly encouraging patients to consider treatment other than extraction. We have just begun health promotion skits and presentations on mobile clinics. This is a lot of fun! It's interesting visiting the rural villages, often accompanied by volunteer doctors' or medical students, nurses, translator and volunteers. We head off early, we might travel for three hours to the particular village, set ourselves up, give a health promotion skit, and then consulting begins. In some places it's normal for the doctor to see 70 patients. The patients' sit and wait for hours to be seen. Some patients receive paracetamol or a vitamin C,A, other patients are encouraged to come back to Dili for treatment if their condition is quite severe. Very often patients are unwilling to travel to Dili, if need be, Dr Dan will be phoned to try and convince the patient to come in for further care. Ultimately it is the patients decision. There was once a young woman who was 8 months pregnant and had TB. Her condition was very serious but an older relative would not let her travel to the clinic in Dili, as he didn't believe in western medicine. The woman and her child died, she was only 18.

When confronted with the amount of serious health problems in Timor ie TB, malaria, malnutrition, infections, typhoid, dengue, and the high rate of infant mortality; teeth and oral health sound a little insignificant! This is where hopefully education and promotion will play a great role in increasing the significance of good oral health.

I'm looking forward to working with a health team in Atabae, training health workers in oral health. I will spend 1 week every month working in Atabae, a smaller village to the west of Dili. As well as training health workers, I will travel to the more remote villages around Atabae, hopefully with a mobile dental unit provided by AUSAID, providing dental care. The aim is to train the health workers so that they can continue to provide this service.

I am also very much looking forward to spending time at the Bakhita Centre in Emera. It is a catholic community and health centre, where skills such as computing, sewing, and English are provided to the community. Amazingly, there is a dental clinic at the health centre, a dentist visits from Darwin about three times per year. The plan is to spend time working at the Bakhita Centre, providing dental care and training a health worker with the help of Fred, the dentist from Darwin. This needs further organising, so I had better get a move along.....

On weekends it's great walking around Dili, through the back streets, watching children play marbles, up in mango trees chopping the mangoes with machetes. Whole families driving around on scooters, the mother with the baby in her arms...Mass on Sunday is wonderful, such an international gathering. Actually I have caught up with the newlyweds who I met in Sydney for World Youth Day, it's so nice having them here in Dili. But, more than anything, I love leaving Dili behind and going up into the mountains, where it's much cooler and peaceful. This is where you see the real Timor.

1 week in...

I've been in Dili for 1 week today and it's been quite a rollercoaster ride! I think I'm glad I'm here but it has been pretty tough going at times. My accommodation is good, I'm staying in a house with 2 sisters and about 10 male students. They all come from remote areas of Timor and are involved in the Is-maik community (congregation) while studying at university. I have been lucky to have such an opportunity to practice my tetum with the students, which is developing. I have a small room with a bathroom attached. I have a western toilet that doesn't flush, a tap and bucket that I use to wash. The tap leaks, so often there is a puddle of water on my bathroom floor, a great place for breeding mosquitos! Until today I have had windows with no mosquito screens and they do not close, so I have found many funny creatures living with me, including a rat!!!!!!

Work is going well, very busy and just about every patient requires and extraction - no preventive dentistry. The woman whom I'm working with is a Dental technition, she is very good. In the mornings I do the rounds with Dr Dan, it is so interesting hearing about the patients etc. Some cases are pretty sad, probably the saddest so far is a little boy 18mths old. His mother died and he was left in the village with nobody really taking care of him. He is severely malnourished and underweight. He looks like he is about 5 mths old.

It's not all bad. I am enjoying myself and I need to remember that the first few weeks, maybe months will be the most difficult. Please keep me in your prayers

Love Donna xxx

A step in a new direction.....

My last few days at home, I am experiencing mixed emotions. A feeling of anxiety has crept upon me, mostly anxious about leaving my family and friends - my support network. I'm also starting to get more and more excited about this new path I'm about to take, sometimes wishing I were already there, and the sad goodbyes were over...
This Saturday I will fly to Darwin and stay with my good friends Jade and Shaun Neate. Hopefully i will have a chance to catch up with Bishop Hurley, receive some wise words, which will help me along my way. I will fly out to Dili Tuesday morning, meet 3 other PALMS volunteers at the airport, and begin my tour around my new home town, before visiting my new work and meeting the local sisters, whom I will be living with.
Hopefully I will see many of you before I leave this weekend. If not please keep in touch and remember you are always welcome to visit. Please keep me in your prayers, XO