East Timorese traumatized by violence<\/p>\n
By Ati Nurbaiti<\/p>\n
DILI, East Timor (JP): A woman who lost her husband in the
\nLiquica killings on April 6 has seven children. She did not know
\nwhere her husband's body was, but she knew she could not grieve
\nforever.<\/p>\n
She asked the local authorities for her husband's salary -- he
\nwas a village head charged with inciting proindependence support
\n-- but instead was beaten up, according to her sister-in-law.<\/p>\n
She now apparently is emotionally traumatized, refusing to
\nspeak, but every once in a while bursting into song for no
\napparent reason. Her sister-in-law, Sonia (not her real name),
\nsaid she was concerned by the woman's mental state.<\/p>\n
The corn in the yard of the family's burned home was stolen by
\nthe militia. Uniforms and school certificates needed to enroll
\none of the children in secondary school were lost in the fire.<\/p>\n
The woman is only one of many left to fend for their families
\nafter their husbands were killed or went missing in the alleged
\nslaughter in Liquica.<\/p>\n
\"We are lost, we don't know where to go,\" Sonia, who lost
\nthree relatives in the violence, said.<\/p>\n
The number of such senseless incidents in the turbulent
\nhistory of the province and their effect on the East Timorese is
\nnot clear to outsiders, but locals continue with their lives
\nwhile waiting for the next alarm signal to send them rushing
\nhome.<\/p>\n
There were infants among the crowds in Liquica who mistakenly
\nsought shelter in the church where the alleged slaughter took
\nplace. Thankfully, the babies are not on the lists of the dead
\ncompiled by organizations which questioned survivors of the
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
The ages of the youngest recorded victims were 12, 13 and 14.<\/p>\n
One child, barely two years old, did not scream or cry amid
\nthe chaos.<\/p>\n
\"He laughed; he was amused hearing the shots,\" a survivor
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The source was one of the few males who escaped from the
\nchurch unscathed, according to local priest Rafael dos Santos,
\nwho witnessed the atrocity. The man believes he escaped because
\nhe was holding the child and the attackers took pity on him.<\/p>\n
A woman whose husband also survived the incident with severe
\nslash wounds says her husband now has trouble sleeping. The
\ncouple are in hiding and have not returned to Liquica since the
\nviolence.<\/p>\n
\"We should be harvesting our coffee now ... ,\" she says
\nquietly. From a family who used to make a good living growing
\ncoffee, they have now been reduced to mere statistics; two of the
\nsome 18,000 internal refugees in East Timor.<\/p>\n
During the attack on the church, the husband was in a bathroom
\nin the priest's home. He saw a woman with a gun pointed to her
\nhead before he was discovered by a militia member. The woman had
\na baby with her; it fell somewhere.<\/p>\n
The man was thrown against a tree and was shot at, but the
\nbullets missed their mark.<\/p>\n
Trauma<\/p>\n
The coffee farmer's wife was one of a number of villagers
\nforced to flee after their houses were set on fire. She escaped
\ncarrying her youngest child, a one-year-old, and herding her
\nother children to safety.<\/p>\n
The idea of treating survivors of East Timor's prolonged
\nviolence for trauma is seen mainly as a future concern, with
\nrelief organizations concerned with getting food and medicine to
\nthe victims in East Timor.<\/p>\n
However, the issue has come to the attention of the National
\nCommission for Violence Against Women.<\/p>\n
Visiting commission member Augustine Nunuk Murniati said the
\ncommission had begun training councilors, including several East
\nTimorese. The commission's first job, however, is to identify
\nwomen who can provide basic counseling to relatives or neighbors
\nin the absence of any formal institutions.<\/p>\n
\"The women are definitely there,\" Nunuk said.<\/p>\n
Women reportedly comprise the majority of survivors from the
\nLiquica incident, and probably many other such incidents.<\/p>\n
The main concern of women suffering from trauma is \"not that
\nthey are weak, but that they must carry the burden of taking care
\nof the family while having to deal with their children's fears as
\nwell as their own,\" commission member Koesparmono Irsan, a
\nretired police officer who also sits in the National Commission
\non Human Rights, said.<\/p>\n
At one Dili clinic where victims of violence frequently are
\ntaken, the nun in charge said although there was no counselor at
\nthe clinic staff members would gladly lend an ear and offer
\nspiritual help.<\/p>\n
\"One incident follows on the heels of another,\" said the nun,
\nrequesting anonymity. Liquica victims were now outpatients but
\nthe clinic was treating eight people with gunshot wounds from the
\nviolence in Dili on April 17.<\/p>\n
At an understaffed non-governmental organization awash with
\ncomplaints, men and women exchange stories of missing relatives
\nand horrendous experiences. Heads shake, handkerchiefs are pulled
\nout to dab at tears.<\/p>\n
One woman blurts out, \"We'll settle for anything, autonomy or
\nindependence, as long as it's quick and all this can end.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-timorese-traumatized-by-violence-1447893297",
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