Mon, 27 Sep 1999

East Timorese refugees face task of rebuilding lives

Text and photos by Arief Suhardiman S.

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): Tohirin, 22, limped toward a heap of belongings shortly after he and two relatives arrived here at Tenau Port. They were only able to carry four bags of their possessions when they fled their home in riot-torn East Timor the day before.

"I lost my mother," he said tearfully. "I have no idea if she is alive or dead." The slightly built vegetable vendor's mother lives in a village in the hilly Viqueque regency.

After spending two days in a refugee camp in Kupang, Tohirin decided to return to his hometown of Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, with his younger brother and niece, both of them in the sixth grade.

"They have a better chance to survive there (Ujungpandang)." He added that he wanted to find his mother but did not know how.

Aquelina Gomes da Silva, a 53-year-old East Timorese native, was on the same boat. She was fortunate she could flee the bloodbath in East Timor together with four grandchildren.

"I have lost everything. I could save only important documents and the clothes I am wearing," said the member of the Indonesian Veterans Legion.

Aquelina lost four houses in Dili and has had no contact with 25 of her relatives. She arrived in Kupang after a tense 18-hour voyage on the KRI Teluk Ende warship.

An estimated 150,000 East Timorese have fled to East Nusa Tenggara following the unrest that erupted after an overwhelming rejection of autonomy within Indonesia in the Aug. 30 UN- sponsored poll.

Atambua, which borders East Timor, has taken in 90,000 refugees, three times more than its own population. Most of the refugees streamed into the neighboring province a day ahead of the scheduled UN peacekeeping force last week.

For the frightened East Timorese, making it to the refugee camps does not mean the end of their misery.

In Tuakpukan, for example, thousands of refugees have to live in makeshift structures made of thatch. They eat whatever they have or is provided by volunteers. Water is scarce and there are fears of the spread of various disease.

The cries of hungry and thirsty babies fill the air every second. Many of them are suffering from respiratory infections or malaria.

Gina Corea, 18, who was separated from her parents in Baucau, was extremely weak when she underwent a medical examination at the refugee center. "This chest pain is killing me," she whispered.

Inadequate sanitation is aggravating the health problems. In the Kupang Sports Stadium, refugees are becoming accustomed to the stench from the waste of hundreds of people.

Many are in the dark about their future. They say they cannot think of what they will do to rebuild their devastated lives. Their main hope is that the government will find them a safe place to live either in East Timor or elsewhere.

"We entirely depend on the government," said Angelo Salajar, who fled to Kupang from Los Palos with 10 of his relatives. "We have to go back to square one."