East Timorese refugees face task of rebuilding lives

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."