On the Ground in Timor-Leste
“I was really worried and very scared.”
“Many people do not have work to support their family.”
Along with the regular release of government announcements, there is a large amount of information coming from government ministers and officials, NGOs and experts writing in the media and newsletters. However, I had heard little first-hand from the Timorese people, telling how they felt about COVID-19. My company, East Timor Trading Group, employs nearly 300 people, so I felt that it was opportune to ask a few staff members to share their thoughts, comments and feelings about COVID-19. Antonio Fernandes, Celina Soares, Marcea Exposto and Marcelino Sarmento generously offered to take part.
Timor-Leste has had its share of struggles in the past. Even the younger Timorese people know what difficult times are like because stories have been passed down from relatives who lived through the Indonesian occupation of their country. Now, 18 years after independence was achieved on 20 May 2002, Timor-Leste again faces fear and anxiety. COVID-19 hit with the same force as in other countries around the world. The difference this time, however, is that Timor-Leste is not alone.
As a developing nation with around 41% of the population living under or close to the poverty line, the last thing needed was for COVID-19 to infiltrate vulnerable communities suffering from existing health issues. To its credit, the government recognised this, and its response was swift. As Minister Fidelis Magalhães said in an article in The Diplomat, the Timor-Leste Government chose to strike a ‘precarious balance’ between protecting people’s health and saving the economy. At the time of writing, no deaths have been recorded, but the economic cost of this success is becoming more apparent as days go by. With the country still under a state of emergency, life in Timor-Leste remains relatively quiet.
At the outbreak of the pandemic, amidst the first government responses, we closed our hotel — The Discovery Inn — and all but two of our retail outlets. Nearly all of the staff of the East Timor Trading Group were initially sent on annual leave with pay until we learned more from the government about how things would play out. We also arranged to supply food to them all as they settled into isolation and chose to pay staff directly, so they did not have to wait for the government assistance package to be implemented.
As one would expect, the first reaction of most people to COVID-19 was fear and concern not only for the health of their families and themselves but also for the impact it would have on their employment and financial situation.
Timor-Leste is a more family-oriented community than Australia, and ‘family’ there means an extended family. With so many family members often sharing one roof, there are high expectations that those earning an income will help those who are not.
As an example, Antonio Fernandes’s household comprises five families totalling 14 people. They live together in a large house on a fenced-off block of land. While Antonio has no children of his own, he lives with his parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. This living arrangement is typical of an extended family in Timor-Leste. When isolation was announced, they shared the cost of purchasing two months’ food and then remained at home in their private space.
Antonio’s family is safe, but he worries about how long COVID-19 will take to pass because ‘it affects the global economy, which causes unemployment and so poverty will increase’. He knows many people who have lost their jobs, which he worries will lead to increased poverty.
Of the government’s response he said, it was ‘a good decision to suspend school but they should create a good online teaching and learning mechanism for children’. Face-to-face schooling was suspended as part of the lockdown and within two weeks, a collaboration between UNICEF and the Ministry of Education called ‘Eskola Ba Uma’ (‘School Goes Home’) was available. It provides learning via TV, radio, online platforms, mobile phones and print, and aims to ensure all children can access educational resources, no matter their circumstances.
As many parents and others helping children learn from home have discovered in recent months, while facilities may be in place, it is not a simple transition from schoolroom to home, particularly when those helping the children are not trained educators.
Celina Soares has four children and lives with her elderly parents and four nieces. She held grave fears that COVID-19 would affect her family and friends. Her initial response was to stock up on food and ‘padlock the gate’ to their house. ‘COVID-19 was the worst moment that I faced in my entire life’, says Celina, ‘[and] it is important for us to take a very deep breath and to understand’ [what it is]. ‘I was really worried and very scared about this virus, when it was first announced that Timor-Leste had one positive case.’
Celina takes care of the shopping for the family because her elderly parents are concerned about going out. They have been ‘extra careful not to waste food’, and have faced no food shortages. On a positive note, she says COVID-19 has ‘given more time to stay home and spend time with my family and my kids. COVID-19 also teaches me the importance of being extra careful with hygiene.’
She hopes that the government and companies will ‘keep their employees’ so that when things return to normal, people can return to work and losses can be recovered.
Like Antonio, Marcea Exposto is part of five extended families living together and sharing the cost of purchasing food. After the initial shock, she has settled into the life of restriction and now feels protected in their family home. However, she is frustrated by the government’s response because she says ‘the information is not clear and gives hope and promises only’.
Looking at the broader picture, Marcea feels that the most challenging part is that there is no clear idea of when things will return to normal. Her sister lives in Australia and, although she feels sad being separated, she is reassured that her sister is safe.
Marcelino Sarmento is finding the isolation ‘confusing’ because changing the daily routine has been difficult. Initially, he and his family felt a combination of ‘fear and panic’. That was followed by sadness because ‘the news is all COVID-19 and people around the world are dying from the virus’.
Marcelino says that ‘this is the worst issue I have faced in my entire life’. He worries about the impact not going to school will have on his children because ‘they miss the school activities and they get bored at home’. Like others, he hopes the lockdown will end soon because as long as it continues, people ‘will not have work to support their families’.
As of mid-June, the state of emergency remains in place. Parts of our business are re-opening and staff members are returning to work. The state of emergency is expected to be lifted on 26 June, but not until that becomes a reality will the Timorese people feel confident that their lives will be able to return to some sense of normality.
Also see: Fidelis Magalhães, ‘Timor Leste’s Corona Virus Response’, The Diplomat, 4 May 2020 available at https://thediplomat.com/2020/05/timor-lestes-coronavirus-response viewed 19 June 2020.