Alieu & Chega – Thursday 26 June

By Mischa & Natalie

The morning started early as we had to leave from Same – prepared for our 4 hour drive back down the mountain.

Along the way, we stopped at Projecto Montanha in Aileu– a small and beautiful place – where the Timorese people were able to show off their handmade crafts. From crochet sheep and blankets to paper mache magnets of Timor, their gift shop seemed to be full to the brim with delicate and stunning pieces.

We think we speak for everyone when we say our families’ will be looking forward to seeing our new gifts. We also ate lunch here, having lasagne and rice with fried chicken.

We departed from Aileu after lunch and it was smooth sailing until there was a nail in the tyre.

We watched our drivers and support crew change our tyre without us even needing to leave the vehicle and before we knew it, we were back on the road in the busy afternoon Dili traffic. We ate some strawberry wafers and learnt about cermai – a little fruit that the kids on the side of the road were eating.

We headed to the CHEGA museum, which we had missed on Monday because of the rearrangement of flights.

This museum is dedicated to learning about the Timorese Resistance against the Indonesian invasion and occupation. The museum was previously the site of a prison where the Indonesian military kept the Timorese people from the resistance group. They had 9 exhibitions that told the stories of hundreds of Timorese people – men, women and children – during, and after their captures. No words could be used to describe the confronting emotions felt by everyone and the memories of our visit to this museum will remain with us when we are back in Australia.

Outside the museum we were given tais by Santos, which was a very important and sentimental moment signifying a deeper connection and walking alongside the Timorese.

We returned to Ventura Cafe for a wholesome meal before walking home and heading to bed.