Sea Turtle Sleeps Forever in Kaisa’a, Baucau

Dili, 08-04-2022.

Look at that rock formation; do you see the rock looks like something? If you still can’t notice, please keep your eyes closely on its eye ball I made up there. It is obvious now, right? That is called Fenu Afa, the original name in Makasa’e dialect or in Tetum we call it Fatuk Lenuk. This sea turtle-shaped rock is located in Kaisa’a, Seiçal. A few kilometers from Baucau town, on the way to Lautém and Lospalos.

Even though the photo shows obvious sea turtle-shaped, we cannot notice the shape in both opposite angles. It is only noticeable from the east side of the rock, and at this close as photo taken. The further you move away, the more the shape disappears. The rock lies right on the road side, so it is easily accessible, but for people who do not have pre knowledge they will not notice it at all. I travelled regularly going and back to my home village Com, but I never noticed it until my friend told me some years back.

This Ipit Matar, we call in Fataluku language, has been there for a long time. I can’t explain the geological process of it. But I think the locals there believe it is some kind of sacred rock. The rock was nearly removed by the recent road construction contractor from China. I was wondering whether the design engineer was aware of local values along the existing road alignment at the time. The contractor was insisting to remove the rock according to the design given by the government. The locals there fought back against the contractor to keep the rock intact. And they finally won, and many people supported the locals after learning that it is not a plain rock, but a treasure.

I think, yes, it is a treasure because it becomes tourism attraction. It is a photo spot for travelers or tourists who bound to Jaco Island and Com in Lautém Municipality. The rock area used to be very narrow, and unsafe to stop by for sightseeing and taking photos. But since the road construction has cleared up the road side bushes and drainage, the area becomes wider, and very safe to stop and rest a bit. In my humble opinion, if somebody could tap this spot by adding a rest area with some amenities, it would bring some money. Why? There are three things to enjoy: This rock itself, photo spot with view of Mountain of Matebian, and View of Seiçal rice fields.  

*I hope this gives you an inspiration. 

Dili City is Building Back Back, NOT Building Back Better after 1 Year of Disaster

Dili, 05-04-2022.

One day after the flood of 4^th April 2021, with JICA Chief Representative in Timor-Leste, we made a site visit appointment to Hinode Bridge, a bridge which was constructed under the Japanese government grant aid program. One main purpose is to check whether the Japanese constructed bridge could withstand the powerful floods. Also, we would like to see impacts of the floods to the community and other infrastructure. The Hinode Bridge was doing fine. The flooding day photos and videos showed the bridge was functioning well serving the traffic, and people were forming along the bridge rails to observe the occurring river flow.

On the site, we were discussing so many things. I heard first time about Build Back Better slogan on that day from the Chief of JICA. In principle, I knew by the default what the slogan means. But I was not aware that international agencies in global and here in this country are singing the words to advocate effort to adapt and mitigate the Climate Change challenge. Ever since, Build Back Better has become the most popular words, on Facebook posts, survey reports, seminar speeches, and news and educational videos. But how is the Build Back Better doing after the disaster?

I have no data to show, but I think somewhere only in between 1 – 5% damages in Dili city got recovered since last year. I mean recovered, not Build Back Better. The recovered damages were prioritized because they were indispensably needed to survive; they were fully damaged or inoperable. That ranges from the only roadways, the only cross drains, no-longer-habitable after the flood areas. Those are recovered only to facilitate the survival. Yes, the recovered damages are back in function, but do not seem to be improving much compared to the baseline condition. They were still using the same material, and technology. I am afraid whether it could withstand other equal or more powerful disasters in the future. We never know, only engineers know; well, only another flood disaster could test.

Build Back Better has not come to reality yet. Instead, what I see is Build Back Back. Thousands of half damaged or partly damaged, and already fragile infrastructure are left behind. It is surveyed, but no action until now. The lag behind action has made the list adds up on and on. This year’s rains have debilitated the existing problems and created new damages. I remember an old gentleman in my neighborhood. He commented on several road surface settlement spots and drainage retaining walls collapse near his house. He said he does not expect at all the government to recover those damages soon. He imagined that there are other thousands of damages around the Dili city that need attention as well. He also said the contributing factor for the damage is very complex.  Thus it will take time for the government to recover and even near impossible to build it back better given the current resources that this country can offer.

The disasters have outdone the capacity of the government to catch up. If Build Back Better should be achieved, the approaches and strategies must be future oriented. Build Back Better should not be shortsighted and narrowly defined at building scale, or sectoral and only for today.  It should be integrative, comprehensive and is to withstand future’s challenges. This will be the potent way to Build Back our Community Better or out city better, otherwise, we Build Back Back, as I sarcastically invent, what I meant is we are building backward, not forward.  

**Hope this gives you an inspiration.