Happy New Year - 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2010 from the HARRIES in TIMOR LESTE

We are excited here in Timor Leste, not just because we have a brand new year ahead of us, but because the RAINS have finally come. Yes it is FINALLY raining here after 7 months of drought! The dust has turned to mud and the boys along with our entire village community do their rain dancing and mud playing every afternoon, providing hours of fun and entertainment.
It is a great relief as it was getting suffocatingly hot here as the humidity was creeping up into the high 90 per cent.

We live near a major river which as been so dry that it has been used as another road access and a place where the kids play soccer. But now it is a torrent and at times threatening to bust it's banks. What a contrast! Everyone's moods have lifted, however I do wonder how those in less desirable accommodation get on, we are so fortunate to be in a well build house with good drainage.

Christmas was here in Timor for us, celebrated with a few friends who were remaining. The World Vision Office was closed between Christmas & New Year, so we were able to hang as a family and holiday here in Dili & beyond. What does that mean? Swimming, swimming and more swimming for the most part.

Mace's first steps - has his protection gear on!

Christmas Morning

Noah's school put on a "P.C - Happy Holiday" concert where the preschool class got to star as Reindeer's and sing Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Such a proud moment!

This is the WHOLE school from preschool-secondary - all 51 kids!

We did have a few days away up in the mountains "where you can touch the clouds" and escape the hot weather. The highlight for me was wearing jeans, for the boys it was riding a horse (see pictures below) We also took a necessary day trip (8hrs round trip) to the Indonesian Boarder to have our visa's renewed.

Horse riding was the highlight for the boys! A typical mode of transport in the mountainous regions of Timor

Refreshed by the cool clean air of Maubeisse!
The View!

Picnic stop on the way to the Indonesian Boarder



No rest areas or public toilets in Timor

A while ago now, but in September we had a family holiday to Bali which also enabled us to renew our visa's (ongoing issue!). Steve had to go to Bangkok for work so the boys & I were able to head up to Jakarta for 5 days with the boys and visit the Exells a family who used to live in the Solomon Island while we were there.

Here is how we travelled around Bali - 5 on a scooter!

The Boys... Noah's first term of school has been fantastic and he's embraced learning. He's in a great little class of 11 students (3 & 4 year olds) and comes home everyday with artwork and creations. They are learning Jolly-Phonics so there is constant singing in the back of the car on the way home. He has 2 class mates that live nearby so it's been great being able to share the driving. Due to some school structural changes, next term Noah will have a new teacher, Esther who is also the music teacher so my guess is the singing is just going to get better! Here is a picture of Noah in his classroom

Noah creating a dinosaur with his friend "Sasa" from next door at our house

Roman is desperate to be going to 'Big' preschool, but will have to wait until the next School year in August. for now he and I are keeping busy and he's still involved in a little local Tetun Preschool once a week as well as playgroup and playdates. Roman is full of energy and his favourite question is "wwwwwwwwWHYYYYYYYY?"

Roman, twilight swimming with his friend "Addie"
Collecting Starfish - a favorite pass-time


Mace is now walking and has attitude to go with it . He's desperate to keep up with his big brothers in everyway. He's a pretty cruisy boy and is starting to say a few words too, one being 'dirty' which the boys are constantly so very appropriate!

My days are kept pretty busy running after our three ragga-muffins who are constantly needing me for something, shoes on, shoes off, bum wiping, dressing, cutting sticking, feeding, reading to, fixing, tidying, nappies, undies, moping up spills spills and more spills........... it just never stops! I have also successfully completed my first 8 week Seahorse Swimming Term which was a great hit with both kids and parents. I am also teaching a group of four teen ages in our community English and now have picked up some part time voluntary nursing stuff - doing education, so am definitely keeping busy! I have been trying desperately to get a bit of greenery around our house. Below is a picture of the neighbours helping me plant bougainvilleas (the holes need to be dug with a crowbar!)

Our burnt out electrical system, which of course happened while Steve was away, plunged into darkness! Thank goodness or landlord is an electric an!

Steve has done a great job so far in a World Vision office that has undergone some major re-structural changes. Although it's been challenging and has meet some resistance the changes have been good and are starting to be fruitful. In November there was an international WV meeting (Round Table) held in Timor to discuss the next 5 year strategic work plan & business plan. It was attended by donors, partners & international regional ministry support . This was a very successful week with renewed support achieved.

Halloween party at the American Embassy. Thought we'd check out how the true-blue-Americans do Halloween for a bit of fun. Hooded towels came in handy!

Two birthdays were celebrated in November (Steve & Kris)

Crazy Harries Boys! (some recent pics)

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Our Backyard/Steve's gym in the background

Adventure with Dad

Dress-up at our house with the neighbours kids - "Super-Kids'

Well that's about it from us! We love hearing from you all and always like catching up with your news and photos, so keep them coming so we can stay connected over 2010! Lots of love from the Harries in Timor Leste

(I have a more detailed email letter for those interested -let me know by email)

Blog #2: Two Birthday's and a New House

The Harries family inclusive, has now been residing in Timor Leste for nearly 3 months and what a crazy, busy, overwhelming and fun time it has been so far including 2 birthdays and a new house since the last Blog installment! Work being the focus for Steve of course, and for me, keeping 3 hungry boys feed, watered and entertained taking up the majority of daylight hours for me (and sometimes night-time hours too).

Accommodation
After a full 7 weeks in THE one bedroom cozy cabin situated on the World Vision compound we've finally been able to move into our house. Well worth the wait as we've been blessed with finding a new place situated semi-rurally, but still not too far from town and World Vision. It is ideal for our family of boys who have quickly made friends with the neighbourhood kids and can run free with the chickens, pigs and goats. It's peace of mind for me as the only cars on the dusty dirt road are ours other than the odd motorbike.
Our house is a bit short on furniture so for the past few weekends Steve has been swinging a hammer instead of pushing a pen creating a variety of cupboards, shelves and tables in the WV workshop. The security guards on the compound are very impressed with his abilities as am I. We are still awaiting a bed & dining table from a couple who are leaving shortly, so we're sleeping on a mattress on the foor and having picnic dinners (very Asian).
World Vision
On the work front......... never a dull moment, which keeps Steve's job challenging, fulfilling and frustrating all at the same time.

Completing WV TL's National Strategy for the next 5 years has been at the forefront of the agenda. The sectors include; Health (Watsan, nutrition, improved access to primary heath care services, Maternal & Child health with a strong focus to reduce malnutrition for children under 5yrs); Education (mostly early childhood); & Community Economic Development (increased household income, increased house-hold capacity to achieve food security).

In alignment with the strategy has meant a National Restructure over the next 3 months, where 108 positions have been made redundant and over 100 new positions created, including recruiting 4 new expatriate staff. This is a huge undertaking for the HR team and will require good communication with all staff to create an atmosphere of positive change in a country where trust is hard to come-by.

With fiscal year 2010 approaching securing funding and donations has also been a priority. There have been some positive outcomes of negotiations over the past week. For the past 3 weeks World Vision Timor Leste has been has been undergoing an in depth routine audit of it's projects, spending, documentation, offices and staffing. It was great news & relief that WV TL was awarded the highest rating after all the hard work Steve and the WV staff put in to prepare for the audit.

To keep things interesting, a Swine Flu scare is adding another dimension to Steve's already packed schedule. One of his expatriate staff has been in quarantine after coming into contact with a confirmed case. With minimal laboratory tests available here, all specimens have to go to Darwin for definitive results. A precautionary waiting game.

The boys
On the 5th of July we celebrated Mace's 1st birthday, and a very long 11 days later Noah was finally allowed to have his birthday and turn 4 years old. So for the past 2 weeks our diet has been made up of cake, cake and more cake, much to the delight of the kids in our community. As Noah (unfortunately) is now in the know when it comes to birthdays we had a little party with a bit of a 'rent-a-crowd', played a few games, blew out candles on the requested 'spider-cake' and ate pizza, chips, popcorn and lollies for dinner – yum?

Roman has been a good sport with all the attention going to his brothers (poor-middle-boy!) but has told me more than once that he's now three and he needs a birthday too. We haven't started that count-down yet as January is a bit too far away!

Mace is not yet walking but is sure getting around, too fast for my liking. On more than one occasion he's made his way down the steps, over the gravel, out the gate to the neigbours house only stopping to eat dirt on the way. The young girls there adore him which is very convenient for me right when I'm trying to cook dinner.

Speaking of dirt, my boy have turned into dirt magnets! I know I should not be surprised, but they end up covered in either dust or mud from head to foot, every single day!!!! There are now strict house rules about where dirty boys can and can't go, much to their dismay. The couch is off limits unless they are in their P. J's.

Language
The barrier of language has once again made me very empathetic towards foreigners in my own home country. The learning process can be fun but also extremely frustrating and there always seems to be too many accept ions to the rule..ahhhh!! Steve and I are having short lessons twice a week, but for me its only making me realise how much I don't know and still need to grasp. Patience & practice! To give you some insight, to say the time is “12:25pm” is goes like this.... “Jam dua belas lewat dua puluh lima menit”.
I've now grasped very very simple conversation around the house (as the lady who is helping me speaks no English at all) and at the market which is accompanied by much gesturing and pointing. Much like a game of chiraids (sp?).

Another funny language blunder...... As we left the World Vision compound a couple of months ago, instead of saying “good-bye” Steve told the guards to “have a good sleep!” - hahaha!! something guards don't need any encouragement to do, especially from the National Director. Hopefully we've come a bit further than that now!

Dili
Dili is slowly becoming more like home as we get used to the sights, smells and as the unusual things around us become more ordinary. However, there still doesn't seem to be a day the passes by without observing something interesting or amusing.

To list a few:

• 4 live pigs hanging and squealing from a horizontal pole over a man's shoulder. I had a hard job convincing him that a live pig was not on my shopping list for that week .
  
  
• 2 massive marlin being transported in the back of a taxi (see photo)
  
• Local hazard – falling coconuts (see photo)
  
• A bike piled so high with plastic good, brooms and wares that I could hardly see the bike-rider. I not sure how much he could see, but this didn't seem to worry him as he wobbled up a very busy one-way street against the flow of traffic.
• Goats being herded up the main street of town.
• Cock-fighting, not a very pleasant sight or sound.
• A motorbike with mum, dad plus 4 children. It is law for adults to wear helmets not for kids. I cringe every time I see kids on motorbikes!

Thanks for those of you who have kept us in the loop with news from home and abroad. Always great to stay up-to-date with peoples live.

Until the next installment, “salamet tinggal”

Harries In Timor Leste - Blog #1

After living abroad for over 3 years, the Harries family have finally decided to get organised on the communication front and set up a blog site. The aim is to keep you updated and informed on our lives here in Timor Leste (TL).



So for those of you who are interested, here is posting #1......



The boys and I have been in TL for 4 weeks now (Steve a few weeks longer). First impressions? Similar to the Solomon Islands yet soooo different and we are looking forward to the adventure that lies before us. I stepped off the plane to see goats wandering over the road, 100's of chickens in big baskets on the side of the road and motorbikes everywhere with all manner of goods strapped onto them. There were guys pushing carts piled with veges and children playing the dust. It is dry season here at the moment and so it hasn't rained for over a month. This is expected to continue until October. Driving is an experience! Biggest vehicle at an intersection gets right-of-way, going right around a round-about and traffic lights that suggest you should stop, it's not a given if it's red. There are all these crazy one-way streets with a splattering of 2-way streets just to keep things interesting. But I've learnt to follow traffic not the road signs, not always correct and can change week to week.



On the housing front, we are currently living on the World Vision compound in a 1 bedroom cabin made out of refrigeration panels. It is cozy, that's for sure but it has everything we need and we are surviving nicely making our own family fun. The boys share a mattress on the floor and Mace is sleeping in a suitcase - cute! He only just fits so it is a good thing that we've got a house that should be ready for us to move into in a couple of weeks. Housing is very hard to find and very expensive so we feel blessed that we're going to be moving into a new house tucked away in the village a bit away from the noise of suburbia. It also means there is space for the boys to be boys. We need furniture though, the next challenge!



Steve is enjoying his new role as National Director for World Vision Timor Leste and the challenge it brings. A restructure of the office has been a priority as well preparing for an up and coming audit which adds pressure to an already busy schedule of planning and finance raising for F.Year10. Networking and language learning are also significant components of his role. Projects that WV are involved in are Food Security & Nutrition, Maternal & Child Health, Early Childhood Education, Water & Sanitation, Youth Work & Training. The plan is to reduce involvement in Dili and expand and concentrate on rural districts where 80% of the population live.



What does Krista do all day? Hunt, gather and survive! Similar to the Solies, finding food makes up a lot of my week. Discovering new shopping spots is exciting, however dragging 2 or 3 children with me in the heat can sometimes take its toll. I've joined in with an expat mums playgroup which has provided playmates for the boys and socialisation for me. We're still working out preschool options for the big boys. At the moment we're joining in with a local WEC run kids group on a Monday where the boys are immersed in the local language and are learning songs in Tetun. Noah is a bit confused with all the languages spoken here (Tetun, Bahasa, Portuguese & English) so he's decided to make up his own language and then translates what he's saying......Hilarious! Roman struggles with getting his English words out, let alone Bahasa (which is the language we've decided to focus on for now) & Mace is babbling away and walking around the furniture oblivious to the fact that we have even moved countries. I am struggling away conversing with a local lady who is helping me and speaks NO English. The other day, before going out, I asked her (in my bestest Bahasa) to wash the clothes to return to find her washing the baby!



So that's that until the next blog.... Watch this space!

Please feel free to leave comments on our site and forward this to anyone you think may be interested. Please continue to email us with your news, I hope this blog-site supplements emails and doesn't replace them.