Kelly's Visit to E. Timor

See Kelly's letter to her friends and family below!

GO BACK

Beach.in.E.Timor.jpg	Dive.group.at.K-57.jpg	From.the.hills.of.E.Timor.jpg	Kelly.diving.in.E.Timor.jpg	Rice.point.jpg
The.Crack.18.May.2003.jpg	The.coral.reef.jpg	The.fishes.of.E.Timor.jpg	Upclose.with.the.fish.jpg	Wyatt.Kelly.Robbo.and.Rich.jpg

May 26th, 2003

Hello friends and family,

I have just returned from the youngest country in the world...East Timor (or Timor Leste as it.s properly known). E. Timor is located northwest of Australia at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago and has a population of approximately 800,000 people.

E. Timor is a new place in many ways; one way is that it recent received its Independence from Indonesia but at a cost no one could of ever imagined. The eastern part of the Timor Island was totally destroyed as it fought for independence. Over 70% of the island was burned, buildings were completely destroyed and thousands of people fled for their lives.

The highlight of my trip was that I was fortunate to be in E. Timor on their first anniversary (May 20th), even if it was uneventful it was certainly a historical time. Another highlight was to go diving in the crystal clear waters of the on the north coast. Most of my pictures were from that day.

I spent the majority of my visit in the capital, Dili, but was able to get out to the seaside town twice and visit Volunteers in their rural setting. One day was spent driving through the mountainous region to an old hill town (Maubisse) to conduct my security interviews. As we drove through the mountains the areas still bore the scar of violence although there were a few building being restored to its original Portuguese-era condition.

My next countries will be Kiribati and Fiji..until next time.

Kelly