SI Joondalup – Trapped in a deep dark hole

Trapped in a dark deep hole.

It’s hot and humid, the torrential downpour has finally ceased. It’s one am in Dili and I am watching the BBC coverage of the mine recue in Chile, again and again. The president is there and they have spent millions of dollars on a momentous feat.

Eventually, I start to see a connection between the situation of ‘our girls’ in Dili and the situation of the trapped miners. National Independence does not always bring personal success and freedom immediately. I got to thinking about the two youngest girls we are supporting in their bid for education and a ’way out’ of being trapped in a situation of domestic violence and rural poverty in the Dili hinterland where food security is a major administrative problem.

The problem in Timor-Leste is complex and chronic but is crucial to the maintenance of social stability and must be addressed if the nation is to succeed as a democracy. As food security is one of the most fundamental human needs, its absence is both a symptom and a cause of a malfunctioning society. To avoid state failure, the government of Timor-Leste must meet the expectations of its citizens by delivering certain public goods, of which human security is arguably the most important. Food security is not just a rural issue — in Dili, almost 40 per cent of households experience food shortage (World Bank 2003).

Food security is dependent on financial security. Access to education and achievement educational goals are the escape capsule for our scholarship girls. The cave-in was political not industrial. The trip from the depths to the light will take longer than the time it took to drill through the bedrock of Chili to the 33 trapped men. And the problems the girls face are more insidious because they are not starving, are not bleeding or obviously drowning.

The girls appreciate the opportunity given to them by their neighbor, Kirsty Sword Gusmao, who connected them to the sponsorship program SIJ took up in 2008. They are working hard at their studies, coping with family life and the need to travel everyday by truck or bus into Dili. The roads are chronic and the idea of studying enroute, impossible.

When the girls complete their studies, they will be able to ‘give back’ to their community – locally and nationally. They have neighbours who will require a ‘hand up not a hand out’ – the study mode encourages this process. In 2011 Soroptomists International is recognizing the value of education for women and girls. I hope that we will continue to facilitate the education of these young women as they continue their personal fight out of poverty and deprivation.

Changing channels, I get Home and Away. Lovely house, in a lovely suburb with a family with a range of relationship problems. They can drink the water from the tap, the toilet is a dual water saver flush model, the kids ask ‘what’s for dinner’? In rural Timor Leste this does not happen. On TV the children have a room to themselves, Dad has a job, gets annual leave, if a family member dies there is grief counseling. In rural Timor Leste this does not happen. My trip to Dili has made me more aware of the things I already knew, but has motivated me to act rather than just let others ‘do it’. Our education sponsorship capsule will help to pull them up into the light of self confidence and community respect.