| Subject: Dili upheaval
dumps children on scrap heap The
Australian 17 November 99
Dili upheaval dumps children on scrap heap
By SIAN POWELL
NINE-year-old Nando Freitas is one of a horde of East
Timorese children who spend their days scavenging in the garbage dump just west of Dili,
running after the army trucks which regularly unload plastic sacks of paper, kitchen
refuse, old pieces of corrugated iron, and litter in the hot and smouldering wasteland.
"My mother, she is at home," Nando said. "I
come here with different people to get food." He went to school before the turmoil in
East Timor, but for the past couple of months he has been following his own agenda as a
child of the dump. "My school has burned so I cannot go, but I will go back some
time."
John Francisco is one of the few adults at the dump. Once a
worker in a coffee factory, since the arrival of Interfet in the territory he has
regularly visited the dump on his bike to find food for his pigs. "These children, if
they see something that's good to eat, they can eat it," he said. "The problem
is that many people's houses have been burned, people come here to get any foreigner's
rubbish for their houses."
Mr Francisco shrugged. "It's dirty here, but for us
it's normal. Many trucks come out here every day, so many we cannot count them."
A little girl, perhaps five years old, stands in the shade
of a tree playing with a condom she has just pulled out of its packet, while her friends,
children slightly older than her, see a truck coming and run to be first as it unloads.
Nine-year-old Alsina, who is unsure of her own surname,
stays behind with the five-year-old. Her mother was scavenging in the rubbish, her father
was missing, she said. "I come here every day," she said, "I play
here."
Schools are scheduled to reopen soon in Dili but, for many
of these children, school is simply not an option. Some experts estimate that half the
families in the city are homeless in one way or another; living with friends or relatives,
squatting in other people's houses, or in the remains of their own homes. The logistics of
books, pens, uniforms and transport is simply beyond them.
Age Soares, aged 14, doesn't want to go to school. He has
collected a cardboard box of edibles; small boxes of cereal and long-life milk, a plastic
bag of old beans, sachets of sugar, a couple of plastic water bottles. He walks to the
dump every day to see what is there. "There are many things here," he said.
"The best thing I found so far was fish in a bottle." -----
Sydney Morning Herald 17/11/99
Find that shook young troops
Interfet forces are discovering horror and innocence in
East Timor, writes PAUL DALEY in Dili.
It was the child's body that really upset the young
Australian soldiers. The villagers led them first to the remains of an independence
activist, in a shallow grave. Not far away another man's body lay decomposing on top of
the earth.
And inside a nearby house in the village near the East
Timor town of Liquica the soldiers from the 5/7 Royal Australian Regiment found the
activist's baby son.
The boy's legs had been cut off and his charred body was
propped on a trestle near a religious photograph. Perhaps seven weeks after his death -
allegedly at the hands of an Indonesian militia group - religious medallions still dangled
from his neck.
''As a soldier you are trained to deal with this sort of
thing, but nothing really prepares you for it,'' said Corporal Troy Wittwer.
''It really affected me, because I've got two kids of my
own back home. It just makes you think about them - how much you miss them.''
''It's sick. You just wonder how anyone could do this sort
of thing to a child, no matter who his parents were or what they'd done,'' said Private
Scott Filby.
Soldiers are trained to kill. And those attached 5/7 RAR -
a mechanised component of Darwin's First Brigade, which is attached to Interfet - are no
different. But a child's death will always disturb those who are taught that children must
be protected at all costs.
In Liquica, where Major Shane Gabriel's 5/7 RAR B-Company
is based, the men have also been saving lives. Some of the lives they have saved have been
those accused by their fellow East Timorese of previous involvement with the militia.
In the past 20 days B-Company has been fanning out into the
hills behind Liquica, securing routes and villages and spreading the message that Interfet
is making East Timor safe.
''As you'd appreciate, feelings are still running very,
very high towards anyone who is thought to be associated with militia, and when people
have been coming back in with the refugees there has been occasion when people have been
identified falsely as militia and there have been some assaults. We have been involved in
getting people out of those situations,'' Major Gabriel said.
The unit is still coming across villagers who did not know
Interfet was in East Timor.
''When we've been up into the hills, some of the people we
have come across in the more isolated pockets have not come across Interfet before.
They're very, very happy to see us,'' said Major Gabriel.
In Bazartete, a hilltop village about 30 kilometres from
Liquica, B-Company set up digs in an abandoned Portuguese villa over the weekend. Private
Paul Holland, 19, immediately connected with a group of children who began telling him
Bazartete's story.
Motioning to a group of children gathered around him,
Private Holland said: ''I've worked out that the oldest in this group is about 16 and the
youngest is four. I'm still asking about their parents. I'm basically letting them know
we're here, so they pass on the word to the grown-ups that it's safe.''
While many troops entered East Timor expecting action, few
admit to being disappointed that they have had little or no ''contact'' with the militia.
''I think a lot of guys thought it'd be a war zone, but
really our work is more like policing,'' Private Filby said. ''Boredom can be a problem
here at times, but our bosses are fantastic. They understand that and they give us our
space.''
Private Scott Lehnoff said:
''From what I saw on the news before we came over, it was a
bit hairy and scary to start with. I thought it would be a bit more action-packed. But in
fact it hasn't been. I think that's probably a good thing, too.''
Their spirits are lifted by the continuous flow of faxes
and letters from Australian well- wishers and packages from the Vietnam Veterans'
Association. They are also receiving hundreds of soft toys which they pass on to East
Timor's children.
While some childless soldiers admit that East Timor's
children are making them think about starting families, the children also give Interfet's
fathers and mothers cause to think about their families in Australia.
''These kids would break your heart,'' said B-Company's
Sergeant Craig Tyson. ''After what they've been through, they've got no right to laugh and
sing and smile, but they just smile all the time.''
The second in command of 5/7 RAR, Major Rohan Martin, says
that the children are an invaluable source of information to Interfet.
''Of course, the thing about children is that they are very
innocent. They are very honest and you get very natural reactions and responses from them.
That can help our work,'' he says.
''They help us, and nobody here likes to see a kid go
without a parent or without food. We don't like to see them go without anything.''
But it is evident that many East Timorese children have
been left without parents, homes and adequate nutrition.
As the 5/7 B-Company discovered to its distress, some have
also become innocent casualties.
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