This post is one year late. I did a visit to East Timor in 2010 and visited my friends in Dili, Liquica and also Hope Orphanage in Gleno. Nothing much has changed in Timor, things are running as they are.
There were more road signs, some new buildings(or newly coated buildings) and some taxis have a nice yellow colour now. Other than this, things are pretty much the same. The orphans I met in Gleno still struggled in the ever confusing education system. Mathematics in secondary school are taught using Bahasa Indonesia textbooks hence commas and decimal points are placed differently. It does not help that Timor is using American dollars and not Rupiah, so calculation can be a problem.
A teacher teaching youths English in Dili observed that gangs are still very much part of the communities and culture in Timor. It could be for protection, survival, identity etc and it is not that easy to get out of it once you're in. This thing about "brotherhood" and "loyalty" runs deep and bloodshed is not something hard to do. Law and order is still an issue in this new nation and maybe that is why there are gangs who either helped the police with order or set their own.
That being said, Timor is progressing in some ways. Some youths from Hope Orphanage came to S'pore in 2011 and it was a great eye opener for them. I hope they will be able to get sponsorship/scholarship for entry into United World College (ok, the fees are really steep for this international school but it's good). The boys(and girls) in the orphanage are growing and it is going to be a challenge as to where some of them will go once they finish high school. College and University can be expensive and I wonder about their future. 2011 is the 1st year I've not been back to Timor since 2006 and I hope to go this year with some good purpose. May the Lord continue to direct me.
