A special post to introduce and thank each of our Timorese staff for all their help during my time in Timor.
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| Ameu Falo |
Ameu is our ground handler. He is always ready to push the aircraft around, clean them when they are dirty (as is often the case after a trip to Baucau or Los Palos), refuel them when they are thirsty. He also keeps the cars clean and the grass around the hangar mowed, often working in the hot sun. Most importantly he goes about it all with a smile. He was very patient with me in trying to teach me a few phrases in Tetun and didn't laugh when I got it wrong.
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| Imelda Pereira |
Imelda is our office administrator. When I would come back from a medevac flight, by the time I had refilled my water bottle and sat down, she would have already taken the passenger manifest and created an invoice. She has a beautiful smile and a wonderful sense of humour. She also took great delight in helping me spend my money buying gifts for my supporters back home.
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| Aldo Falo |
Aldo's official title is operations assistant, but he is much, much more than that. When he went on holiday for a week in August, the programme nearly stopped. He came back and laughed when we told him he wasn't allowed to go on holiday again! In addition to helping Ameu with the aircraft manoeuvring and refuelling, Aldo also handles pretty much all our interactions with government officials - of which there are a lot. He is the go-to-guy of MAF Timor-Leste.
His life story is truly inspiring. A week or so before I left, I recorded an interview with him. Here is his story:
I was born in July 1986 in Oecusse, in a village called Banafi. I started primary school there, in Banafi, and after the referendum in 1999 we went to West Timor, Indonesia. In 2000 we came back, and I continued my schooling in Banafi.
In my family there are six of us, one sister and five brothers. Now my eldest brother is married, he has two daughters. My sister has a lot of children, 3 boys and 2 girls, she has five. She is the third, I am the second, my brother is the first. Only three of us are married: my brother and me and my sister and the others are not married yet.
I graduated primary school in 2003 and my family would not allow me to continue my study because they didn’t have money to pay my school fees. I had my certificate of birth and another certificate of the primary school, but my mother stole it and hid it under the mattress. My parents wanted me to come and work in the rice field at the town. I said ok, you go first. Then I kept looking for my documents in the house. I found them under the mattress and I took them - only two certificates, the certificate of birth and the certificate of primary school. I put them together with the rice and carried it, followed them down to the rice field at the town. Then I took out the certificates, put them in the cupboard under my brother’s clothes.
After that one teacher at the neighbourhood with my brothers asked me, "Aldo, are you continuing your study?" I could not answer, because of my feelings, I just cried. He said, "Why are you crying?" After maybe one hour I answered and said, "My family will not allow me to continue my studies, because they don’t have the money to pay my school fees." He said, "Ok, can I help you? Maybe tomorrow I can talk with your mother and father about that." I said, "Yeah, please, if you can talk with them and allow me to continue my study." That teacher’s name is Diego. So in the morning he said to them, "Aldo is saying he wants to continue his study, but he said you will not allow him to continue to study." Then my father and mother said, "There is no money to pay the school fee. Even for the food, it is difficult to have enough for all of them." He said, "Ok, Aldo can sell cakes and earn the money, he can pay for school by himself."
My father and my mother wanted me to help them on the farm with the animals. They just had one cow. But that morning when they went back to the village, I ran off from them. I went to the village and waited for them to leave so I could come back to the house. In the afternoon when I came back to the village, the teacher told me, "Your family has gone." At that time I started selling cakes, for one or two weeks, and the teacher’s wife gave me $15 to enrol in junior high school. So I kept selling cakes and paid back the $15. I said to her, "You gave me $15, it’s ok, I am selling for you." After that I continued selling and when people gave me 50c, $1, something like that, I didn’t spend that money, I just put it aside. For 3 years I was in junior high school and my family only gave me $5 in three years. They didn't even give me food. I got food from the teacher, or I would go to my brother.
After I finished that I went back to my family and said to them, "Can I continue my study in senior high school?" But they would not change their minds. They said, "No, you must stop. I don’t want you to continue because now you have a lot of brothers, so you need to help me on the farm, you can work." I decided to run and come back to the town. When my father went to the animals and my mother was inside the house, I took my bag and left, and didn't tell them. I walked from the mountain to the town; I had no money to pay for transport so I just walked. After that, I went to the school. The government senior high school is free, but the first registration is $70. I had collected the money before, when I was selling cakes, selling fish. I got $20 together, just by saving the money
With the money that I got from selling cakes and selling fish, and other money, I took two containers for the money. I made one box and put it inside the ground. After that I put some plastic inside, put the concrete on top and just made a small hole so the coins could go in. Then every morning I would go and sell cakes, and I would get 50 cents, and put it in there. I had two boxes for the money, one inside the ground and one that I put together with my clothes.
So I graduated senior high school, and nobody knew that I had the money, and I went back to my family. Now I had finished in the school, even though they not allow me to go, but I found a way. I found the solution. And I am finished in the school now, so I asked them how I could continue in the university. They said, "That is a lot of money to pay the school fee, how I can get that money to pay the school fee?" I said, "Ok, don’t worry about that, I will go back." I came back to the town and I could not find a way to earn the school fee for the university, because just one semester is a lot of money. So I decided to go to SOLS for 9 months. My money in the ground and under my clothes, I never took it, just kept it there. When I was in SOLS I was working, and going to school, cooking for the teachers. They looked at me and said I am intelligent and you cannot pay the course fee, but you are free in this course. I said thank you for that. After 9 months I decided to come to Dili.
I moved here in February 2010, and I got opportunity to work with the UN in 2011, washing the plane. That was a good opportunity - in one month I got $280 for work. So I was happy, because I could support my school fee and pay for everything. After the UN left, Jonathan [at MAF] called me and said, "Can you come work with us, just come and wash the plane three times a week?" I said, I am happy with that. So for doing that Jonathan gave me a salary, $50 a month. But I am happy because that supported me for transportation, and with the money I can get rice, something like that. In 2015 I graduated university and since then I have been working full time for Mission Aviation Fellowship until now.
I refused to let my life be the same as my father, just going to the farm. My father tried to stop me but I don’t want my life to be the same as my father, I needed to find a way.
My father has only one or two cows. He would not sell them, he just keeps them. It was difficult for the food - if we finished the food or the rice or the corn, we would go to the jungle to look for leaves or fruit to pluck and support our family, because tonight we have nothing to eat, only the leaves or the fruit. When I finished my schooling, I told my mother, although our family is poor, I finished my study and I got a small job. I have a little bit of money, and I don’t want my brothers becoming farmers. I want to send all of them to school, so we can change our lives. My father’s life is a farmer but I don’t want my brothers doing the same thing, just being a farmer like my father.
I am happy with my life, even though I faced a lot of problems, I found the solution.
Now I am an operations assistant with Mission Aviation Fellowship. I can do everything in the office, like the administration or the paperwork and refuelling the plane. In the future I would like to do engineering training, so that I can understand a little bit about how the engine works and help the engineers when they come to fix the plane.
MAF has educated my life, educated us to rescue people, to help people, to follow Jesus Christ’s instructions to help people, especially to help others.
Thank you Aldo!
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