East Timor

In mid-January I was fortunate enough to visit East Timor for the launch of my book WHOEVER YOU ARE which had been translated into Tetum, the local language. In Tetum it’s called: SÉ DE’IT MAK Ó. I could write a lot about the trip and how much East Timor reminded me of my Rhodesian/Zimababwean childhood; or about the poverty and the hope and the successes since Independence; or about how very kind the people were, especially at the Alolah Foundation, run by Kirsty Sword Gusmao, East Timor’s First Lady; or about how adorable the children were at the launch itself, wearing their T-shirts which said in Tetum:’Please read to me’; or about the way they laughed and appeared to love WHOEVER YOU ARE even though when I read it to them in English they couldn’t understand a word, only the modulations of my voice and the wild movement of my arms; or about the crowded classrooms where the children were crammed in without anything to write with or on, and how happy they were to be at school, and how moving I found that happiness to be. But instead I’ll let these photos speak for me. The first three were taken at the book launch, and the last in a classroom in which my very lively translator, Maria Coneicao, and I read the book to the children in both languages.

Cheers!

Mem Fox