Arrived in Darwin after midnight on Friday night, woke up early the next day while it was still dark. It was worth it – nothing beats watching the sun rise from a vantage point up in the clouds. 45 minutes later, we were descending into the land called Timor Leste, sometimes known as “East Timor.” Through the window we could see sheets of mist blanketing the tree-covered hills, and a sleepy haze over the lush green land…

The first thing you notice when you step off the plane onto the tarmac is the heat – the stickiness that preludes the sweat that begins to fall off every body surface you never knew existed. The next thing you notice is the smell: the thickness and humidity, the chemical smog, all tempered by a faint, lingering smell of body odour… It was a sensory reminiscence of PNG. So too were the corrugated iron roofs; the stray dogs pottering around the streets; the stalls where bottles of cold water and knick-knacks were peddled; the piles of rubble, signs of shabby half-development here and there…

All these sights and sounds and smells were to me, the thrill of a new place, and reminders of the reality of the people who live in those conditions there day by day.

Some quick stats about Timor Leste:

Bairo Pite Clinic is a community health care centre located in the heart of Dili, the capital of Timor Leste. Run by a small group of passionate volunteers on donations alone , it provides free, quality health care around the clock, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. On top of treating patients with a wide variety of conditions, they also provide opportunities for volunteering, training and employment for local Timorese; and volunteer positions for doctors and medical students.

It’s not an easy environment to work in. Humid, limited resources, and language or cultural barriers are amongst the challenges faced on a regular basis. But most importantly, they are team who exhibit resilience and are expert at finding innovative solutions to get on the job.

So, we took a tour of the hospital Bairo Pite Clinic for a few hours in the morning: outpatients, general admissions, malnutrition ward (you know you’re in a developing country when malnutrition is even such a problem…), maternity ward, tuberculosis (TB) wards, and HIV centres. It’s the little things that brighten up the compound: the cheerful tropical fish and rainbows are painted onto the sky-blue walls of the malnutrition clinic, and the lilac-coloured shipping containers converted into the HIV/TB Dots clinic centres. At the front of these lilac buildings is a humble garden that was planted together by the initiative of patients and their doctors.

TB is a terrible burden on the Timorese people, even more so than in PNG. The tragic effect it has was made strikingly apparent on one of the patients. Due to TB, his body was wasted away so he was little more than skin and bones. His eyes protruded from a sunken face, and his demeanour emanated suffering and loneliness. 

In the afternoon we had a series of presentations from the hospital team to the supporters. What I found to be most interesting were the talks from local staff, especially of the lay midwives in training. These women had been elected from their own home villages to come to Bairo Pite and undergo a month of midwife training, during which time they may experience around 300 deliveries.

As Sue said, it is inspiring to see when people are motivated to help their own people. Let’s face it – nothing will get done unless health care is modelled around partnership with local communities.