Communication
Right now, I'm feeling a little bit isolated. It's been over three weeks since I left now and I still have not figured out a decent way to communicate with folks back home. The main problem is that when the Indonesians left, they took the postal system, all the phone lines and just about everything else with them. The Australian army has set up a temporary postal system, but they are not yet ready to deliver the mail. At our office in Dili we have a satellite phone and a mobile phone that are able to reach the outside world.
If I'm in Dili, I'm able to send e-mails with the daily batch they send out, but since the cost is so high they are not yet allowing us to receive messages. In Los Palos I have nothing. If there is an emergency I can use the satellite phone at UNTAET, but otherwise it's a five hour drive to Dili in order to get in contact with the rest of the world. For the time being I think the best way for me to receive mail is for people to send it to the IRC office in Darwin.
From Darwin, mail and faxes will be hand carried to the office in Dili, and I can pick it up there or have someone bring it out this way when they come. It will be a slow process, but I hope folks can deal with it. It's been over three weeks now and the last word I heard from home was spoken to me at the airport when I left. I don't even know if folks have been receiving the little e-mail that I've been able to send. So, please write and let's test the system. There is word of the possibility of land lines in Dili before the end of the year. If that is truly the case, then our office in Dili will be able to access the Internet and therefore I will be able to use my Hotmail account again. I will definitely let folks know if this happens.
Well, that's about it for letter #1. Like in Malawi, it's taken me a few days to type all this out and I've already forgotten what I wrote in the first few pages. I tend to be a bit long winded. I hope this first time out I wasn't too rusty, and that some of it actually makes sense.
I also hope that everyone back home is doing well and enjoying the holiday season.
Karl Klemmick