Camping in the Dust
During the recent riots in East Timor, 150,000 refugees fled to displacement camps. Five months on, they still can't return home. With the rainy season weeks away, the situation is getting desperate.
"We've got no beds or anything. We had to leave everything behind", laments John Boscoe. Like most of the refugees here, he's an Easterner and risks being attacked by mobs from the west if he goes home. Even before the riots, life for most people was a struggle. One in ten children die before their first birthday. "It's disconcerting to find so many under-nourished children", comments one doctor. When the rainy season starts soon, more are expected to die. Little wonder people feel disillusioned with their leaders. "They are not capable of running the country. What was independence for?"
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