Painting Walls to Bring Them Down
By Hannah Sung
When we first arrived in East Timor, boys of all ages ran around the parking lot of the airport, swarming our car. Airport parking lots shouldn’t be playgrounds. Here, they are. Unfortunately, these kids were also playing close to home, as “home” is a sprawling camp of hastily assembled tents beside the airport. It’s a months-old reminder of the initial hope that the East Timorese had of being removed from the intense rioting and violence that erupted in April 2006. They rushed to the airport after rumours circulated that they would be flown out of the chaotic situation. It never happened. The camp stayed. This camp, one of 56 scattered around the capital city of Dili, is tense and crowded.
Dili is beautiful, but scarred. Gang graffiti is a ubiquitous and disturbing calling card on every surface and street corner. Homes and cars that were torched in riots sit charred and useless. Red and white plastic tape (the kind that cordons off the scene of an accident) flaps in the wind, tied around random trees along dusty streets. And of course the IDP (internally
displaced person) camps, like the one by the airport, are everywhere. East Timor may be the world’s newest nation, but it has a long history of political strife and struggle. Long-standing rivalries culminated in April 2006 with the police and the military opening fire on each other. The violence hasn’t ended since that initial spark of chaos.
There are currently 100,000 IDPs in Dili. Some homes were torched by gangs. The panic and volatility in East Timor’s capital city is so overwhelming that some families even left homes that are perfectly intact, their fear driving them into the IDP camps.
East Timor has been an independent nation for four years. More than half of the population is 18 or younger. It is, quite literally, a very young country. If the resourcefulness, drive and passion of adolescence is to be the fuel that drives this country forward, fortunately many teens are rising to this immense challenge.
Outside the CARE compound, I watched art students paint a graffiti mural for peace. In the space of two hot afternoons, the concrete wall, a barrier against violence and aggression, was transformed into a neighbourhood work of art. CARE staff coaxed the children of the IDP camp inside the CARE compound’s walls to mingle with the children of the surrounding neighbourhood to paint turtles, butterflies and words like “peace” and “unity.” Everybody worked together, creating a stir among people passing by. Led by young artists, the children’s vivid colours and brushstrokes reclaimed the wall and their street.
To contribute to these sorts of peacebuilding efforts, there will be a benefit concert to raise money for YouthCARE. The Timorese youth have a strong desire for peace. All they need are opportunities to make their expression a reality. The hope is that soon, youth won’t need to paint walls that divide—instead, they will be bringing them down.
For more information on CARE Canada and YouthCARE, visit www.care.ca
All Photos by Anne Larrass/CARE Canada
