Sheltering from violence in Timor Leste: Angelica's story

Angelica holding her baby outside her tent in the camp

28 January 2008: Meet young mother Angelica Babo da Silva – one of thousands of people displaced by violent clashes in Timor Leste and sheltering in a Plan supported camp.

With tears welling up in her eyes, 26 year-old Angelica tells of the terrifying night a masked and machete-wielding mob came to her home.

“We were returning from working in the fields to see a gang of men ransacking our house. They'd smashed down the door and were throwing things around, destroying our home.

“They shouted abuse at us and told us that if we came any closer, they would kill us,” she said.

Plan supported camps

Forced to flee into the night, Angelica and her family - husband Pedro de Jesus Santos and their 5 children – took refuge in Jardin Borja, a tented camp in central Dili, the capital of Timor Leste.

The camp is one of 10 in and around Dili in which Plan is providing toilet facilities, fresh water and counselling for 18,000 people.

Funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO), the program is designed to reduce the threat of water-borne diseases. It will provide 15-40 litres of clean water per person per day. 600 new latrines will be built with wash rooms.

Violent clashes

Timor Leste achieved independence from occupying Indonesia in 2002 and has followed a rocky road since freedom.

Widespread rioting claimed the lives of 65 people in April last year and continuing tensions between different groups result in sporadic clashes and house burnings. About 30,000 people are still sheltering in camps in and around Dili.

Dreaming of home

Angelica's family sleep on mats on the floor of their aid agency tent. Pedro earns $3 per week digging silt from a dried-up river bed, which is not enough to provide for his family.

Angelica said: "I hope that one day we can go back home and resume our happy and peaceful lives but at the moment it is too dangerous."

Since this interview, the Jardin Borja camp has closed and all the inhabitants - including Angelica and her family - have returned safely to their homes. Plan continues to work in displaced person camps in and around Dili.

Plan has now restarted its long-term program work in the Aileu region, 50 kilometres south of Dili.

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