Garden project in Liquica

 Cheryl and I visited a rural Village about 2 hours away from our home. Fortunately the road was pretty decent. This is a village that has been selected to receive garden equipment, seeds and training. The construction of the barn and the fencing are common in the area. Everything is made out of local materials.

 We were given the seats of Honor on the tarp. I was the third speaker. My speech of course had to be translated.

 Like all of our projects we were given a ceremonial meal of gratitude. This is what Cheryl had to eat for the initial snack. Later on in the day we had another Meal which was mainly rice, fish, chicken and beans.

 After the meal I was able to view the kitchen. This is where the meal was prepared. Those are baby pigs.

 The meeting started out with us being presented with ceremonial gifts. Cheryl is wearing the tais that we all received. On the left hand side of the table are green leaves with some sort of white powder in the white container. You would sprinkle the white powder on the leaves and roll them up and eat them. We were afraid and did not eat. On the Box on the right is a packet of cigarettes. All of the attendees were offered a thank-you cigarette.

 We of course did not smoke the cigarettes but most of the others did.

 These are some of the kids that were hanging around the meeting.

This is Tony are partner with Heim health. He is speaking with the villagers in tetun. I know about one and every ten words. This is what we here all day.

With the elections being less than 1 month away we are in the campaign month. There was a rally in the area for several groups of candidates. Lots of people hanging off of trucks.