By Margaret Rodgers
Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, is at present dry, humid and mostly 33 degrees Celsius daily, as it readies for the beginning of the Wet season in a few weeks time. It is also a focal point for Australian assistance to the people of East Timor. Hercules transports from the Australian Defence Forces fly over head daily bound for East Timor, either carrying troops or food and medicinal supplies. And naval vessels lie at anchor in the picturesque, tropical waters of Darwin's Harbour. For most of the young troops from both Australia and New Zealand are leaving from Darwin to become part of the UN peacekeeping forces in that almost destroyed land.
"The press has been using the word 'genocide' to describe the events that are happening. I wonder if we should also be thinking in terms of martyrdom for those who have been killed, priests and nuns amongst them," the Rt Revd Philip Freier, Bishop of the Northern Territory, wrote in his recent Pastoral Letter to the diocese. "There is no reason why these people should be killed and survivors assaulted and forced from their homes and country... I particularly pray that there will be outrage amongst the people of Indonesia at the affront to common decency and human compassion by the way their armed forces [have operated] in East Timor... Pray without ceasing for the plight of this persecuted people.
"Bishop Philip Freier, consecrated bishop on 22nd July this year, was installed as 4th Bishop of the Northern Territory on 13th August. So he has not only just become bishop of a diocese that covers almost one fifth of the land mass of Australia with a total population of about 220,000, but in the early weeks of his episcopate he is facing a major ministry and pastoral task with the NT Anglicans.
As part of Australia's 'Top End' community, they have mobilised with other churches in an ecumenical effort to assist in caring for the many refugees brought to Darwin as their first step in finding safe haven in Australia until it will be safe for them to return home. Darwin has a population of nearly 90,000, and this includes a growing number of military families who have come as part of Australia's troop build-up in the north which has been happening for some time. It is a logical place both for the refugees to come to, and for the troops to leave. It is only a 45 minute flight from Darwin to Dili. Indeed, East Timor and many parts of Indonesia are closer to the people of Darwin than the rest of Australia. For Brisbane is a three and a half hour flight away, and it takes at least a four hour flight to reach Sydney and five hours to Melbourne. Arriving refugee groups are taken to the enormous centre set up by the Australian and Northern Territory governments in one of Darwin's outlying suburbs. There are rows of tents, and a large community hall that serves as dining room, meeting place and church. Most refugees will have to be moved on quickly, for when the Wet season comes, sleeping in a tent will be very difficult.
Anglicare, the welfare arm of the Diocese of the Northern Territory, at government request, is organising the delivery of clothes and other immediate necessities as they arrive. They are being assisted by the St Vincent de Paul organisation. Many parishioners from all the churches are working as volunteers in this effort, both in hands-on delivery in the camp, and also in the collection of clothes etc, by the churches and other community groups. The churches have received some government funding to assist them employ an experienced welfare worker to co-ordinate their volunteer efforts. Many piles have clothes have been collected, and at Sunday services in the parishes people were asked to give towels, soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste as well, to be put into family parcels as they moved elsewhere. On arrival, each person is given new underclothes and two sets of outer clothing. And before they are moved to more long-term shelter down south, they are given some warm clothes to wear. Visitors to the refugee centre see sights common to many cities and places in Asia. People sitting around under a cover in the heat, talking and watching the world go by.
A group of youths nearby plays with a soccer ball. And they demonstrate that even East Timorese refugee youths know that as soon as you are given a baseball cap you turn it round and wear the brim over your neck. "Darwin is just right for us, it's hot," said Father ------*, a Roman Catholic priest who fled East Timor as part of Bishop Belo's party when he left. "But we are a little concerned about the south. Melbourne, it sounds cold." A Filipino missionary priest, he had been working for more than seven years in East Timor before the troubles began. "Right up to the end I never thought the Indonesians would do it to us," he said. He and many nuns are working in the centre and it is touching to see the refugees' vulnerable faith and reliance on the religious as they talked and worked with them. "They are only a simple people, with a simple faith," the priest said. "If they see a nun or a priest, especially one wearing a cassock, they feel safe."
Mass is said daily at 10am in the large hall in the refugee centre. The service I attended with a small group from the Christian Conference of Asia was packed, everyone taking a full part in the liturgy, and they sang the hymns with enthusiasm, the words obviously well known to them all. Before and after the service the priest gave many announcements to which everyone paid close attention. It was obviously a time when they heard from news from him, of people who'd already moved on, about their families, and about their own next moves. He spoke in fluent Tetum, their local dialect, for in their traumatised state, the East Timorese do not receive well either the Indonesian or Portuguese language. Someone explained that a mistake was made with an earlier group, who had refused to board a bus because they didn't know where they were being taken. It was, in fact, to Sydney, but for all they knew it might have been back to East Timor. That group only boarded the bus when the priest and nuns came and explained to them what was happening. The priest has been appointed to minister in the refugee centre. Refugees are moving as soon as possible to the south of the nation to make room for others who are expected in Darwin.
Many of the Darwin volunteers are deeply moved by the quiet patience and thankfulness of the East Timorese as they receive goods and other assistance. Some have fearful stories to tell. They have lost their family members who they know are dead, others are separated from them and they do not know where they are. One young girl arrived dressed in boys' clothing. Her parents had been killed and she was homeless, living on the streets of Dili. But she was raped so many times she dressed as a boy for protection and she insisted on dressing that way in Darwin, for she couldn't believe that Australian men would not be like that too. How many similar stories of trauma and suffering are carried with them into their future by the East Timorese people? But there are their joys as well. Some babies have been born in the Darwin centre, and there have been a number of baptisms. At one large baptism service about 60 people were baptised, including one 90-year-old woman.
Mr Philip Ruddock, the Australian Federal Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs, visited the camp while our CCA party was there. He was accompanied by Mr Con Sciacca, his Opposition counter, and Mr Denis Burke, the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory." I want to assure you that the Australian people are very anxious to help and assist you, as you have seen from the Northern Territory government and the volunteers from community groups who are helping here," Mr Ruddock said to the refugees. "I assure you, as you move to other parts of Australia, you will continue to be here with us for however long it takes to make it safe for you to return home. ""Right now, we in Australia are very proud of our young men, who along with others from the international community are in East Timor, working to provide a secure future for the East Timorese people," he said. "We will continue to play our part as a responsible partner of the international community... to ensure that all the people of East Timor, who have suffered so much, can be relieved of that suffering as soon as possible. "You can be absolutely sure that many members of the Australian community will be remembering you in their prayers," Mr Ruddock concluded.
Anglicans are involved in other ministries to the troops. It is known that an Anglican chaplain was part of the New Zealand contingent who went to East Timor, and Anglican Chaplain, the Rev Kevin Wares is ministering to troops and their families on the very large Robertson base in Darwin. Before members of the Australian Federal Police left to be part of the UN group before the referendum vote, the Revd Peter Guy, from the Diocese of Canberra and Goulburn, who is a Chaplain to the Australian Federal Police, took part in their debriefing in Darwin. But let us trust that Anglicans in Australia, and throughout the world, and indeed the whole international community will join with Bishop Freier and the Diocese of the Northern Territory, and will "Pray without ceasing for the plight of this persecuted people."
* Name suppressed to protect his identity
Margaret Rodgers