mafozone: 2007

Monday, September 3, 2007

Dear old and new Friends,

I am coming back to some of you after having spent 6 months in East Timor on a U.N. mission which has been definitely an amazing and very formative experience for myself and allegedly for many other fellows who have shared with me the privilege to be part of the history of the world's youngest nation.

But first of all, I would like to inform you that I found my way back to Siem Reap, which I left so swiftly mid of February this year and probably because after 3 years it has become a sort of addiction. Certainly, I have been considering the option of going straight home for a while after the mission but finally I thought to myself that I should do as the Scuba divers do on their way back to the surface, i.e. a decompression break somewhere in the middle… Well, it means that I'll be back in Switzerland by end of October, and that this year I intend to spend Christmas at home (I miss this since 2001) so that I would be back in Cambodia by beginning of January 2008.

Although it might sound strange to many of you, I learned that when you do this kind of job such a long break becomes compulsory in order to maintain our mental balance and stay connected with the rest of the world. This, of course, is beyond the fact that a long holiday can be an incommensurable pleasure, and that I will try my best to enjoy my free time jejeje! (Or I'd better call it "freedom of movements", as people who are on a mission become very soon familiar with the concept of "restriction of movements"). Ok,…I can talk like this because I don't have any mouths to feed, yet.

So here is my plan… I will spend the next couple of months in Siem Reap trying to make some new connections and at the same time taking care the old ones, but most of all I'll be looking around for an interesting job opportunity in this country. Further, I'll have to join the army in Switzerland during 3 weeks in November and then I intend to travel and dedicate my time to my family and friends in Europe.

With regards to East Timor: It would have been quite difficult – and especially very time consuming – to try to express in words just only a small part of what I have experienced during the last 6 months… In addition, I believe that for my well being I'd rather make my mind busy with what I will do next instead of hanging around trying to feed the curiosity of the people…I will therefore limit my words saying that at times a volunteer arrives in a mission and feels out of place, struggling to blend in but soon finds him/herself as a part that makes the system work better. The emotional rewards then surpass all other imaginable gains, the soul begins to be fed and the result is the sacrifices we make for the benefit of others.

When you see me walking around, I walk straight and head held high for a simple reason - I am proud to have served in this mission, I am proud of who I became but most of all I am proud to have helped a nation rise. You may call me a dreamer but here is a fact - I am officially a small but important part of the Timorese History...

All I can say is a humble thank you to all for changing my life positively, having said that I raise my glass and say... Cheers,

Last but not least, I decided to make a Blog with some of my best shots on www.mafosat.blogspot.com. If interested, have a quick look, leave a message if you want and thanks to take into your consideration that this is the first time that I do this, so the layout is not exactly as it was supposed to be ;-) I'll try to improve myself for the next adventure, if any…

PS My new phone number in Cambodia +855 92 24 99 18, my skype ID is mafosat

IM

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

UNMIT TIMOR 2007 PART 2

Looks like I am a bit more red than normal on this picture...

For my friend Gifri: yes, I am wearing the shirt of the seventies that you gave me in 1994...for special occasions only.

View from elicopter 2.

The pilots were russians, too.

I felt very safe in this cab...in the eventuality that I get stoned again...

Jamming till it hurts with the students from Arte Moris.

Crocodile is a sacred animal in East Timor. Look at the profile of these mountains and you'll know why. Dili bay, Dili.

Abandoned House, Border Liquica/Bobonaro

Opss...

Dili Downtown.

Evacuation with russian MI8 on August 9.

View from the Elicopter 1 (Dry Season)

Sometimes when the night falls and there is no electricity there is also not much to do...

Rwandese colleague socializing with locals. Considering his size I guess ...que le plus grand basketteur du Timor Leste c etait lui a la periode ou il etait la; surtout pour les jeunes poulettes.... Go for it, Yves!!

Fortunately there was a big sign warning that the road was interrupted so that I could brake on time ;-)

...and one beautiful day H.E. Dr. Jose Ramos Horta, Nobel Prize and President of Timor Leste suddenly walked in the only restaurant in Liquica and invited us to join him for lunch...