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Elizabete:
I'm Elizabete. I left East Timor when I was seven years old
and went to Mozambique because my father was exiled to Mozambique
by the Portuguese authorities. From Mozambique we went to Portugal
and then from Portugal to Australia. |
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When I left at seven years old, my family followed my father who was
exiled to Mozambique by the Portuguese authority that was ruling at
the time in Timor. We were meant to come back to Timor after three
years, but by then the Indonesians invaded East Timor and we couldn't
return, so we had to go to Portugal as kind of refugees but not from
East Timor, from Mozambique. My father was, since the beginning, involved
with the Fretilin, which was a political front fighting for the self-determination
of our country. |
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So my dad was always politically driven. I guess I followed my father in that way. But when we went to Portugal, we went to a village and we were the only East Timorese family there. We didn't have any contact with other Timorese and I didn't have any ways of showing my solidarity to the people that were suffering there. So I went looking for ways. Indonesian propaganda was saying that Fretilin was communist, so I thought one way for me to show my solidarity was to reckon myself in the Communist Party. At the time I wasn't politically driven or anything. I was just a very shy girl. But I wanted to show my solidarity and that was the only way. They asked me why do you want to become a Communist, and I just said: 'Because Fretilin was Communist and I wanted to show my solidarity to the people of Timor'. And then they asked: 'Ok, any other questions? 'No, no more questions. Just that'. We lived ten years in Portugal and then came to Australia. In Australia I
got involved with the Timorese community and became involved with
my cultural group, learned the traditional dances and performed
the dances and the dream. My dream was to fight for the self-determination
of our country. I always did everything I could in my own way to
fight for that. It started with those traditional dances and songs
and then through theatre and then through writing and reading poetry
and going to demonstrations. The struggle became a priority in my
life. In Australia there are other challenges, like work and study,
but we always make sure we have time for the struggle no matter
what. Like cutting down on socialising, having fun and going to parties.
That ís the priority, because if you have a dream you've got to
work for it. If you don't work for it it ís not going to happen.
That's it. And now I'm glad now we actually had the opportunity
to vote for our independence and we're on our way. I want to thank
the indigenous Australians, being the aboriginal people for accepting
us here. It is very important to acknowledge that this land belongs
to the aboriginals, and not to the whites. The aboriginals are the
owners of the land. And that needs to be acknowledged. As an East
Timorese, I understand that really well. |
