East Timor poverty and violence

Almost 10 years after voting for independence many East Timorese are struggling to come to terms with the country's violent history. Julinho Ximenhes saw two friends killed by Indonesian troops in 1991.

Young boys run a bicycle repair shop on the streets of the East Timorese capital, Dili. Forty percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day.

Antonio da Silva - a staunch critic of independence - lost part of his left ear when he was attacked by men opposed to his political views.

Members of the International Stabilisation Force on patrol in Ermera District. After almost 10 years of independence, the United Nations is still responsible for some aspects of East Timor's security.

Last year a motorcyclist killed Gloria Felisidio Acasio's husband in a suspicious accident. Gloria says she knows who killed him but is still waiting for an arrest.

Children play with home-made catapults. Half of the population is aged under 15. Young children often outnumber adults, who struggle to support them.

A salt worker uses a bamboo tube to pour sea water through a clay filter to make salt crystals. This is the first step in a long process which brings whole families to the salt flats each day before dawn.

A student, Elsa Araujo Pinto, sorts through washing in a makeshift home in one of Dili's camps for internally displaced people. Unrest two years ago led to 150,000 Timorese fleeing their homes.

During the violence in 2006, Sister Guilhermina Marcal helped to care for thousands of people who sheltered in the grounds of her convent in Dili. Text and photographs: Progressio.

Back

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Next