austraLasia 1628
'Big people must reconcile' - sounds familiar? But this is not Lebanon
DILI: 16th August 2006 -- The focus on the disastrous humanitarian situation in Lebanon must remain at full exposure - it demands our full attention. But it is equally true that the media can often only focus on one thing at a time, and other disastrous situations remain uncommented on. Fortunately there are groups who keep a 'watch'. Reuters is one. They have an 'alertnet' which keeps an eye on humanitarian disasters past, present and brewing. One of those from the past, still present,and still, it would seem, brewing, is Dili and, more pointedly Don Bosco Comoro.
"We're waiting for the big people to embrace each other and to sit down together and talk among themselves and then we'll feel safe", says Rosa Soares, one of the 100,000 internally displaced persons still in camps around Dili! This is nearly four months after things broke out and broke down in Dili and environs. Rosa puts it in simple, familiar terms - the need for big people to talk. Bro Adriano de Jesus, 35 year old Salesian who has coordinated much of the effort at Comoro over these months - and cannot yet relinquish that role given the presence of substantial numbers of refugees still (9,000 of them) - has much the same thing to say. He believes that the nation's leaders "have to reconcile because they are the ones who created this problem and now they're insisting that the people dialogue".
Whether it's Lebanon or Dili, the problem is similar in that it revolves around a home which no longer exists, destroyed in battle, and perhaps more to the point, revolves around security. "Outside camp at night there are people throwing rocks at each other and chasing one another", said Martin Douel in Dili to Reuters. It echoes conversations no doubt in Southern Lebanon - where what is thrown is bigger and more deadly, and the chase is more extreme. Yes, big people must reconcile.
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
'Big people must reconcile' - sounds familiar? But this is not Lebanon
DILI: 16th August 2006 -- The focus on the disastrous humanitarian situation in Lebanon must remain at full exposure - it demands our full attention. But it is equally true that the media can often only focus on one thing at a time, and other disastrous situations remain uncommented on. Fortunately there are groups who keep a 'watch'. Reuters is one. They have an 'alertnet' which keeps an eye on humanitarian disasters past, present and brewing. One of those from the past, still present,and still, it would seem, brewing, is Dili and, more pointedly Don Bosco Comoro.
"We're waiting for the big people to embrace each other and to sit down together and talk among themselves and then we'll feel safe", says Rosa Soares, one of the 100,000 internally displaced persons still in camps around Dili! This is nearly four months after things broke out and broke down in Dili and environs. Rosa puts it in simple, familiar terms - the need for big people to talk. Bro Adriano de Jesus, 35 year old Salesian who has coordinated much of the effort at Comoro over these months - and cannot yet relinquish that role given the presence of substantial numbers of refugees still (9,000 of them) - has much the same thing to say. He believes that the nation's leaders "have to reconcile because they are the ones who created this problem and now they're insisting that the people dialogue".
Whether it's Lebanon or Dili, the problem is similar in that it revolves around a home which no longer exists, destroyed in battle, and perhaps more to the point, revolves around security. "Outside camp at night there are people throwing rocks at each other and chasing one another", said Martin Douel in Dili to Reuters. It echoes conversations no doubt in Southern Lebanon - where what is thrown is bigger and more deadly, and the chase is more extreme. Yes, big people must reconcile.
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com Try out BoscoWiki to be interactive. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/RSS/rssala.xm A separate service entirely is called F/OSSERVATORE to help us keep abreast of trends in the digital world.
