Northern Ireland's East Timorese send aid back home after floods

More than 100 people lost their lives in the flooding and landslides

An East Timorese community in mid-Ulster have come together to send aid back to their country of birth.

In April, torrential rain caused severe flooding and landslides in Indonesia and East Timor.

At the time, reports suggested that more than 113 people had lost their lives.

Watching on from the other side of the world was the small East Timorese community living in counties Armagh and Tyrone.

According to the 2011 Census, 894 people born in East Timor were living in Northern Ireland.

More recent estimates have put this figure closer to 5,000 with many living and working in industries in the Craigavon and Dungannon areas.

'Shocked and helpless'

Among them is Theo Cardoso, who has lived in County Armagh for more than a decade.

He said the community initially felt shocked and helpless by what they saw.

Theo Cardoso has lived in County Armagh for more than a decade

"They are missing home and because of Covid they haven't been able to travel home," he said.

"Most of the East Timorese here, their families live in the capital of Dili, where the flooding took place.

"It has left them without shelter, food. It has affected many families in East Timor and their families here."

Many of the East Timorese work in food processing and other manufacturing industries and, with the help of their employers as well as charitable organisations and recruitment agencies, plans were put in place to send aid to their home country.

A container is filled with items of aid

Last week, at a haulage yard outside Gilford in County Down, a container was filled with the items that had been collected.

"Inside the containers there are 27 pallets," Mr Cardoso said.

"There are clothes, toiletries, food, prams, wheelchairs and children's books."

Once locked up, the container's journey begins.

According to Ann-Marie Fegan, whose haulage firm is responsible for the first leg of the journey, it will be a long and complicated one.

"We are transferring it to Belfast Port, but then it will go through at least four different ports and four different ships to get to East Timor," she said.

Children's books are among the items being sent

"So there will be a lot of people and a lot of hauliers involved in the process - we are just a very small part of it."

Those other ports include Liverpool, Rotterdam, Singapore and Malaysia. It's hoped the aid will arrive in Dili before the end of June.