(…Continuation)
“Good ur safe. Tk security precautions. Find out how 2 exit. Contact US n Australian embassies. Wer u now?”, It was 3:53 PM, April 28 when I received the message from Nes. I answered Nes that at that moment I was still very safe inside Carla Mansion, monitoring the situation. For several times I tried connecting to Pastor Nelson and Ibu Wennie, I had no way to do so due to the communication problem. We had signals in our cell phones but there was no way to connect with others. “K, is it safe 4 u der? Find ways 2 get in2 any of the embassies or UN compound. Dis may safer. Wer praying hir 4u.”, Nes replied. To my surprise, Tots Escalada from Indonesia also texted me with the following messages: “Just to let u know dat wer praying 4 ur safety”. “Ingat lang, kng may problem, naa lang mi dre.” Those were spirit-lifting messages from a friend who was instrumental why I was able to join Habitat for Humanity. In the midst of that security threat and trouble, I managed to send back jokes to Tots assuring him that I can still manage the situation. Nestor’s next sms message was too serious in his instruction for me to fly out of Timor Leste immediately. “If flte not suspended, fly out immediately tomorrow. I assumed u had tickets”. With the instruction, I told him that since the situation looked like manageable, I still need to finish all my appointments for the week then fly out on the 6th of May. “Make ur departure top priority. Cancel all appointments. Bring all ur stuff since ur return is not sure. Be hir b4 I fly out Phil on the 7th.”
That message awakened me to realize that our Asia Pacific Office saw the problem bigger than how I saw it and probably they were correct as it was heard over in the radio that lots of houses were already burned, 2 policemen were killed and there were lots of people wounded. I tried keeping in touch with Joey through a landline and I succeeded after several attempts. I told him to keep alert since he has the schedule to fly out of Dili the next day. At that time we were not certain if commercial flights were not cancelled. It was 4:45 PM when me and other lodgers realized that we had bigger problem during that time. We don’t have something to eat since all shops were closed and we failed to stock file foods. Good that one Filipino friend Vida still had something to cook. We ate that night with Vida, Ofe and an Indonesian friend just like as a family. Praise God for the blessing of sharing. With the tension and threat, God’s peace covered me and was able to sleep the whole night very soundly. (to be continued…)
