#Tibar walk

[jontycrane]

Hike opposite the Bamboo Institute in Tibar

For the detailed route and logistical information please select this hike below (click top left for the list of hikes). A short but steep hike up into the empty (and pathless!) hills opposite the Bamboo Institute in Tibar, for wonderful views and a decent workout. To get to the start catch a tom-tom for 50c from Tasi Tolu to Tibar. They work the same as microlets, just tap your coin on the…

[southeastasianists]

Fifty kilometres east of Dili is the site of one of Timor-Leste’s most renowned scuba diving locations. It is reached via the nearby Santo Antonio Grotto rest stop where timber-slat huts sell plastic bottled water and noodles in Styrofoam cups. Directly behind the shops are mountains of burning plastic packaging in a seasonally-dry river bed waiting for rain to flush it onto the reefs.

In Timor-Leste, there is a growing plastic waste crisis. The issue is crucial for Timor-Leste’s tourism potential based on the nation’s relatively unexploited marine and terrestrial environments.

Government policy and non-government advice view tourism as essential to diversifying the economy. Publicity that invites visitors to “Relax on our stunning beaches, be wowed by our tropical reefs and witness amazing marine live [sic]” is central to Ministry of Tourism campaigns. In surveys of foreign perceptions of Timor-Leste, attractive beaches rank as the most common positive connotation of the small tropical island nation.

If and when they return after COVID-19, tourists are more likely to encounter beaches inundated with plastic, despite relatively low levels of consumption and a small population of around 1.3 million. That is because national and municipal governments are yet to establish safe and sustainable public sanitation or waste management systems.

Recent reports on plastic recycling and marine pollution commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Programme Timor-Leste (UNDP) estimate the country produces between 54.7 and 68.4 tonnes of plastic per day – 81% of which is predicted to enter the sea due to mismanagement or direct littering.

“Approximately 20,690t [tonnes] of plastic waste were released in the waters around Timor-Leste in 2010. If not addressed, the amount is expected to rise to 64,205t by 2025”, states the ADB-commissioned report. As a result, Timor’s coastline and waterways are gradually being carpeted with plastic – particularly in the wet season, when heavy rains flush out rivers and canals.

During recent wet season beach walks I encountered a noticeable increase in medical waste, including HIV testing kits, syringes and COVID-19 surgical masks. Before the COVID-19 pandemic the World Health Organization estimated that around 100 tonnes of hazardous medical waste was produced in Dili every year.

In Dili, all waste goes to a single environmentally-hazardous site in Tibar, 15 minutes’ drive west of the capital. A 2018 study by researchers and lecturers from the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL) described how waste is “collected in common open trucks in the city neighbourhoods, deposited in open bins and transported then to Tibar landfill. The landfill does not have any preparation and it is in reality a large open burning.”

Wet season rains fail to douse the embers and accelerate the leakage of toxic sludge into ground water and nearby coastal ecosystems. The long-term effects of this single site threaten the mangroves and coral reefs that surround Dili, and harm the country’s fish.

Dili is the largest waste collection point but rural municipalities, with far lower budgets and weaker infrastructure, face the same issues.

Most municipalities on the south coast do not have a waste collection system. Much of the waste is burned in most villages. In some cases, there are local dumps less than 500m from the sea. These can be flooded during the monsoon season and some of the waste can be swept to the sea. Faced with no way of properly disposing of household waste, local communities in Dili and rural areas also resort to burning to manage their informal plastic waste dumps.

The UNTL report says that while a lack of community awareness contributes to waste mismanagement in Timor-Leste, the government is mostly to blame. According to a 2014 ADB report, in one year the Ministry of State Administration spent between US$700,000 and $800,000 total on all waste management services – a small fraction of the ministry’s budget and “generally inadequate”. Dili waste collection workers are so poorly resourced they do not even have gloves or boots. “Most of workers that collect waste has [sic] tuberculosis disease with seven confirmed deaths”, the UNTL study found.

The UNTL study describes the government’s waste management approach as “traditional”. Sweeping up refuse and burning it is how most Timorese dealt with their largely organic waste before the arrival of plastic. In March, Ministry of Transport workers and police in the south coast municipality of Covalima even burned 57 motorcycle helmets that didn’t meet regulations.

In 2019, Timor-Leste made headlines by announcing it aimed to become the world’s first plastic-neutral nation through the purchase of high-tech, large-scale plastic recycling facilities from an Australian consortium. The initiative quickly faded from the news and has not since been mentioned by Secretary of State for the Environment, Demetrio do Amaral de Carvalho.

A ban on single use plastic bags came into effect on 23 February 2021. Gally Soares Araujo, President of Movimento Tasi Mos (Movement for Clean Beaches) – one of Timor-Leste’s largest and most active community beach and street clean up organisations – welcomes the plastic bag ban but says implementation is still weak. As of 28 March, plastic bags were still widely available in supermarkets, street stalls and retail stores.

While plastic consumption needs to be reduced, the real challenge is improving waste management. Immediate crises such as the recent floods and a widening pandemic have a tendency of de-prioritising long-term necessities. Yet if Timor-Leste is to diversify its economy and improve the living standards of citizens, a factor as fundamental as waste management cannot be further delayed.

[dailytafsirofquran]

Daily Tafsir of Ibn Kathir

The Consequences for the Disbelievers

Here Allah consoles His Prophet Muhammad for the disbelief of those among his people who opposed him.

(And if they deny you, so did deny before them the people of Nuh) until His saying,

(and denied was Musa.) means, despite all the clear signs and evidence that they brought.

(But I granted respite to the disbelievers for a while,) means, `I delayed and postponed.'

(then I seized them, and how (terrible) was My punishment!) means, `how great was My vengeance against them and My punishment of them!' In the Two Sahihs it is reported from Abu Musa that the Prophet said:

(Allah lets the wrongdoer carry on until, when He seizes him, He will never let him go.) Then he recited:

(Such is the punishment of your Lord when He seizes the towns while they are doing wrong. Verily, His punishment is painful (and) severe.) ﴿11:102﴾ Then Allah says:

(And many a township did We destroy)

(while they were given wrongdoing,) meaning, they were rejecting their Messengers.

(so that it lie in ruins,) Ad-Dahhak said, "﴿Leveled to﴾ their roofs,'' i.e., their houses and cities were destroyed.

(and (many) a deserted well) means, they draw no water from it, and no one comes to it, after it had been frequented often by crowds of people.

(and a castle Mashid!) `Ikrimah said, "This means whitened with plaster.'' Something similar was narrated from `Ali bin Abi Talib, Mujahid, `Ata', Sa`id bin Jubayr, Abu Al-Mulayh and Ad-Dahhak. Others said that it means high and impenetrable fortresses. All of these suggestions are close in meaning and do not contradict one another, for this sturdy construction and great height did not help their occupants or afford them any protection when the punishment of Allah came upon them, as He says:

("Wheresoever you may be, death will overtake you even if you are in Buruj Mushayyadah!'') ﴿4:78﴾

(Have they not traveled through the land,) means, have they not traveled in the physical sense and also used their minds to ponder That is sufficient, as Ibn Abi Ad-Dunya said in his book At-Tafakkur wal-I`tibar, "Some of the wise people said, `Give life to your heart with lessons, illuminate it with thought, kill it with asceticism, strengthen it with certain faith, remind it of its mortality, make it aware of the calamities of this world, warn it of the disasters that life may bring, show it how things may suddenly change with the passing of days, tell it the stories of the people of the past, and remind it what happened to those who came before.''' Walk through their ruins, see what they did and what became of them, meaning, look at the punishments and divine wrath that struck the nations of the past who belied,

(and have they hearts wherewith to understand and ears wherewith to hear) meaning, let them learn a lesson from that.

(Verily, it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that grow blind.) means, the blind person is not the one whose eyes cannot see, but rather the one who has no insight. Even if the physical eyes are sound, they still cannot learn the lesson.

[rivalgates]

Excerpt: Repercussions

Stynard was feeling particularly flippant and posed a question. “If you are so great, why can’t you just fight them all for us? No one else need be put in danger. You claim to be such a great warrior. Prove it to us and handle this problem.”

Argentoe could take no more. He cuffed Stynard in the ear with an open hand like a schoolboy. “I do not think I want to hear your voice again until at least this afternoon.

“As always, I will do the lion’s share of the fighting if you all choose that route, but there will be far too many enemies for me to control at once if at all. If you vote to fight, be prepared to lose lives.”

There was a moment of talk at the table as Stynard shriveled in his seat. Tibare stood and spoke for the group. “If the Trogos kill the livestock, we may as well be dead anyway. We will have no way to farm, no way to take goods to market and little to eat. Our lives will be over here. If you will help us, Argentoe, we will do what we can to fight.”

Argentoe smiled and patted the great brute on the shoulder. “That is nearly word for word what I had determined as well, but I needed you to choose to fight. In anticipation of your response, I have a plan ready to go. If everything goes exactly according to plan, no one will be put in danger and we will win. Mind you, if everything goes exactly as planned that will be the first time in history.

“Corilon will lead the women to the barn where they will force the animals into the corral. They can smell the enemies about and will not want to leave the barn. It is imperative that they enter the corral. First, they need to walk off the nervous energy they have built up or they will end up tearing down the barn themselves. The second reason is that we want the Trogos to get a good look at their target. When they attack we want them to focus all their attention on that barn. This way they can trust their eyes and their noses.

“Once the animals are in the corral, Doronin, Giltore and Stynard will scythe long wild grass from the plain. There is no sense burning through our hay now. Corilon and her group will gather the grass and feed the animals well. Then they will be sure the troughs are full of water.

“Rolanna, this will be the last hot meal for the day. There is no reason to fill the air with even more delectable smells for our adversary. For the rest of the day we will eat dried meats and rations.

“Tibare and I will be on wagon duty. There are two weak points on these buildings; the doors and the roofs. Since the wind continues to blow from the north, we can expect their attack to come on the south side of the barn where there is not a corral in the way and there is an unobstructed path from the south double door of the barn to the forest.

“The two of us will take the coverings and supports off the wagons and then turn them on their sides. On the north side of the barn, we will push one directly against the doors once they are shut for the night with the stock inside and the lock is in place. The wagon will lie horizontally with two wheels sticking out flat on the ground and no room between it and the door. To be sure of that we will drive stakes into the ground behind it to prevent the Trogos from moving it out of position or creating enough space for one of them to slip between the wagon and the door and use its claws to shred the gate. Then another wagon will be placed behind it to prevent access to the first wagon. On the south side, only one wagon will be staked into place. I plan to have a fire burning over there and we cannot afford to have it too far from the barn. For good measure, a fourth wagon will be staked in front of the smoke house.”

Tibare looked at the barn and the wagons before interjecting a thought. “You have all the wagons lying on their sides. That means a Trogo could climb on top and attack the top of the door. Why not stand the wagons backward against the barn doors so they are completely covered?”

“That is fine thinking,” complimented Argentoe. “I thought of that and there is a problem. Giltore, how strong are those roofs we built?”

Giltore stumbled a little as he stood. He had not expected to be called upon. “They were built from tree limbs and sticks and held together with twine and pine tar. We live in a fairly temperate climate so I designed them to withstand wind and rain more than weight.”

“Could it hold a man?”

“Provided he was gentle with his footing, I should think it would hold.”

“What if a Trogoandras bigger than Tibare jumped from a standing wagon onto the roof?”

Giltore sighed. “The beast would fall right through.”

Argentoe turned to Tibare and said, “That is why we cannot stand them up. The gates to the barn are made of solid logs. Even with their claws, it will take time to work through them. What we cannot afford is to allow them access to the roof. That area is reserved for us.

“Just before nightfall, you will all climb carefully onto the roof of the great house. Space yourselves out so you do not put too much pressure on any one place. Carry your swords in case they are needed. Do not move around or you will fall through the ceiling and become dinner for a Trogoandras.

“I will take my bow and hold position on top of the barn. Any Trogos making it on top of the wagon will be cut down. They will have to be near as I have a limited number of arrows left and they will be hard to strike at a distance in the dark. If all goes well they will find the northern door to the barn too hard to access and focus on the southern door. If I can kill or wound enough of them, it is their nature to decide the price of their meal is too high and move off for good.

“There is the chance, however, that some will smell the fear on you and try to assault the great house. The roof is lower there and you could be within their limited leaping range. With luck, I can keep most of them busy and there will only be a couple with which to contend. If one of you falls, all of you descend on the beast. Attack it in numbers. Remember, do not try for killing blows as your sword can easily become lodged. Stab at it. Your goal is to drive it off, not kill it. Their hide is strong, but it is most vulnerable at the rear.

“Does everyone understand what I expect them to do?” The table was silent as they all looked at one another hoping someone else had caught the details. In the end, they nodded. “Good,” noted Argentoe. “Now let us eat before we begin work.”