Ending the cycle of violence

Upon hearing the terrified screams of children, I peered through the curtains but couldn’t see much except for the landlady of my colleague’s house bending down over a screaming child. The sound was awful.

I hesitated to leave the house as I didn’t want to walk into a family dispute but when we could wait no longer, Daniel and I ventured outside. We found the landlady with two young adults whipping two of the children with spindly branches from a tree. The landlady said it was as punishment for the kids engaging in their own baku-malu (fighting).

Meemee and her pups were hovering around, clearly upset at the fracas. The children being whipped were inconsolable, one trying to run away and then being brought back. I had the very same feeling I experienced not long after I first arrived in Timor when I was witness to the beating of a child by its father in my neighbourhood of Raikotu. As then, I had to stop myself from denouncing the adults from such cruel behaviour and was just glad that I had dark sunglasses on to hide the look in my eyes, although the scowl on my lips probably gave me away. I was furious!

How long will it take for the Timorese to understand that violence met with violence only begets more violence? That what goes on within the family likewise goes on within the wider Timorese community, as the last few months have clearly shown.

When will Israel and Hezbolah likewise learn this same lesson? When will the Tamil Tigers and government of Sri Lanka? When will the Americans, the Australians and British and their “War on Terror”; the Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Iraq; and the Taliban and warlords in Afghanistan?

Category: Timor-Leste (East Timor)