Some of Bi Lou's guerilla girlfriends in the neighbouring Romelau Mountain region were captured by Indonesian military patrols and raped while in custody. She says children resulting from these rapes are often handed over to orphanages run by various religious orders. It's very hard because he no longer recognises his real mother and we are too afraid to tell the people in case he is rejected. Perched on a rocky hilltop in an old Portuguese seminary, the nuns say they do not have enough rice to feed the 100 pupils who board with them. We have to plant bananas and corn just to survive now.
Rice is so expensive and hard to find.
Soibade is inaccessible after heavy rains because there is no bridge across the swirling river. With heavy afternoon rains, the nuns say they might not be able to get to Dili to buy more rice for another week. Village women here brew tuak alcohol from rice and fruit to send to the guerillas through a clandestine network known as the Line. They open their homes to clandestine visitors bringing supplies for the camp where Bi Lou is based, two hours' climb up the mountainside. Bi Lou says she looks forward to the time when the conflict is over.