They would be very fortunate to have one small meal a day. Such closely confined space is often in low lying, damp, swampy areas. It is home for animals as well as people and often features open drains and stagnant water. Altogether an unhealthy habitat. Often these families depend on others for food e.g. relative or the Church.
Many families are totally impoverished.
The cost of food and other items such as medication has trebled or by this time probably quadrupled. Medication has always been out of reach of the poor but now it is almost totally unattainable. Food is also now in that category. The destitute have no chance at all. There are areas in East Timor, as we saw , where the people are suffering extreme shortages of food bordering on famine.