Walking Beside Timor-Leste: Our volunteers journey

Earlier this month, a group of Corner Store volunteers and staff spent 11 days in Timor-Leste, discovering the country’s breathtaking landscapes, rich culture, and resilient communities. It was their first visit, and every day was filled with new experiences. From early morning hikes and vibrant markets to learning traditional food and coffee-making techniques. We sat down with the volunteers Wendy, Janine and Chef Rachel to hear about some of their experiences in Timor.

First Impressions

“Nice and warm,” they agreed, not just the tropical air, but the people. From the moment they arrived, Timor’s energy wrapped around them. Their first morning began at 6 am as they climbed to Cristo Rei, the towering statue of Christ overlooking Dili, to watch the sunrise. That serenity contrasted with what came next.

The group spent their first day visiting the Resistance Museum and the old Chega prison. For some, this history was recent and part of their childhood; to others, facing the brutality of the Timor-Leste invasion was quite harrowing. Timor-Leste was invaded by Indonesia in 1975, right after Portugal departed from the country. During the first years of Indonesia’s occupation of Timor, more than 100,000 people lost their lives. Many were civilians who were killed by the military or who starved while hiding in the hills or trapped in camps. Despite the violence, small groups of Timorese guerrilla fighters kept fighting for freedom, and their struggle gained international attention. A peacekeeping mission led by Australia and the United Nations stepped in to help stop the violence, and by 2001, Timor-Leste held its first democratic elections, beginning its journey as a free nation. (1)

Timor-Leste is considered one of the youngest populations in the world, and to Wendy, "It was good to have that perspective, the knowledge of what happened, so we could understand them. Because of that, you don't see many older people". Resilience is the word chosen by the volunteers to describe the Timorese people after meeting people who survived this period.

As the days unfolded, the heaviness of history gave way to stories of survival, strength, and growth.

The volunteers met Mana Leo, one of the co-founders of Ho Musan Ida, 'WithOneSeed' in the local Tetun language, who continues the work of reforesting Timor's mountainsides tree by tree. As a child, she lived for five years in caves with her family to escape the Indonesians. She now leads a Catholic middle and high school in the mountains, raising her own six children and lifting her whole community through education.

Gatherings were deeply communal. There were dinners with local families, meals cooked over wood fires, and conversations that lingered long into the night. Some routines were unfamiliar compared to Australian households, like the responsibility of fetching water. Community and family are the foundation for Timorese people. "All the people we met were impressive. Impressive women, hardworking and industrious, and you could see that family was very important" highlights Janine.

Of course, no Corner Store journey is complete without food. At Corner Store Timor-Leste, the sister to Corner Store Australia, the group learned how to process coconuts into oil, husking, grating, and pressing by hand. They also learned how to weave palm-leaf parcels to cook katupa, a rice tightly packed and cooked in woven coconut palm-leaf, a staple dish that carries both tradition and comfort. Meals were rounded out with fresh grilled fish and even avocado lattes.

Whilst at Corner Store TL, they helped pack moringa powder, a nutrient-rich green leaf that sustained families during the occupation. Some even compared it with the Japanese matcha flavour. They also joined local farmers to see how coffee is still traditionally processed, roasted in pans over open flames and brewed through cloth filters. While in Australia it is common to drink medium roast coffee, in Timor, they roast the beans until they are completely dark. For Rachel, it was an interesting experience, “the coffee was roasted so black we were a bit nervous to taste it. But because it was filtered really quickly, it wasn't as strong as we expected. I liked it!".

Despite everything Timor-Leste has endured, what struck our volunteers most was the strength of its people: “I came away hopeful that the young people there were quite resilient, some impressive [people] who will forge their way into the future”, Janine says.

For our team, this trip was more than travel; it was walking beside Timor’s story. It deepened our understanding of the coffee, the preservery food hubs and the partnerships we share. It reminded us that regeneration isn’t abstract: it’s lived through people, land, and history, woven together.