Hey everbody,

The first country we visited during our trip was East Timor and I will give you some information!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmbqYlyWQrc

Summary:

In the video fragment they talk about the slow economic progress in East Timor. When the island became independent, they thought that coffee was the economic salvation for the country but it wasn’t. Farmers don’t earn enough to buy what they need so they need help from the outside. The group ‘Cooperativa Café Timor’ tries to help the farmers to search for other opportunities to earn money, for example they can breed vanilla to supplement their incomes. But in other parts of the country, there is still a lot of unemployment. The government of East Timor has received five billion dollars thanks to the development of oil and gas resources in the sea. It’s very important for the country to develop, but the government spend their money to the wrong things!

Opinion:

I think it’s sad that the farmers in East Timor have to work so hard but they can’t buy what they need. The government has to take their responsibility to take the right decisions. These decisions should have positive consequences for the country so the country could develop. The economy in East Timor will be better when the government will spend their money to bright plans to help the inhabitants. Sometimes the foreign countries take initiatives to help poor countries like East Timor by saving money. The only problem is that this money usually stays at the government, so they don’t use our money to save people and that’s a shame!

This week, we will visit Indonesia and I’m very curious!

Bye!

Jolien Parmentier