The ravaged landscape of war-torn East Timor is a long way from the Hibiscus Coast, but that didn’t stop Red Beach resident Christine Platt from visiting the traumatised country no less than 18 times between 2004 and 2018 to help remote communities trying to rebuild their lives.
Now the former missionary and Whangaparāoa Baptist Church member has written a book, Glimpses of Hope in East Timor, about her experiences during that time, telling stories of the conditions she encountered and the people she met and made friends with.
Christine says that, after emigrating from the UK in 2001, she didn’t even know where East Timor was, but when she met Red Beach Fellowship Church’s Simonne Dyer and Joan Bayes, who had gone there to help after the devastating violence wrought by pro-Indonesian militia, she was keen to learn more and joined them on their next trip.
“There was so much damage, so many burned out buildings in Dili. It was a while after it had happened, but there was very little happening, people were just bashed to bits. I wondered how they were even surviving,” Christine says.
As word spread at home, more than 100 volunteers from several Hibiscus Coast churches ended up flying regularly to East Timor to help with building projects, running children’s clubs and teaching English, crochet, knitting and Bible study over a 14 year period.
“At the end of it all, I thought this has been such a big part of my life, I want to honour the relationships and experiences I’ve had, so decided to make a go of writing a book,” she says.
“One of my thoughts was to encourage people to go overseas and have a look, to learn, to discover and serve people in a totally different culture.”
Win this book – Hibiscus Matters and Christine Platt have two copies of Glimpses of Hope in East Timor to give away. To enter the draw, ‘like’ Hibiscus Matters on Facebook and message us your name and daytime phone, mentioning Glimpses of Hope in East Timor; or drop an entry that includes your name and phone number into our office at 21 Florence Ave. Entries close on Friday, May 7. Glimpses of Hope in East Timor is published by DayStar Books and costs $24.99. It is available from local bookshops or www.daystarbooks.org
