MOUZI is short, with an infectious smile and possibly the globe’s most widely-travelled guitar. At 28, you wouldn’t think he’d ever encountered so much as a whisper of conflict or trouble in his young life.
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YOU’D be tragically wrong. His father Gilberto is a resistance hero of the East Timor and Indonesian conflict; his mother was shot dead because she refused to reveal her husband’s whereabouts during that terrible confrontation. Mouzi was hidden by relatives in their village seven hours drive west of Dili.
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GOOD morning. There’s a positive side to the story of Mouzi. In 2002, he was sponsored by Australian journalist Bob Howarth to study at PNG’s Divine Word University, in the company with another Timorese, Maria Raul. Both students, who at the time had almost no command of English, graduated with communication arts diplomas and returned to Timor Leste.
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NOT unlike Robert Iroga from the Solomon Islands, who with his full DWU degree. became editor of the Solomon Star within weeks of his return, Mouzi is now editor-in-chief of what is arguably Timor’s sole independent newspaper, the Timor Post.
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NOW teaching journalism at Australia’s Griffith University, Howarth has been revisiting Timor Leste. Ironically, on the same day as the attack on Timor Leste president Jose Ramos Horta, the Timor Post launched a campaign under the banner hapara violencia, or “stop the violence”.
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NEITHER Robert nor Mouzi are Papua New Guineans – but the skills they are now using were acquired in our country. The flow of journalism skills to other South Pacific nations is a credit to DWU. Credit is also due to the various news organisations, such as The National, that host DWU students each year for hands-on work experience. And our thanks to The Australian, where Mouzi’s story appeared. You’ll find it at: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23209206-13480,00.html.
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THE Kokoda Track has been closed to tourists – but not to drop-in dimdim journos. The minute a volcano blows up or some Papua New Guineans see more value in a mine than a memory….well, the Oz pen pushers are legion. That’s about the only occasion when Migration processes visas with speed — we wonder why. Cheers!
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- Dee Nesenolis