Ella Wilkinson (inset) and a photo she took of Balibo in East Timor.
By Stephanie Rouxel In December 2011, Ella Wilkinson travelled to East Timor for an inspirational holiday and came back with new and flourishing ideas about her future and what she wanted to do.
Her mum (Bathurst Deputy Mayor Tracey Carpenter) had made the trip to East Timor before, working there with a group on rebuilding parts of the bordering towns after the Indonesian invasion ended. The family travelled to East Timor for a holiday, but her mum was determined to make something out of their stay – hoping to inspire and encourage them to do something like her.
Ella and her family, cousin Henry, and some of his friends, left on the 31 December 2011. They travelled many different places, making the most out of their holiday
“My favourites I think were Dili - because it was so different to anything I had seen before, Balibo - because of its amazing history, and Jaco Island – an uninhabited island that had magnificent beaches!” Ella explains.
While staying in Aileu, they made a few small trips with the President of East Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta. The family witnessed some of his meetings and speeches, as Ella’s mother was really good friends with him.
“That’s how we actually started the whole idea of taking a holiday to East Timor,” says Ella. “There aren’t many people who would be wild enough to take a trip to East Timor for the fun of it. We did it because funnily enough, mum knows the president!”
Next they went through Lacluba, the base for the aid project Friends of Laclubar. Ella visited the school which included more than 300 students in the senior school alone, and then to the convent where she was greeted by the children with traditional song and dance performances
Ella says that her favourite part about staying in East Timor, especially the schools, is meeting new people. “I love that everyone has a story, and they most certainly like to tell their stories if you’ll listen,” she laughs.
During the course of her holiday, Ella was inspired just as her mother had hoped, and she definitely wants to travel back to East Timor again when she gets the chance.
“Once I’ve finished my journalism course at CSU I would love to go straight back to East Timor,” explains Ella. “Because over here, everyone says either you can’t get a job or it will be extremely difficult. But over there, they want to give you a job, they want you to teach them things and to learn from you, and they don’t care about your qualification or what you do. That’s where I want to be”.
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