ACbit – Chega! Ba Ita Learning from the Past, for A Better Future
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Lucilia da S. Alves
Choosing not to feel fear after her father and brother were killed by Indonesia soldiers, Lucilia and her mother continued their clandestine activities. Every day they delivered food for Xanana Gusmão in his hiding place. However, in 1980 she was arrested, tortured and exiled to Atauro Island for three years. The horrific experience on Atauro Island has influenced her life until now. Lucilia still feels anxious everytime she sees police or other security personnel.
In 2000 she was married and she and her husband support their children by gardening and growing rice. She receives an old age pension, but she has not yet been allocated any reparations or any other types of recognition for what her family endured.
My father and brother died for this nation’s independence. Now we have independence, but no one remembers our sacrifice.
