Timor-Leste has had a tumultuous past. It was colonized by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, then invaded by the Indonesians in the 1970’s and finally, after centuries of foreign rule and following a United Nations-sponsored act of self-determination, gained its sovereignty in 1999. Christened “Asia’s diamond in the rough”, the people of this scarred, fledgling nation continue to strive for recognition as they carve out a place in the world for themselves.
See more of my documentary work in Timor-Leste with the inspiring women of The Chain Reaction Project.