Suai Media Space

This poem written in 1999, has been published in ‘Written in Blood’ by Filomena Barros dos Reis.

Subsequent events in East Timor have lead to more suffering for the women of East Timor.
We are waiting to get a Tetun translation to post on the site.

A Long Journey to Independence
We did not want to be slaves in our own land
We wanted to have self-rule
We wept and screamed for twenty-five years
Because we wanted self-determination
To rule ourselves
We, the women of Timor-Leste
Shed tears, wept and screamed
Because we wanted self-rule, to have self-rule
We did not want to be slaves in our
own land
We stood! We stepped ahead
With courage and folded fist
We screamed louder!
Live or die, we wanted independence
We shed our blood
Flowing like a river
In every corner of Timor-LesteThe women of Timor-Leste forgot
their suffering
Because independence has now been accomplished.

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