We went into one of the offices where Jackie was introduced to Mr. Khare. They talked for a while about what Jackie had just seen at the Youth Center and after posing for a few pictures and having a cup of tea, it was time to leave again. Jackie was on his way to meet the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste.

Jackie talks with Mr. Khare, Minister Manetelu, Eduardo, and Jun. See the trash on the table?

Without even thinking about it, Jackie folds it neatly and hands it to Jun.

Jackie takes a group photo with UNICEF staff members.

Outside, everyone was waiting to take photos with Jackie. The little guy in the red shirt seemed wary of Jackie.

A few minutes later we arrived at the offices of Timor-Leste's beloved Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, whois legendary in Timor-Leste and throughout the surrounding countries. Before becoming Prime Minister he was the first president of the new nation; prior to that he was a leader in the movement to liberate East Timor. He is also a poet, a painter, and a man known for his immense charisma. Referring to Xanana Gusmao, Timor-Leste’s President Ramos-Horta said, "I tell you this, and I tell you frankly, this is the most extraordinary human being I have met in my life and I have met many, many great people." It seemed to me that Xanana Gusmao and Jackie had more than a few things in common. Both were creative and charismatic men who had led extraordinary lives and influenced countless people. In fact, Gusmao’s nickname is Big Brother (Maun Boot in Tetum) and most of you know that Jackie is also calledBig Brother. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to see what would happen when they met.

We convened in a small room at the Prime Minister’s offices and moments later Jackie was introduced to Xanana Gusmao. Jackie seemed quite humbled to meet the Prime Minister, and he bowed in respect as they shook hands. For just a few seconds the two men stood and stared into each others’ eyes, both grinning broadly. Then they laughed, sat down together and began to talk. From where I was standing, it was hard to hear what they were saying, but there was no doubt at all that they had immediately hit it off and were enjoying each other tremendously. The Prime Minister presented Jackie with a painting and Jackie gave Xanana Gusmao a UNICEF t-shirt (and then helped him put it on). The Prime Minister jokingly showed Jackie some of his kung fu moves, much to the delight of the dozen photographers packed into the small room.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel so that Jackie could meet with four members of the martial arts groups who would be performing at the Dili Stadium the next day. The plan was for Jackie to lead 3,500 martial artists in a unifying exercise, and Jackie had to learn the sequence of movements in order to be able to lead the exercise.

Before they arrived we tried to figure out a good place for the group to practice together. There were really only two choices: Jackie’s room or the hallway. It was too hot in the hallway and Jackie’s suite was a nice size, but there really wasn’t room to have a martial arts practice session. After considering the options, we chose to clear out the sitting area in Jackie’s room; rolling up the rug, moving the table and chairs, and shifting everything we possibly could to give the men some space. Within a few minutes the floor area was cleared and when the men arrived they got right to work. Jackie asked the oldest man of the group to show him the demonstration they’d prepared. With a look of intense concentration on his face, Jackie watched what the man did and asked him to do it one more time. Incredibly, after seeing the demonstration only twice, Jackie got up and duplicated it move for move. Although I’d seen Jackie memorize moves on movie sets with littleeffort, this was pretty impressive. He seems to have a photographic memory for movement.

For the next few minutes, the five men performed the movements together, working on timing and making sure they were all moving in synchronization. When they were finished, Jackie sat down and it was obvious from the look on his face that the wheels in his head had begun turning. He told the men that he liked what they’d put together but he thought that with a few changes they could make the demonstration more dynamic and interesting. Jackie showed them how to vary the rhythm and put more force and passion into the thrusts and punches in order to make the movements come alive. He also suggested that they add some vocals (HE-AH!! HUH!!), and as I watched and listened, I amused myself imagining what anyone standing in the hallway would think was going on in Jackie’s room.

Immediately following the practice session, we left the hotel to attend a reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There Jackie would be greeted by UN donors, ambassadors, government personnel, and their families. When we arrived, Jackie was quickly surrounded by camera wielding crowds all trying to greet him at once. It was a bit chaotic, so Jun Kukita suggested that we leave the room for a moment and take a look at the view from the rooftop of the building. Jackie, Jun, and a few other people got into the elevator and the rest of us took the stairs. The view from the roof was exquisite and as we stood admiring it, Jackie looked very proud when he told me that the building we were in – the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – was constructed with funds provided by the Chinese government. When we were finished touring the rooftop, Jackie’s hosts headed for the elevator while he made a beeline for the stairs because Jackie feels that if you have a choiceof stairs or elevators, you should always choose to walk! Following his example, the rest of the group went with Jackie to the stairwell.

The view from the rooftop of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Jackie leads the group down the stairs.

Back downstairs, everyone had settled down a little and Jun Kukita, the Secretary of State for Youth and Sports (and Jackie’s guide during the trip) took the microphone and said a few words. He thanked Jackie for his ongoing support of UNICEF and for coming to Timor-Leste to bring the message of peace to the young people, adding that it was vital for youth to have good role models. Several other people spoke and then gave the microphone over to Jackie, who turned the tables and thanked everyone in the room for their active participation in humanitarian efforts to help rebuild Timor-Leste. When he was done talking, a wave of people rushed at Jackie, all wanting to take photos. It was obvious that some sort of organization was needed, so X Lee, Dorothy and I took Jackie up onto the stage and while X Lee took charge of directing people to form a line and get their cameras out, Dorothy and I began taking photos of groups of people with Jackie. Jackie’s staff is familiar with doing this kind of thing, and it makes for a much more pleasant experience for everyone. Of course there are always little problems; mostly having to do with the cameras that people hand us. Some of them are not turned on or are turned on but there’s no flash set to go off. A few people handed me cameras that had no battery power left or were set to take video rather than still photos. One girl was so excited to have her photo taken with Jackie that she handed me her camera and then after I’d taken the picture, she disappeared into the crowd – without her camera! (We eventually found her again.)

Jun introduces Jackie.

Jackie talks to the audience at the Ministry.

After we were finished with the photo session, Jackie waved goodbye to everyone and we left to go have dinner at a Chinese restaurant nearby. This restaurant is owned by a man named Fernando Lay, a Chinese whose family originally came from Guangdong Province in China and has lived in Timor for three generations. We met a relative of the owner; a young man named Robert, who introduced himself to Jackie in one of the most heartfelt speeches I’ve heard in a long time. He said that he was a devoted fan of both Jackie and of filmmaking and that he was on his way to Beijing to study film on a scholarship he’d won. Jackie asked Robert if he knew anyone in Beijing and upon hearing that he didn’t, he immediately offered to introduce him to some people who would help him when he got there. I wish I had a photo of Robert’s face as Jackie spoke to him – he had tears in his eyes and looked like he was positively going to faint from gratitude. For a young man dreaming of being a filmmaker, meeting Jackie and receiving his encouragement and support was a dream come true. Later Robert said that the night he met Jackie was one of the most important and inspirational in his whole life and that when he went home he was completely unable to sleep.

At our dinner table there was a curious assortment of people, some of whom I still can’t identify. There was Jackie, Jun, Eduardo (Jackie’s translator), X Lee, Dorothy, Fernando (the restaurant owner), several other Chinese, and two women who looked to be local people. Everyone was speaking all different languages – English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Portuguese - making for a lively, interesting conversation.

Most of us were drinking bottled water during dinner, and as the bottles emptied, Jackie crushed them into little plastic pancakes, creating a loud and startling noise each time. A few of us were used to the sound of Jackie crushing bottles and paid it no mind, but the expressions on the faces of the rest of our dinner companions showed surprise, amusement, and curiosity. Finally Jackie explained what he was doing. He told them that when he’s done with his bottled water, he mashes the bottle down - using either his hands or his foot – into the smallest possible size, then puts the cap back on tightly. What this does is reduce the volume of the bottle down to a very small size; consequently, it takes up less space in the trash. This may seem like a small thing when you look at the big picture in terms of the global production of garbage, but when you consider how many people Jackie has taught this technique to over the years, it certainly has made some impact,although surely a small one. It’s always a source of amusement for Jackie’s staff to watch the confused and startled expressions on people’s faces as Jackie crushes bottles, especially when he holds the bottle under the dinner table or underneath a table at a press conference.

After dinner, Jackie posed for photos with nearly everyone in the restaurant. There were a lot of policemen and security personnel there with us since it was night time, and an enormous crowd had gathered outside. When it was time to leave there was a lot of commotion as Jackie exited the restaurant and got into his car. Once I saw that he was on his way, I looked for the driver who was assigned to take X Lee and me from place to place. This man was very conscientious and was always ready when we needed to leave places, putting his hand up to show us where he was. I found him immediately, but soon noticed that X Lee was not with me as he usually was. The driver and I got into the car and I thought for a moment... what should I do? There were a lot of very loud and excited people outside and I didn’t particularly treasure the idea of going out thereto search for X Lee. However, I did it anyway. I asked the driver to wait and left the car to search the crowd and the restaurant. I found no X Lee. I asked the restaurant owner if he knew where X was, but unfortunately the owner didn’t know who I was talking about. Finally I found Robert, the owner’s nephew, and asked him if he’d seen X Lee. He said that X had gone ahead in the police car. I thought that it was highly unlikely that X would change plans without telling me since the consequences of doing something like this could be hazardous (i.e. one of us could be left behind or get lost looking for the other). “Are you sure??” I asked Robert. “Positively sure,” he said. So I left the restaurant and joined the driver, telling him to just go back to the hotel. As we pulled away, I searched the crowds for X Lee but did not see him.

As soon as we arrived back at the hotel, I saw X Lee standing outside waiting. He immediately came over to me saying, “Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t tell you what I was doing.”Of course I was obliged to flash him a stern look, buthe knew I wasn't annoyed or angry; I was relieved to see that he’d made it back safely.

Back in the room I hooked up my laptop so I could back up all the photos I’d taken during the day. This is a lengthy process and while I was doing it I pulled the curtains back and looked out the window into the night. Outside was the rooftop and beyond that, the mountains. Lely had told me that during the wartimes, journalists and broadcasters had stationed themselves on this exact roof in order to safely report on what was happening in Timor-Leste. It was difficult to imagine the violence and chaos that had taken place here, especially when looking out at the star-filled sky above the distant mountains. Timor-Leste had a troubled past, and Jackie was one of the people who had come here to help create a brighter future.

Tomorrow would be a very busy day, so as soon as the photos were all backed up, I shut down the computer and went to sleep.

And for your reading pleasure, here is a poem by Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao:

Grandfather Crocodile

From the depths of the ocean
a crocodile in search of a destiny
spied the pool of light, and there he surfaced,
then wearily he stretched himself out.
In time, his lumpy hide was transformed
into a mountain range
where people were born
and where people died.
Grandfather crocodile, the legend says,
and who am I to disbelieve
that he is Timor!

(If you look at a map of the island of Timor, you will see that it’s shaped like a crocodile!)