“The lesson from East Timor is that nothing is impossible, if you believe, if you have faith, if you fight on, you perservere.”

José Ramos-Horta

Timor-Leste: The Birth of a Nation

Timor-Leste was the first new democracy of the millennium. We were there.

East Timor, now called Timor-Leste, suffered for 24 years under occupation by the Indonesian military, in one of the most brutal occupations of the last century. In 2002 they emerged as an independent democracy, the world’s youngest country.

In 2000, The Community.com, in partnership with PeaceJam raised six tons of school supplies to help the young country get on its feet.

When they became the world’s newest nation in 2002, and officially raised the Timorese flag for the fist time, Mary Wald was there, webcasting the events, sponsored by UN Foundation. When they were inducted into the UN as a nation and the Timorese flag raised outside the UN headquarters, she and hosted the VIP luncheon for the event.

Again in partnership with UN Foundation, Mary, musician Paul Simon, and President José Ramos-Horta distributed 4000 mosquito nets to young children and pregnant women in Timor-Leste.