On assignment in Timor-Leste in 2018 for Stuff.
UNICEF New Zealand paid for flights to Timor Leste for Stuff reporter Laura Walters and visual journalist Abigail Dougherty.
"Adrift of Australia and at the feet of Asia, one of the world's newest nations is trying to make its way.
Timor-Leste was given up by Portugal in 1975. It was promptly invaded by Indonesia, which carried out Operation Clean Sweep, a series of massacres, summary executions and "disappearances".
Up to 200,000 lives were lost in conflict over a quarter of a century.
The United Nations, including New Zealand personnel, kept a tenuous peace until the end of 2012.
Now Timor-Leste is trying to make its own way in the world. But neither the Pacific nor the Asian community of nations seems willing to welcome it."
Photos and video: @ Copyright Stuff
