Coinciding with GIS Day, the first day of the GIS/mapping event in Timor-Leste (With maps, we build the future of Timor-Leste) was a success. Given this type of event is the first of its kind in the country, the opening day went smoothly… although there were some bumps along the way as I expected.
But overall the turnout was great… in the morning, we had lots of people out from the Geographic Information Group (GIG) showing their support. Even a group of women, like from “Sex and the City”, came around because they wanted to show their friend, who was celebrating her birthday, a good time and to visit the “new” exhibition at Casa Europa. The highlights of the day was a visit by the Deputy Special Rep. for the UN Secretary General (my boss) and the Deputy Head of the European Commission. Even the US Ambassador sneaked in for a peak, who when I asked how he knew about the event told me, “Well, you invited me!”
