Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
Tina Ismaryati looked disheveled and tired. Violence in her new hometown, Timor Leste's capital city of Dili, had forced the 33-year-old woman to take her four young children to safety and leave her husband behind.
Her family had previously taken shelter at the Comoro convent, near their home village of Taebesi, but two weeks had gone by and the clashes between rival gangs did not show any signs of abating.
The couple then decided she and the children should go to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. Her husband, Lino Verdial, a 40-year-old alumnus of the Yogyakarta Teacher Training Institute who works for the Timor Leste Ministry of Education, stayed behind.
When the Indonesian embassy made an announcement requiring all Indonesians living in Dili to register for evacuation, Tina registered at once.
They hurried to Nikolao Lobato International Airport in Dili last Saturday for a flight on an Indonesian Air Force Hercules.
Tina expected to stay safely with her children at her family's home in Bantul, Yogyakarta, while she waited for news from her husband that they could return to Dili.
But fate was not on her side.
When she arrived in Kupang, the news of last Saturday's quake hit her hard.
She could not contact any members of her family in Bantul, raising fears that her parents' house was leveled to the ground. The devastating quake hit Central Java and Yogyakarta, killing over 6,200 people and injuring some 30,000 others.
Hopes of taking her family to safety faded and new fears for her parents grew.
""I've tried calling my family in Bantul over and over, but to no avail. Maybe our house has been damaged,"" Tina said on Wednesday.
As she and other Indonesians were transferred to a refugee shelter in Kupang, she began to wonder about her husband's safety too.
""I've tried contacting my husband but there is no answer,"" she said in a thick Javanese accent.
Her frustration was obvious. She didn't bring any money, or any clothes but the ones she's had on since they left Dili. And she has no family to turn to while staying in Kupang.
But the sight of her children -- Inocenciao Verdial, 12; Elisabeth Verdial, 10; Beatrix Verdial, 8 and Junior Verdial, 5 -- is the only thing that matters.
""The most important thing for me is that none of my children can be harmed in the bloody conflict,"" Tina said softly, shifting her gaze to her family.
The returning Indonesians are relying on the East Nusa Tenggara provincial administration for their daily sustenance, but there is no milk, chocolate or candy for the children.
""My youngest child likes to be pampered. He usually asks for milk after he wakes up. But there's none here. He always cries, but I there's not much I can do. I'm distressed... this is our fate, probably,"" she said.
Her only wish is to see her husband but it's not clear when that might come true.
Tina said her husband is not allowed to leave for Indonesia due to his citizenship.
""We live together in the same house but have different nationalities. My children and I are still registered as Indonesian citizens but my husband is a Timor Leste citizen, so he has to stay behind,"" she explained.
