JourneyOnline
WHAT DO you say when your three year old son cries on the phone and says, “Daddy come home”?
There was not much Captain (Rev) Alamoti Lavaki could say.
His son was in Brisbane and he was serving with the ANZAC Battle Group in Timor Leste.
It was one of those moments only soldiers understand.
The Uniting Church chaplain had a job to do as one of a thousand Australian service personnel still serving in the fledgling nation.
“Soldiers just get on with it,” said Captain Lavaki. “I was with young men and women, some of whom had served in Iraq just before coming to Timor, and even when they were under pressure it was my job to look after their welfare.”
And there was pressure. The sixth battalion Royal Australian Regiment had deployed from Brisbane in September 2006, and it was 6RAR that faced the rioting and violence that damaged so much of Dili earlier this year.
It was not like parish ministry according to the quiet Captain Lavaki.
“A chaplain tries to bring a Christian perspective where most of his flock have no belief in anything.”
Most of the few Christians within the Battle Group were glad to gather for regular worship, happy to be with fellow countrymen who understood the daily challenge of faithfulness in difficult duty.
“Those serving Christians amazed me,” recounted Captain Lavaki. “No one wore a tag saying what church they were from.
“Baptists and Catholics stripped away the things that didn’t matter and very few put up denominational barriers.”
Any veteran is changed by a tour of duty, no matter what they believe.
“We have a good life as church communities. Often we take that good life for granted.”
Photo : Chaplain Alamoti Lavaki as part of the ANZAC Battle Group, offers prayer at the change of command parade, Camp Phoenix, Dili. Photo courtesy of the Australian Department of Defence. © Commonwealth of Australia
