Timor-Leste’s First Lady – Kirsty Sword Gusmao

April 1, 2008

Vive magazine

Timor-Leste’s First Lady – Kirsty Sword Gusmao

From suburban Melbourne to First Lady of a small nation, Kirsty Sword Gusmao plays her audiacious part with gentleness and calm.

Little Alexandre was playing outside, looking for bugs. “I can still remember him running down the driveway towards the house when the shooting started,” says Kirsty Sword Gusmao, a picture of perfect calm as she retells the story. “He’d stubbed his toe and ran into the house, screaming.” While she busied herself consoling her five-year-old son, the sound of gunfire ricocheted around Kirsty’s home at Balibar, just 10 kilometres south of Dili, East Timor… (click PDF to continue).

Virginia Haussegger is a Canberra journalist and director of the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation at the University of Canberra.

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