Before landing in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Hong Kong travel writer Daneil Cheung Lok-kan knew little about this Southeast Asian country except for thinking it was war-torn. Timor-Leste became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century in May 2002.

His impression was soon modified after he spent a week there. "Infrastructure in the country, like lanes and other public facilities, are able to meet basic needs, which is better than what I had expected. And people are strong and positive, even though the country endured violent unrest," Cheung said.

The 26-year-old travel maniac applied for Back Packers with his two teammates in March. The trio endowed their trip with a mission: To help Laclubar, a remote village that is a six-hour ride from Timor-Leste's capital Dili, and sell its major economic product - organic Arabica coffee beans - to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups granted the team HK$9,000 to achieve their mission in cooperation with Humming Fish, a Hong Kong-registered charitable organization which started to assist Laclubar in exporting its coffee beans in 2014.

"The villagers had little knowledge about the beans' market value before," Cheung said, adding that villagers used to sell the beans at $0.2 per kilo in local markets - half the price offered by Humming Fish.

Daneil Cheung Lok-kan (left) and other Hong Kong volunteers pose with children in Laclubar, a remote village that is a six-hour ride from Timor-Leste's capital Dili. Photos provided to China Daily

When the team arrived in Laclubar, it was harvest season for the beans. They spent four days in the village, observing and video-taping the production process. According to Cheung, little machinery was involved in processing the beans. Apart from a decorticator which was used for stripping the beans' outer layers, other procedures like collecting, selecting and drying were all done by hand.

"I can feel the villagers' high spirits when processing the beans. To them, the beans stand not only for wealth but also their identity," Cheung said. "They rely on the beans for economic empowerment to rise up again after being bullied for decades, and we are here to help them."

Back in Hong Kong, the team has been working on a crowd-funding project with the aim to raise HK$10,000 for importing Laclubar's coffee beans to Hong Kong and then sell them to the city's coffee shops. The project will be launched in mid-August and all proceeds will be given back to the village.

Cheung noted that although the amount of money is not much, it is not an easy goal as East Timor - let alone the remote village Laclubar - is unheard of to many. The group now focuses on promoting Laclubar as well as East Timor through different channels, such as on Cheung's blog and other travel-related forums, with pictures and videos they shot during their journey. In early August, the promotion posts received 10,000 clicks, Cheung said.

Cheung is confident about the beans' quality. He described the coffee as "light and refreshing" and Humming Fish told him that the coffee was marked 70 points by many baristas in the world while the highest mark they gave is around 80 points.

"I appreciate the (Back Packers) program as it not only introduced me to a country that I barely knew before, but also serves as a big platform for young people and their great ideas. It is the ideas that bring vitality to the city and the B&R Initiative," Cheung said.

Meanwhile, he also praised the program for boosting trade exchange between Hong Kong and other regions, thus bringing new business opportunities to the city. He described his team's project as a good example.

"It takes time to see the initiative yield more fruits. But that does not harm its impact on linking China with other regions and countries, and eventually I believe the initiative will bring a more connected world," Cheung said.

Contact the writer at

willa@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 08/15/2016 page7)