About Dili Vanilli
Dili Vanilli is based in the cool mountain town of Aileu Vila.
We grow, buy and sell vanilla, coffee, tea and other spices as a means to support our family, neighbours and friends.
We try and live the basic ethics of the permaculture movement: earth care, people care and fair share. We try to apply these activities to all aspects of our work and lives.
We hope that our small contribution will help to bring together people to work cooperatively to build an inclusive and sustainable life for Timor.
Nolya Mesquita, Frederico Mesquita and Martin Hardie have been working together since 2018 and started with the idea of simply trying to raise the quality of our vanilla beans through grower education and training, and to develop the curing process in country. But we have grown beyond that and our home has become a focus for all of our agro-eco-tourism activities and research. We continue to do our best to build a place where people can come, relax, enjoy and share.
Frederico is in charge of the day to day management of the farm, vanilla and spice activities. While Nolya and Martin have other jobs – Nolya a high school teacher, and Martin a consultant to the President of Timor, Jose Ramos-Horta – provide him with support. Inna, Uka, Abau and Zaka help Frederico to get the daily chores done.
We are guided in many ways by the words of Saint Gertrude who in the 13th century made the incisive observation that the more property becomes common the more sacred it becomes.
We include our family, friends and neighbours in all of our activities, whether it be helping with the farm, preparing and packing vanilla, coffee and spices for sale, building facilities for guests or cooking and caring for our visitors. Any profits we might happen to make we immediately put back into the farm and the people it supports.
