Covalima is located in the south west of Timor-Leste, close to the border with Indonesian West Timor.
Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor) is a small half island nation in South East Asia located about 480 kilometres northwest of Darwin. It has a population of approximately 1.2 million people in a land area of 15,410 km2, about twice the size of the Greater Melbourne Metropolitan area. The country is mostly mountainous with narrow coastal plains along some of the shoreline. Despite its small size Timor-Leste is culturally diverse. There are some 28 different languages spoken around the country. The language of State is Portuguese and the national language is Tetum, a Malay–Polynesian language influenced by Portuguese. English is an acknowledged 'working language'.
Covalima, one of 13 districts, is located in the south-west corner of Timor-Leste. Koba Lima means ‘five’ (lima) ‘baskets’ (koba), a reference to the number of sub-districts traditionally in the kingdom. The baskets are used to carry betel nuts and limes to welcome guests and for coins exchanged during traditional weddings. They can also hold offerings to gods, goddesses and ancestors. Covalima’s climate is one of extremes; the main wet season usually runs from November to June and the dry from July to the end of October. The annual average rainfall is rarely less than 1500mm and on the south coast often as high as 2,950mm (Melbourne’s average is around 650mm). The soil is not particularly fertile, with the exception of some areas on the south coast.
In Covalima, Portuguese and Indonesian are widely spoken along with Bunak, Kemak and Tetum-Terik dialects. Bunak is spoken by the majority of people in Covalima, with Tetum-Terik spoken in Kamenasa, Suai Loro, Matai and Gala (Suai), Datorua (Fohorem) and all of Fatumean sub-district and Kemak in Mape, Ocekai and Lepo villages in the Zumalai sub-district. Today Covalima has seven sub-districts, Suai, Maukatar, Fatumean, Zumalai, Tilomar, Fatululik and Fohorem and a population of approximately 67,000 people or 8% of Timor-Leste’s population. The population is spread across an area of 1,226km2 with Suai the main centre having a population of around 24,000.
Suai. When the Portuguese arrived they adopted Fohoren as the centre for their district government. In 1961 this centre was moved to Suai, which remains the district capital today. The name ‘Suai’ originally came from the three Tetum words; 'su rai henek'. Su (to dig), rai (land or earth), henek (grains of stone), rai-henek (sands). Su rai henek means ‘digging the sand’, later shortened to ‘Su Rai’, then Suai.