Los Palos, East Timor
Lospalos is a city of 28,000 people, a 7 hour drive over potholed roads east of East Timor's capital Dili. Lospalos Primary School was at breaking point with only 7 broken down classrooms to school its 848 students. Even with teachers running 3 shifts a day between 6:30am and 6:30 pm, many children were only receiving one hour of schooling each day.
In 2012 Spend it Well built a new 3 classroom building and refurbished the existing 7 classrooms (which had boarded up windows shutting out all air and light) at a total cost of $75,000. The funds were donated by many families and individuals from Australia. The school was officially re-opened by Her Excellency Kirsty Sword Gusmao on 21 August, 2012 and the opening was attended by some of the donors. The locals extended their thanks in the only way they were able – putting massive effort into a wonderful ceremony and a feast cooked by ladies on outdoor fires. The children performed fabulous dances and songs which had obviously been rehearsed many times.
Spend it Well now has an ongoing relationship with Lospalos school. Supporting programs will include the popular teacher training program that we have implemented successfully at other schools in East Timor.
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