Macalaco, East Timor

Macalaco is a small village in stunning mountains, a 4 hour drive from the East Timor capital, Dili. Over 130 students and teachers walk up to 4 hours each day to Macalaco school from nearby peaks and valleys. Due to space constraints, the school's six classes had to operate in two shifts: three classes in the morning and three classes in the afternoon. However, many children weren't able to attend afternoon classes safely because the sun sets at around 6.30 in East Timor. An extra 3 classroom building was needed to enable all children to attend classes in one shift with time to walk home safely to adjacent peaks before dark.

A semi-permanent building with 3 classrooms and a teacher's room was constructed during 2011 at the cost of $US25,000. This entire construction cost was paid for by an Australian family. A member of that family, together with other people involved with Spend it Well, attended an extraordinary opening ceremony in October at which the school was officially opened by Kirsty Sword Gusmao. The villagers were overwhelmed with the gift of a school given to them by one family and celebrated its opening in fantastic style. The speeches and formalities were followed by a local feast and then the tables were pushed back for the dancing, with locals partnered with the foreigners. The goodwill and happiness was overflowing and the celebrations were clearly nowhere close to finishing when the foreign guests finally left.

Spend it Well is continuing to work with the village to help with things such as scholarships, village gardens and a child feeding program.

Before photos

School site	Existing school building	Boys in Macalaco

Students outside	Students inside existing classroom	Students outside on ground

After photos

New school building	New school building	Inside new classroom

Students attend the Opening	Kirsty Sword Gusmao officially opens school	Opening feast and celebrations

Students celebrate Opening	Students in uniform	Children outside at Opening