Stories from the Lequeracabu’u ground breaking ceremoney

The report from the Lequeracabu’u ground breaking ceremony give a sense of both the joy of Timor’s people and their absolute poverty.

“After leaving sealed roads (3 hours from Dili) the Minister for Education, Jenny, Agostinho and two of the Prime Minister and Kirsty’s sons drove 45 minutes on a mud track – losing the track at times, 4 wheel driving and doubling back. The Lequeracabu’u villagers had repaired a lot of the road to allow the the trucks to get in but recent rains destroyed some of their work.

 As they came up over the hill to the village, with about 200 metres to go to the school site, the school kids were all up on the hill and run down screaming and followed the convoy for the last 200 metres.  When everyone realized the Xanana and Kirsty’s boys were there they started screaming out ‘Viva’.

The ceremony was followed by a lunch for the community.  The food for the VIPs consisted of rice and only one shared plate of a vegetable of some description.   It seems that the village is incredibly poor and there is no food other than rice available. ”

So now we know how some of the extra money raised by the White Party can be spent – hopefully by providing a daily meal to the schoolchildren on an ongoing basis.