Archive for August, 2010
26 August 2010
Lequeracabu’u School is looking great!
Simon, Jenny, Agostinho and Dinis had a great trip to Lequeracabu’u school last week. It took 5 hours to get there from Dili including serious off-road driving and creek crossing. They also involuntarily witnessed the slaughter of a buffalo (no photos of that!)
Everyone was really pleased with the progress. Agostinho is happy with the quality of the work – the foundations are strong and deep and they are using good quality wood (not easy to find in Timor). Some villagers are employed by the builder – others are helping voluntarily to keep the road into the village accessible for trucks.
After the site visit there was a formal meeting with the village elders during which Jenny delivered an impressive impromptu speech in Tetum! The villagers are incredibly grateful for the work that is being done.
The rains in July have delayed work, but we’re hoping for an October/November finish. We’ve also asked Mario the builder to quote on making an area into a small football/volleyball field next to the school. More updates soon.
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor
18 August 2010
Helping East Timorese artists
There are some incredible artists in Timor – but there is no art industry as they have no way to sell their paintings and very limited ability to get materials. Spend it Well has agreed to help the Timorese who are trying to change this, by paying the rent on a room from which art can be sold, paying salaries for people to work there and importing canvases and paints to get out to the villages. Early days yet – but we’re really excited about the possiblities.
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor, OSTICO EAST TIMOR
06 August 2010
Roosters and Dili meetings – from Stephen
Woke to the sound of roosters and general street hubub yesterday. The day started well with breakfast on the deck of the Esplanada – a basic but atmospheric hotel overlooking the Dili beach front. Then had a great meeting with the number 2 at the Ministry of Education and two Australian consultants. We talked about what they’re doing – and what they’re just not able to do. They are aiming to work on 100 schools next year – which given there are 1320 in the country and countless more schools without villages, makes the need for help clear. An area they don’t have enough funds for is the many remote rural communities without school buildings. We talked about our funding the building of some of these schools using a technique they’ve developed – carrying in lightweight materials and having the villagers build the schools with supervision of the ministry. Once the school is build to the right standard the villagers are paid, giving them an income as well as a school. At US$10,000 – US$15,000 these could be great for Spend it Well projects.
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor, OSTICO EAST TIMOR
05 August 2010
Arriving in Dili – from Stephen
The mountains of East Timor were covered in cloud when I flew into a wet Dili on Monday. It was great to see Simon waiting as I walked down the steps onto the tarmac in front of a very basic terminal bulding. I was pretty surprised to see Kirsty Sword Gusmao and her three children waiting to greet me too – until I realised that she was there to meet her mother arriving on the same plane! Apparently people are still calling it the wet season – over 2 months after it would normally have finished. Unfortunately that has meant that the trip to Lequeracabu’u for this week has had to be cancelled as the roads are impassable again.
I’m here for 5 days for DLA Piper, following up on pro-bono legal projects we’ve been involved with over the last year and to introduce our latest secondee from DLA Phillips Fox in Melbourne who will be working for the Ministry of Finance for free for the next 8 months. On the Spend it Well front though, I’m also here to look for more school projects and hopefully to hire our first employee!
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor, OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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