Archive for October, 2011
20 October 2011
Training for teachers of our schools
Last week 8 teachers from the 4 schools Spend it Well has re-built, attended a 2 day teacher training session run by the Alola Foundation. Teachers in rural schools often have limited training, so these sessions are invaluable. We also gave the teachers USB sticks at the end of the session – while the schools don’t have computers these are highly prized as they can take them to the towns and have material for the schools put on them and printed off. The teacher who has most affected me with his passion and determination to find a way forward for Timorese children through education is the man pictured below with my husband Stephen. He has been teaching at Maucale school for 26 years.
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor, Macalaco East Timor, Maucale East Timor, OSTICO EAST TIMOR
08 October 2011
Buffalo feasts, donor dancing, white shoes and great joy
With much pomp and ceremony and many hours of celebrations, Macalaco and Maucle schools are officially open!
Early Wednesday morning, our intrepid bunch of 11 donors and fund raisers piled into rented 4WDs and followed Kirsty Sword Gusmao’s car out of Dili. The road (the main one in the country) hugs the spectacular coastline and twists and turns through tiny villages. Dodging chickens, pigs and potholes, we drove for three hours to Baucau,before turning inland for another hour, fording a river and climbing a dirt road into the foot hills of the spectacular Mt Matebian.
The villagers and children of Macalaco were waiting in the blazing sun, cheering and clapping as we arrived. The children and adults performed dances, followed by many speeches including one by me – my first ever in Tetum (it was short!) I also provided great hilarity when I kissed a local man on his cheek as part of a presentation – I’m not sure if he or I were more embarrassed… Just when we thought the official ceremony was winding up, it turned the day was only just beginning. We were led up a hill to a huge bamboo structure with a woven palm frond roof – all made for the occassion. Two huge tables were laid with food and we ate, toasted the school with champagne and then cut what looked like a wedding cake (all prepared without ovens, electricity or running water). And then we danced – with local partners carefully chosen and paired to the foreigners. All wonderful fun and when we finally left it was clear the celebration was only just beginning for the villagers – palm wine until dawn we are sure!
We made it back to Baucau for a quick swim on dusk (ignoring the crocodile warning sign on the beach) and a BBQ dinner near the spectacular beach.
The next morning we were back on the road and at Maucale school, 30 mins outside Baucau by 10:00. Not to be outdone by the more remote Macalaco, Maucale village turned on a fabulous ceremony as well, with dances by children and adults which had obviously been practiced many times. Our unanimous favourite was the village chief whose delight at the school and the occasion was unmissable – beaming through his speech and the rest of his day. His black suit and gleaming white slip on shoes several sizes too big were clearly his pride and joy and it was obvious that he was delighted to have somewhere to school his children, but also to have something to celebrate in a life which is often desperate.
Kirsty is revered and treated like royalty – her presence in these villages is something that will be the subject of village folk lore for generations.
We all arrived back in Dili on Thursday evening, dusty and weary but incredibly happy to have been part of helping these remote villages and to have shared their happiness and celebrations.
        
project: Macalaco East Timor, Maucale East Timor
03 October 2011
Back in Dili
It always feels like a time warp coming to Dili – step on the plane in Darwin and then step off again 45 minutes later at a tiny airport fringed by palm trees on a pacific island so many years behind Australia…
I’m sitting on the balcony at the Esplanada Hotel, watching the bustle of early morning traffic (mostly motorbikes) along the road between the hotel and the waterfront. The donor who funded Macaclao school arrived with me yesterday and another 4 donors and fundraisers are coming in on this morning’s plane. We’ll have a day looking around Dili – probably including a walk out to the beautiful Jesus statue on the promontory next to Dili and then head off to the school openings tomorrow.
We meet Kirsty Sword Gusmao early tomorrow morning and then head to Baucau (3 hours away along stunning but primitive and winding coastal roads) and then head 1.5 hours up into the mountains to reach Macalaco school. We’ll overnight in Baucau and then head to Maucale school the next morning to officially open their school.
At Maucale School we will also present each of our 4 schools (the 2 we have built in previous years and the two built this year) with $500 to start a community garden to grow vegetables – the idea being that if those gardens go well we can increase the funding and expand the projects.
These school openings are always an adventure – will report back in a couple of days!
 
project: Macalaco East Timor, Maucale East Timor
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