Spend It Well » OSTICO EAST TIMOR

Simon, Jenny and Agostinho went out to Ostico today to meet and talk to representatives of the community. Everything went really well and Simon placed the shovel of cement. From the look of it, I’m betting it’s the first shovel of cement he’s every laid!

Agostinho had put together packs for each of the 350 school children. They only cost a few dollars each and contained things like toothpaste and soap. But the look on the children’s faces shows the incredible value of those items to them.

After a few false starts, it looks like the ball is finally rolling. Simon and Agostinho have found a builder, Elvino who is very well respected in the area. He’ll use local labour and seems really committed to the project and the idea of providing the children with a place to learn.

When Simon gave our official go-ahead behalf in a meeting, everyone present sat back in the chairs in surprise and some of them laughed. It turns out, no-one (including Agostinho) had really believed that we would go ahead with the project. They’ve seen so many aid projects promised and then not materialise, that they had really expected ours to be the same. While it’s lovely to be able to surprise people, it’s incredibly sad to think of the things that have happened to make them feel that way. It’s also quite incredible to realise the attention and assistance our project has received from a high level of the East Timorese government. It only shows how great the need is and how appreciative the East Timorese and their government are of people helping their efforts to make things better for the population.

The Education Department and Kirsty Sword Gusmao have come up with a list of schools on the “desperate” list. Simon, Jenny Coles (Kirsty’s right hand woman) and Agostinho Soares who is a Timorese advisor in the Prime Minister’s office, have been out to visit one of them in a little village called Ostico three hours outside the capital, Dili. I received Simon’s report yesterday. It’s not the neat, clean package we were looking for. And it looks like it would cost a lot more than the amount we were originally planning.

But after looking at the pictures and reading the report I knew there was no way I wanted to move past this and look for something else that fits our “criteria” better. The photos show a building that looks fit only for demolition, with no windows and a rotting ceiling. It is sitting in the middle of an unbroken stretch of red dirt broken only by a u shaped piece of pipe embedded in the ground which seems to constitute the playground. Twisted upside down on the pipe, dressed in faded and worn clothes is the most gorgeous child with a smile stretching from ear to ear.

I’ve just heard back from Graham and from Bruce, who is now part of the team. They feel exactly the same as Stephen and I. So – Ostico school is going to be our first project. I think we’ve also learnt our first lesson – things don’t come in simple and neat packages in countries that have been through the things East Timor has.

I am in Melbourne to promote the release of my latest book. Which sounds much more glamorous than it is – it actually means doing radio interviews for stations nobody but insomniacs listen to and trudging around book stores trying to convince book stores to let you sign some of the copies of your book. No great signs in book store windows announcing my arrival or queues for my signature stretching out the door….

So I was pretty happy to be done and to head to the bar where I’d arranged to meet Simon. I was surprised at how young he looked for someone who I knew was a really important advisor to the Prime Minister of a country. We chatted and I told him that we were interested in finding a simple school project – something that could be built in a few months in the region of US$20,000. I was also surprised when he said that he’d have a chat to Kirsty Sword Gusmao, the Prime Minister’s wife about our idea and see if she could suggest a project we could be involved with. The fact that someone like him is interested in what we are suggesting, makes me think we are on the right track.

Early night, early morning interview with some sports radio station tomorrow – a little odd given my book has nothing to do with sport. But so be it…

Graham, Stephen and I sat tonight in the French summer evening and decided that too many years had passed with our vague promises that “we must do something “ in terms of funding some charitable projects which we really believed in. Stephen and I and our girls are renting a house in Burgundy and Graham arrived this morning for a short visit, bringing his usual aura of energy and excitement. Over a bottle of good French wine, we figured out the things that mattered most to us – seeing the progress of a project we believe in and knowing that all of our money went directly to make that happen. We decided it was time to stop talking and to actually make something happen. Graham talked about East Timor, where he’d gone to visit Simon Fenby, a good friend of his working as one of Xanana Gusmao’s close advisors. We decided that Graham would talk to Simon and see if he thought there was something we could do and we’d go from there.

PROJECT ‘OSTICO EAST TIMOR’