26 June 2009
The school is finished!
Well Ostico School is finished and from all reports is better than we could have hoped for! It was looking this week like the Prime Minister, Xanana Gusmao, would be attending the opening which would have been just extraordinary. Unfortunately he’s had to go overseas. It’s hard to feel disappointed though given that Kirsty and the Education Minister for East Timor are both coming to the opening (driving over 3 hours each way in the same day). Everything is set for an opening on Wednesday July 22.
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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18 June 2009
Books for the school
I sent out an email a couple of days ago to my friends asking if anyone had books or soccer balls I could take to East Timor with me. It was fantastic – by the next day I was carting home bags of books, most of which were in beautiful condition. I’ve also received leather soccer balls and boots from someone which will make some East Timorese boys very happy…. Now I’ve just got to figure out how to get 60kg of books on each of the aeroplanes between Abu Dhabi and East Timor!
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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18 May 2009
Roof is on, looking great
Simon went to the school again last weekend. Apparently the builder was very disappointed that Simon went on a Saturday as he is very proud of his work and wanting to show it off with an official tour! The new school building is coming along well with the roof now on and the ceiling steel beams in place. The ceiling of the old school building has been removed and new wooden beams have been put in to replace those which were rotting. All looking great.
Simon also sent through some photos of the area which make you stop and think about how little people there have. Two things always strike me when I look at photos of the houses and the school kids .. The first is that the outside of the houses are spotless, swept with branches, rocks neatly lined up. The second is that the kids’ white school shirts are a lovely clean white, not stained, not dirty and mostly not even crumpled (the only water source in Ostico is a small spring some distance away). As someone who struggles to do either of those things with running hot and cold water and top of the range electrical items, I am always in awe. And each time I see it, it makes me realise the value that the Timorese place on what little they have.
  
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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04 May 2009
Walls are up
Agostinho has made a couple of trips to the school (a round trip of at least 6 hours) and has been reporting back that everything is going really well. Simon went himself on the weekend and has sent through a report saying that everything is looking great. The new classrooms are coming along well with the walls all up and scaffolding everywhere. Refurbishment has also started on the old classrooms. The old burnt down building has been demolished save for the foundation. Everything is going to plan – ahead of schedule if anything.
Simon also sent through some photos of the area which make you stop and think about how little people there have. Two things always strike me when I look at photos of the houses and the school kids .. The first is that the outside of the houses are spotless, swept with branches, rocks neatly lined up. The second is that the kids’ white school shirts are a lovely clean white, not stained, not dirty and mostly not even crumpled (the only water source in Ostico is a small spring some distance away). As someone who struggles to do either of those things with running hot and cold water and top of the range electrical items, I am always in awe. And each time I see it, it makes me realise the value that the Timorese place on what little they have. Agostinho has made a couple of trips to the school (a round trip of at least 6 hours) and has been reporting back that everything is going really well. Simon went himself on the weekend and has sent through a report saying that everything is looking great. The new classrooms are coming along well with the walls all up and scaffolding everywhere. Refurbishment has also started on the old classrooms. The old burnt down building has been demolished save for the foundation. Everything is going to plan – ahead of schedule if anything.
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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30 March 2009
Heaps happening already
Just 3 weeks later and heaps has happened on the school. Simon and Agostinho visited the site on Friday and Saturday and sent a report with lots of photos. The new classrooms are actually going up fast and may be completed in just over a month. The demolition of the burnt out building is also happening. On Saturday morning classes were being held in the awful tin shed. Something Simon has mentioned each time he has visited though is how serious the children’s concentration is and how they are perfectly disciplined. I find it hard to picture my children working without complaint sitting on a broken bench seat inside a windowless, baking hot tin shed.
And apparently our money has survived its tour of the world and reached the builder’s account.
 
project: OSTICO EAST TIMOR
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