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
26 July 2010
Massive storms in Timor
East Timor has been pummelled by weather again, with massive storms bringing lots of rain. The rains washed away the roads to Lequeracabu’u yet again. But the villagers have been out to fix the roads again to allow the builder’s trucks to get through. The weather has meant that only a few days of work have been done on the school, but all materials are on site which is a major accomplishment on those roads. Jenny and Agostinho are planning a site visit next week so we should have progress photos soon.
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor
12 July 2010
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.
 
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor
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