PROJECT ‘Macalaco East Timor’
18 March 2011
Macalaco School Ground Breaking Ceremony
Simon, Jenny and Agostihno arrived at Macalaco school (a 4 hour drive from Dili) last Thursday, expecting a simple ceremony with a few people to officially allow the work to start on the new school building. Instead they were greeted by a welcoming line of school children who had been there since 9am and a day of speeches and performances by children and the villagers. Jenny delivered a speech in Tetum which the villagers loved.
The importance of the school building to the villagers and their gratitude had even Simon admitting to a tear or two in his eye. Mario, the builder, has worked with the community to demolish the old building and the project is all ready to go. The community support is fantastic for the building work and for the other things we hope to be able to help with in the village. Work is to start very soon.
     
project: Macalaco East Timor
04 March 2011
Macalaco Ground Breaking Ceremony Next Week
The ground breaking ceremony for Macalaco School is scheduled for next Thursday. This ceremony is very important culturally to the Timorese and is essential before any work starts. A broken down building has already been demolished to make way for the school building and Mario the builder will be ready to start work after the ceremony.
project: Macalaco East Timor
15 January 2011
Contract signed for Macalaco school
This week Mario, the builder we worked with on Lequeracab’u school, signed a contract to build a new three classroom building at Macalaco. The new building will allow all of the area’s children to be schooled and still manage the long walk home before sunset. The construction cost will be $US25,000 and is being funded by an Australian family- however we hope to raise extra funds so that we can help the village in other ways.
project: Macalaco East Timor
11 January 2011
More Donated Furniture for Spend it Well Schools
To reduce deforestation, the East Timorese govt has put strict controls on the use of new wood. Rotary is helping to address the resulting shortage of school furniture (made of wood) by shipping used school furniture from Australia to East Timor.
Our school at Ostico was the beneficiary of some of this furniture last year. Now Rotary has provided Spend it Well with more furniture for Ostico, Lequeracabu’u and also the two new schools we plan to build this year at Maucale and Macalaco.
 
project: Lequeracabu'u East Timor, Macalaco East Timor, Maucale East Timor, OSTICO EAST TIMOR
10 January 2011
Macalaco, East Timor
Macalaco is a small village in stunning mountains, 3 ½ hours drive from the East Timor capital, Dili. Over 130 students and teachers walk up to 4 hours each day to Macalaco school from nearby peaks and valleys. Due to space constraints, the school’s six classes have to operate in two shifts: three classes in the morning and three classes in the afternoon. However, many children cannot attend afternoon classes safely because the sun sets at around 6.30 in East Timor. An extra 3 classroom building is needed to enable all children to attend classes in one shift with time spare to walk home safely to adjacent peaks before dark.
Mario, the builder we used for our Lequeracabu’u project, has been engaged to build this the extra building for US$25,000. An Australian family has offered to pay for the entire construction of the new building and plan to be involved with the village on a long term basis. With this generous family support, we will begin construction as soon as the rains let up. There are many other ways Macalaco village can be helped though, so we are also looking for support for things like school books, scholarships and possibly a sporting court. Can you help?
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| School site |
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Current school building |
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| Students outside |
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Students inside current classroom |
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project: Macalaco East Timor
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