East Timor is a country which has suffered several conflicts, changes of government, riots, and so on. As always, the people pay the highest price and in this case in particular the children of parents who died during the war against the illegal occupation by Indonesia. It was in the midst of this great misery that the Don Bosco orphanage in Los Palos was founded and has grown.
When their parents were killed, many children remained alone, because their closest relatives were not able to take care of them and provide for their education. Consequently the Don Bosco orphanage was essential for the human development of these children.
This work was started precisely to accommodate the orphans of people who died in the war against the Indonesian occupation between 1975 and 1999. After independence from Indonesia, the Salesian missionaries began to accommodate hundreds of orphans and poor children from different districts of East Timor.
Over the years the infrastructure has deteriorated seriously and, partly as a result of lack of resources for maintenance, it is now seriously damaged. "The ceilings, windows, doors, the pipes for water and the energy systems have all suffered major damage." The house has too many problems for people to continue to live in it.
The Salesian orphanage in East Timor normally hosts about 100 children. Now it is almost unusable on account of the damage to the infrastructure. The greater the damage, the more necessary and urgent is the need for repair, so that the children can live there in safe and healthy conditions and can concentrate on their studies, so as to become, with the passage of time, the seeds of development in their respective villages and districts of East Timor.
Source: Misiones Salesianas
4104(I)_A Pilgrimage to the Roots of Our Faith
Mother Teresa and Salesians
