TIMOR-LESTE NOMINATES GREATEST NEED - EVERYTHING!
DILI: 24th Feb -- In a letter addressed in the first instance to Australians who have generously assisted in the re-establishment and restoration of schools, particularly Salesian schools in Timor-Leste, Br. Marcal Lopes, Headmaster of DBTS Fatumaca, answers the question so many ask him - 'your greatest need?' 'Everything' he replies!
Over the past year donations from Australia, channeled by Salesian Missions Australia, have helped pay teachers' salaries and provide essential resources for the schools. Don Bosco Teachnical School needs to feed 270 students three meals a day, purchase fuel to run generators, provide materils for the workshops, along with maintenance and repairs to same. The school now as it did for very many years before hostilities restricted its activity, trains young people with skills in the building, metal, electrical and motor trades.
In April, Br. Lopes will take part in a National Education Conference in Dili aimed at developing an overall educational strategy for the nation, including a Timorese school curriculum. The conference will try to address pressing issues such as the complementary roles of academic and vocational education. But the very fact that such a conference can now take place, and that educators from around the nation can meet in focused and collaborative circumstances is a blessing and an opportunity.
