austraLasia 1429
Cardinal George Pell tours East Timor with 'two remarkable Salesians'
SYDNEY: 5th February 2006 -- Cardinal Pell has written the following for a Sunday newspaper due for publication today. austraLasia has the text independently and offers it for those who will have no access to Sydney newspapers.
"For many Australians, East Timor is their favourite Asian country. Home to one million people, this tiny half-island, 656km from Darwin, has a tragic history. It was colonized by the Portuguese in 1570, and ruled by the Indonesians from 1975-1999 until it voted for independence in an Indonesian-sponsored referendum. Then Indonesian soldiers and especially a militia of Timorese they sponsored, killed about 2000 people and systematically destroyed 80% of the public buildings and infrastructure. This was the most recent chapter in a dismal history.
I have just spent 10 days on this beautiful island, now lush and green during the rainy season, being taken around by two remarkable Salesians, Brother Michael Lynch, a Melbourne man, Harvard graduate and former headmaster, and Brother Marcal Lopes, the Timorese principal of Fatumaca Technical College.
It would be wonderful to report that everywhere conditions are better, but this is not the case.
Naturally the situation is better than those terrible days when the Australian soldiers played a leading role with the United Nations force in restoring peace and order. Dili has many cars, children on bicycles, many neat in school uniforms, while there are 19 tertiary institutes in the capital. Inflation too is low, but the situation is bad, especially in the country areas.
In many parts, the peasants have no money at all and exist by bartering or subsist on the food they produce. In one parish we visited, the priest, with Australian help, is feeding 2000 youngsters five times a week, while many teachers and catechists have not been paid for months.
Baucau, the nation's second city, has power from 6.00 pm to about midnight, while the road system, built by the Indonesians, is steadily deteriorating. We passed sections of road which had disappeared months ago, marked by stone and bushes on the approaches.
Despite all this the good humour of most people was infectious. While there were 20 days of peaceful demonstrations against the government last April, there was no violence and no police over-reaction. It was democracy at work.
We were present for a wonderfully happy occasion at Lospalos, the easternmost centre on the island, when I started the first of nine heats for the Don Bosco Cup; large ponies raced four times around a track, ridden with great skill by jockeys with no saddles no stirrups and watched by a cheering, noisy crowd of about 3,000.
East Timor has a considerable network of helpers around Australia; not big business but groups from parishes, State and Catholic schools, service groups. Their contributions do make a difference in a country which is perhaps the poorest in Asia.
I was pleased to support and visit many wonderful workers for development and justice; locals, Australian volunteers and Australian soldiers.
But it was great to return to a hot shower after washing with cold water from a tub!"
+ George Cardinal Pell,
Archbishop of Sydney
_______________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
Cardinal George Pell tours East Timor with 'two remarkable Salesians'
SYDNEY: 5th February 2006 -- Cardinal Pell has written the following for a Sunday newspaper due for publication today. austraLasia has the text independently and offers it for those who will have no access to Sydney newspapers.
"For many Australians, East Timor is their favourite Asian country. Home to one million people, this tiny half-island, 656km from Darwin, has a tragic history. It was colonized by the Portuguese in 1570, and ruled by the Indonesians from 1975-1999 until it voted for independence in an Indonesian-sponsored referendum. Then Indonesian soldiers and especially a militia of Timorese they sponsored, killed about 2000 people and systematically destroyed 80% of the public buildings and infrastructure. This was the most recent chapter in a dismal history.
I have just spent 10 days on this beautiful island, now lush and green during the rainy season, being taken around by two remarkable Salesians, Brother Michael Lynch, a Melbourne man, Harvard graduate and former headmaster, and Brother Marcal Lopes, the Timorese principal of Fatumaca Technical College.
It would be wonderful to report that everywhere conditions are better, but this is not the case.
Naturally the situation is better than those terrible days when the Australian soldiers played a leading role with the United Nations force in restoring peace and order. Dili has many cars, children on bicycles, many neat in school uniforms, while there are 19 tertiary institutes in the capital. Inflation too is low, but the situation is bad, especially in the country areas.
In many parts, the peasants have no money at all and exist by bartering or subsist on the food they produce. In one parish we visited, the priest, with Australian help, is feeding 2000 youngsters five times a week, while many teachers and catechists have not been paid for months.
Baucau, the nation's second city, has power from 6.00 pm to about midnight, while the road system, built by the Indonesians, is steadily deteriorating. We passed sections of road which had disappeared months ago, marked by stone and bushes on the approaches.
Despite all this the good humour of most people was infectious. While there were 20 days of peaceful demonstrations against the government last April, there was no violence and no police over-reaction. It was democracy at work.
We were present for a wonderfully happy occasion at Lospalos, the easternmost centre on the island, when I started the first of nine heats for the Don Bosco Cup; large ponies raced four times around a track, ridden with great skill by jockeys with no saddles no stirrups and watched by a cheering, noisy crowd of about 3,000.
East Timor has a considerable network of helpers around Australia; not big business but groups from parishes, State and Catholic schools, service groups. Their contributions do make a difference in a country which is perhaps the poorest in Asia.
I was pleased to support and visit many wonderful workers for development and justice; locals, Australian volunteers and Australian soldiers.
But it was great to return to a hot shower after washing with cold water from a tub!"
+ George Cardinal Pell,
Archbishop of Sydney
_______________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
