austraLasia 1511
Fatumaca - focal point
FATUMACA (East Timor): 30th March 2006 -- Just about anybody who has heard of Salesians in East Timor has heard of Fatumaca. But otherwise, Fatumaca would not be a place many people would have heard of. East Timor has made progress since the difficult days of 2002, but even with that progress, once one leaves Dili, opportunities for internet contact are few, and other communications are almost non-existent. We don't know much about what is happening to them and they don't know much about what is happening to us! There is a danger it becomes a forgotten part of the world. austraLasia would like to play its little part in reversing that.
So it is good when a little news trickles out - and good news at that. Fatumaca is something of a focal point for the Salesian vice province which bears the initials ITM. It is not the seat of government, but it is in many ways the youthful heart of the vice province: pre-novitiate, novitiate, primary, junior secondary l, technical schools, pastoral care of a dozen mission stations, centre of a long-standing social-agricultural work for poor farmers and families, national Shrine to Mary Help of Christians and therefore Centre for ADMA, the association founded by Don Bosco in Her name, Past Pupil centre.
Fatumaca has one other feature that allows it to stand out in the entire EAO Region. With six practical trainees stationed there it is, if I am not mistaken (and if I am the emails will come racing in! Sorry about saying DB's dad died when he was 12 - you can change that in slide number two in the MM powerpoint!) the location with most practical trainees working in the same place.
So at best it is a complex community and one, therefore, that needs - and has - a well elaborated Educative and Pastoral Plan. Fatumaca has wonderful memories of great men. Some of them have passed on - one only has to think of the figure of someone like Bro. Gamba, for instance. Some of them are still alive and still working - think again of someone like Fr Locatelli.
East Timor is going through interesting times - difficult times economically, and with major social changes. A Salesian work which is at the heart of ordinary Timorese life might reflect those things too. But the dozen confreres who have responsibility for all that happens at Fatumaca are aware of their challenges. They know that their well-run technical centre is doing more than just preparing young men to get good jobs in Dili - they hope that they are also helping to develop the wider nation. But they also are working to see that solid characters come forward to be the Bro Gambas and the Fr Locatellis of the future. Fatumaca is potentially a vocational powerhouse, driven by today's Salesian animating centre
Problems there are. Language is one of them. The national option for Portuguese has left some Salesians floundering without a solid grasp of that language. Financial worries and an Education Ministry not yet fully up to the mark means that text books are not easy to get hold of. And while life within the intense religious and Salesian atmosphere of Fatumaca is fine, what happens to graduates once they leave? Post liberation East Timor is a changing, more free-thinking, less 'religious' place in many ways. The villages have lots of priests, lots of catechists, lots of Catholics.....but sometimes empty churches!
Problems aside, the reality is that if eastern East Timor is evangelised, it is largely because of the Salesian influence. There is much to be thankful for. They will be grateful for our prayerful support now as they confront their challenging future.
________________________
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
Fatumaca - focal point
FATUMACA (East Timor): 30th March 2006 -- Just about anybody who has heard of Salesians in East Timor has heard of Fatumaca. But otherwise, Fatumaca would not be a place many people would have heard of. East Timor has made progress since the difficult days of 2002, but even with that progress, once one leaves Dili, opportunities for internet contact are few, and other communications are almost non-existent. We don't know much about what is happening to them and they don't know much about what is happening to us! There is a danger it becomes a forgotten part of the world. austraLasia would like to play its little part in reversing that.
So it is good when a little news trickles out - and good news at that. Fatumaca is something of a focal point for the Salesian vice province which bears the initials ITM. It is not the seat of government, but it is in many ways the youthful heart of the vice province: pre-novitiate, novitiate, primary, junior secondary l, technical schools, pastoral care of a dozen mission stations, centre of a long-standing social-agricultural work for poor farmers and families, national Shrine to Mary Help of Christians and therefore Centre for ADMA, the association founded by Don Bosco in Her name, Past Pupil centre.
Fatumaca has one other feature that allows it to stand out in the entire EAO Region. With six practical trainees stationed there it is, if I am not mistaken (and if I am the emails will come racing in! Sorry about saying DB's dad died when he was 12 - you can change that in slide number two in the MM powerpoint!) the location with most practical trainees working in the same place.
So at best it is a complex community and one, therefore, that needs - and has - a well elaborated Educative and Pastoral Plan. Fatumaca has wonderful memories of great men. Some of them have passed on - one only has to think of the figure of someone like Bro. Gamba, for instance. Some of them are still alive and still working - think again of someone like Fr Locatelli.
East Timor is going through interesting times - difficult times economically, and with major social changes. A Salesian work which is at the heart of ordinary Timorese life might reflect those things too. But the dozen confreres who have responsibility for all that happens at Fatumaca are aware of their challenges. They know that their well-run technical centre is doing more than just preparing young men to get good jobs in Dili - they hope that they are also helping to develop the wider nation. But they also are working to see that solid characters come forward to be the Bro Gambas and the Fr Locatellis of the future. Fatumaca is potentially a vocational powerhouse, driven by today's Salesian animating centre
Problems there are. Language is one of them. The national option for Portuguese has left some Salesians floundering without a solid grasp of that language. Financial worries and an Education Ministry not yet fully up to the mark means that text books are not easy to get hold of. And while life within the intense religious and Salesian atmosphere of Fatumaca is fine, what happens to graduates once they leave? Post liberation East Timor is a changing, more free-thinking, less 'religious' place in many ways. The villages have lots of priests, lots of catechists, lots of Catholics.....but sometimes empty churches!
Problems aside, the reality is that if eastern East Timor is evangelised, it is largely because of the Salesian influence. There is much to be thankful for. They will be grateful for our prayerful support now as they confront their challenging future.
________________________
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
