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.
