Musings from Br. Frank in Timor Leste 30. 4. 2014 2nd April – marked a significant day for Railaco Kriac & Railaco Leten villages. Electricity came to town – great excitement. More importantly a group of villagers banded together accompanied by the police to force the official from Gleno to make the connection – he had held off for months because the company had not ‘paid’ him his ‘fee’!! Subtle corruption! The euphoria lasted less than 24hrs as power was lost for various reasons – intermittent power since then but at least its here & plenty of joy about it. We were able to change the amps from 2 to 8 for the building project to use power tools. During March Peter, Norberto & the local workers made great progress with the building of our accommodation in Railaco Kriac. 3 bedrooms, shower & toilet. This was in preparation for the TTN group led by Paul Higgins who came on the 6th to move the construction towards a conclusion. Walls, roof, doors & window frames are in place. Still lots to do for completion. What a mighty job they did. The wonderful benefit was to see the Australians & Timorese working together & sharing their skills. Also Bernadette Higgins worked with the local ladies to redesign the card program. An intensive 6 days of training prepared the ladies for making the cards. Liz & Brian Hanrahan from Ballarat were part of the team – big impact made in both projects as usual. Disaster struck when I lost my wallet - no clue where or when – money, license, cards etc – just no return had me in a panic all month. Fortunately I had copies of most docs. Since arriving in Aust, with the help of Tony Pawelski, I have been able to begin to replace the docs. Barry has really settled in to TL. He teaches English in Dili at the Minor Seminary (16-17 year olds) & at the Spirituality Centre for student priests. He has had to cut back on his teaching at the University to fit in the classes he now has. Peter headed to Darwin for a week after leading the intensive work program on the building. Unfortunately he developed Cellulitis in his leg – the break did him good. Dave conducted exams for the secondary students he teaches English at Leten. They were a little shocked to be tested in written work & an oral test – went very well. Unfortunately Dave fell ill after we celebrated his 65th birthday. He recovered quickly to be able to head to a meeting in Brisbane on the 26th. I celebrated Holy Thurs in the hills with the people at Leten before going down ton Dili for Good Friday & Vigil Ceremonies. Huge crowds attend the meaningful Liturgical triptych. I then headed for Aust on the 24th for the important meeting in Brisbane at Gregory Terrace with our Ministry Leaders & our Supporters reflecting on the strategies for the future of our presence in TL. A number of our TEKA teachers spent their holidays down in Dili at various training days. Its quite a sacrifice they make to leave behind their families to do 5 days of intensive training to enhance their teaching & care of the little ones. We were privileged to be able to send Sara Periera to Geneva for a 10 day conference on justice issues run by Edmund Rice International (ERI). So, here I am in the great city – Geelong – having a short break with family before heading back to TL via Brisbane/Ipswich. Frank.
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 00:28:40 +0000
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