The finished classroom.

For the second time this year I have been able to visit Timor Leste and finish the work started in April. I had the pleasure of Belinda’s company and assistance once again from DCP-TL servicemen Daniel and Antonio.  We firstly were able to finish the school building maintenance in Boramba. This now means our second kindergarten building is ready to go. At present we are training teachers and once they are up to speed we will have two classes in neighbouring villages.

The work involved cementing the last floor of the school house and the local lads, led by Kamal, replastered walls and painted them fresh. It looks magnificent. We also purchased lino for the floor, which finished it off nicely. A big thank you to DCP-TL Daniel and Antonio for their help this time, it is very appreciated.

We also had the opportunity to visit a third site in the nearby village of Bobe (pronouced Bobby). The villagers will provide a level site and we are looking to supply the funds for resources and man power to build the kindergarten. There may be slight modifications to improve the layout but otherwise we will follow our existing formula which seems to work.  It is hoped by this time next year this kindergarten will be almost complete.

Thirdly, we were very chuffed to be asked to build a fourth kindergarten in Suai. A town a few hours away and home to Antonio. Antonio has worked for the Australian Army for a number of years in logistics and translating and we are certainly pleased to look into this idea. Hopefully on our next visit we will be able to do a reccy to the area.

While staying with our hosts Anisetto and Karbina in Bei Cala I also visited our Bei Cala Kindergarten and worked with Lala at every opportunity. There is certainly a need to train more teachers to help Lala and provide a back up. This time last year we trained 7 teachers. Three have found work elsewhere, two in teaching, one is unable to teach due to ill health which left us with two. Our goal is to now train some more. This is important resource building.

Thank you to all those involved particularly the communities of Bei Cala, Boramba and Bobe and Bellingen. The support of all of you has made this possible and it continues the legacy of Sgt. Matthew Locke MG. We hope he is proud of our efforts.