Friends of Suai

 

 

Hi I am now back home in Australia after 3 weeks in Timor Leste. Simao Barreto, Coordinator of the Community Centre and I went to Baucau to visit the 4 Suai trainees at Info Timor. They had finished their first month training on Ubuntu office suite and PowerPoint and were ready to learn the technical side of refurbishing computers and internet.

 

The Suai trainees Demi, Evo, Julia and Reio will return to Suai mid June after finishing 3 months training and will go back to set up the new IT Suai Enterprise at the Suai Community Centre. It has been an exciting time learning the technical side of computers and also to be part of the Info Timor operation in Baucau with great support from Maia and Raaul and the whole Baucau team.

 

InfoXchange Australia are partners with Info Timor in Timor Leste and are packing up a container in Australia of computers, equipment and tools for the Suai operation which is due to arrive in July. City of Port Phillip donate and recycle there surplus computers from the Council to Timor Leste so it’s a great partnership. We all have high hopes for this new program!

 

All things being equal, the broadband internet is due to come to Suai in late June also. The UMA Media house will operate from Suai delivering on the spot news across the nation. The youth centre and community centre will both provide internet café locations, so Suai will soon leapfrog into the digital age. It’s pretty exciting and we are all waiting to see the reality.

 

Friends of Suai also sponsored former Port Phillip resident Richard Jones to run a one month workshop on digital photography assisted by interpreter Afreo Sanches from Arte Moris for members of YoMatre youth media and Radio Taroman Community Radio and other youth. The group exhibited their photographs at the Independence Day celebrations both at the youth centre and the Suai Market for all to see.

 

We are planning to put the exhibition on-line soon.

 

Pat Jessen 19/6/09

 

 

The Akar Laran Agriculture High School was very pleased to receive a donation of $2000 from Veg Out Community Garden in St Kilda Australia. The funds are being used to establish a practical garden for year 10 students at the Agricultural High School. Resources especially tools and and seed is scarce and the project has enabled the students to actually turn the soil and plant some produce. The students have planted and are harvesting long beans in the garden. Additional seeds for the project will also be planted in the growing season - September 2008 to grow a variety of vegetables. 

 

The Agriculture School was destroyed by the Indonesian militia in 1999 and in recent years reopened a small section of the school to provide opportunties for education in agriculture at the secondary level. Agriculture is 80% of E Timor economy. Students are keen to learn practical skills and this small donation has meant that seeds and tools have been provided in cooperation with the Suai community centre who are supporting and monitoring the project. The school community has also had the benefit of harvesting the beans crop which has supplemented meals as food is still scarce in Suai and E Timor generally.

 

Permaculture is new to Suai and Friends of Suai provided some books written in local language - Tetun by the E Timor group Permatil for the school community to study. Sebastian a young man from Daylesford working in permaculture also vistied the school in June 2008 to share some additional insight into the permaculture techiques.

 

Friends of Suai will be providing 2 scholarships to one girl and one boy who achieve well in their final year course with a teritary scholarship to university.

 

Watch this space for development of future crops in the garden.

This time I made the time to go to where the women were weaving their Tais (textiles) in the homes, villages and workshop. There will be a Timor Leste Women’s Weaving Exhibition, Forum and Market in September 2008. We wanted to ensure that women of Covalima had their work on display and on sale at the market at St Kilda Town Hall.  We found the Covalima women weave beautiful & varied pieces across the district and between villages. The traditional futus, (weaving motif) that have been handed down by ancestors continue to be woven into the fabric in each village with attention to dyes, colour, cotton & design. As well as the traditional weaving some new Thai looms have been brought to Suai by Timor Aid who are training young women on the new technique.

 

The Forum in September will discuss old and new methods and markets. We commissioned some new products including scarves and belts which were produced by the women's weaving group in Suai Loro village in great colours which we think will appeal to the local market in Australia.  Take a look at the photo slide show to see it all. The Weaving Exhibition which will display the Alola Foundation Collection and the Forum with discuss Methods, the Makers & the Markets it will be held on 05-06 September 2008 - put it in your diary. Pat Jessen + 613 9209 6598 Coordinator Friends of Suai

 

Simao da Silva Barreto Suai Community Centre Co-ordinator visited Australia in August 2007 for 2 weeks. The purpose of his visit was to meet the many supporters of Friends of Suai at the City of Port Phillip (CoPP) and present an evaluation completed by the Suai Commission, staff and partners and discuss the direction of our ongoing work together.  Simao is a respected community leader in Suai and teaches in the public secondary school most mornings.

 

The Port Phillip council has a 10 year friendship agreement to build a strong relationship with the people of Suai. The Friends of Suai comprised of local residents & friends began in 2000 and supports the Suai Community Centre funded by the City of Port Phillip, works with the District Administration, Youth Centre and other partners.

 

Seventy people attended a public meeting to meet Simao and hear about developments in Suai and the District of Covalima. Port Phillip Council provides an annual grant and residents have generously donated to Suai since 2000. 'The donations are really making a difference to peoples’ lives' he told us. 'There was nothing after the Indonesian milita left Covalima in 1999, now things are beginning to improve' he told us . Let’s hope it continues.

 

Cr Karen Sait on behalf of Mayor and councillors commissioned a traditional East Timor Tais Weaving for the new St Kilda town hall. This will mean that the young women will learn how to produce the old dyes and thread to weave the Tais. Simao spent time in the schools of Port Phillip visiting Elwood College over 3 days, St Columba’s, Galilee and Elwood Primary schools. He attended a regional schools civics conference at Caulfield Grammar.

  

At Elwood college he attended various classes and addressed a special lunchtime meeting with Year 12 politics students studying democracy and citizenship, Michael Danby MP, Evan Thornley, Parliamentary Secretary to the Victorian Premier and Cr Janet Cribbes  attended the luncheon.

 

Port Phillip staff showed Simao around he visited St Kilda Town Hall, Council Depot, Port Melbourne Hub, and other activities. Simao looked over the St Kilda Indigenous nursery cooperative (SKINC) to compare notes on strengthening a similar project in Suai. Balwyn Rotary Club are old friends of Suai and welcomed him as guest speaker. Rotary have offered a grant in partnership with Port Phillip to fund solar power for 4 remote health clinics. They are also discussing refurbishment of derelict buildings at the Suai secondary school. He visited 3CR  community radio, Alternative Technology Association and Engineers without Borders.  City of Kiama NSW who are new friends of the sub district of Zumalai in Covalima with a population of 14,000 people. Simao visted Kiama and hoped to catch a glimpse of Sydney harbour on his way home.

 

Special thanks to CoPP staff and the Friends of Suai Committee Members and residents of Port Phillip.

 

Pat Jessen, Coordinator Friends of Suai August 2007