2007 opened with plans for Joan and Simonne to visit East Timor in April. However due to further political unrest and instability in Dili, travel plans were postponed until June.
Finally a chance to visit East Timor arrived again in June. Three intrepid ladies Simonne Dyer, Joan Bayes and Anna Webster from HETA boarded the plane again together for that long (and tedious) trip to Dili. Thirty three hours after a very early morning start( 3am), we stepped out into the heat of an East Timorese ‘cool’ season on Tuesday 5 June.
As always we were met by our faithful YWAM friends and once again settled into lovingly prepared rooms at the YWAM base situated in Bairo Pite, a poor area of town, which looked even more like a war zone than when we last visited. The trip through town from the airport established the sad fact that many people were still living in refugee camps, despite a more peaceful atmosphere in the city.
Goals
Our goals as always were clear. Visit Laulora Village and Manleuana School to assess progress there and reconnect with village chief Antonio to discuss the proposed community centre for Laulora village. Other tasks included identifying the children who were ready for starting school so that Joan could photograph them for sponsorship, and revisiting Fatumeta junior High School as a follow up on the students who now attend there from Manleuana school. Catching up with YWAM staff and their activities is always a priority too.
Laulora Village
Our first trip up to the village came just a few hours after arrival. We spent some time with Valdo and De, Brazilian YWAMers who take classes in the village every Tuesday afternoon. De teaches Portuguese and Valdo takes the kindergarten children for games, music and stories followed by an activity.
That afternoon we met up again with the local chief, Antonio dos Santos and there followed over the next two days, several meetings of a very exciting nature. Chief Antonio was able to show us the land which one of the villagers had now given to the village for the building of a community centre. We were able to view the land and Simonne prayed over the land, sensing an encouraging anointing for the future based on what has been built into the village over the past 7 years. Several hours were spent with Chief Antonio and also with Chief Gil Madeira to whom he reports. Draft plans were drawn up for the centre which will house a medical clinic and kindergarten facilities and all the official documents were drawn up and signed by the time Simonne and Joan left on June 16. We now await final plans and estimates for the building before going ahead with funding requests from our government.
Manleuana School
We were unable to visit the school until later in the week as only the Year 6 students were attending to sit end of year exams for moving up to Junior High. Contact was re-established with Senhora Rosa in the refugee camp where she still stays.