Old school before renovations

Carmelite ventures continue to advance in East Timor as they turn their focus away from building schools to promoting education. Education is the right of every person but for the Timorese, it is the key to breaking their cycle of poverty.

Raimea is a small remote village situated between two rivers 6 kilometres (3.6 miles) from the region of Zumalai, just southwest of the capital, Dili. Raimea is one of the twenty-eight villages that are part of the Carmelite Parish which encompasses the whole of the Zumalai sub-district, where about 15,000 people live.

Raimea Catholic Primary School is the second school to be totally renovated by the Carmelites in this sub-district. The school has also been resourced with local language materials to assist the children with their learning. Teachers at the school are being financially supported and trained to understand and use the resources that are supplied.

Sister Tess and her team who do the in-service instruction of local language resources with the teachers said that the Raimea teachers were a wonderful group of people who were very keen to learn and practice the new ideas they had been shown. I saw this during my last visit when one of the teachers, Cristina, who was very excited to experiment with the new resources, quickly mastered them.

Completed school after renovations

The school is a cement building that is painted a cream-color inside and out. It now has a ceiling, a new floor, beautiful new doors made from local teak wood and window grills. The furniture has been donated from the Zumalai Catholic Primary School, and there are even curtains on the windows! 127 children are presently enrolled at the school that has only four classrooms.

In the 2008 school semester teachers and others interested in teaching from the sub-district will have the opportunity to be trained. At this point most of the teachers have had no formal training. At present the only primary-level teacher’s college in Timor-Leste is on the eastern side of the country in the City of Baucau. Teachers from Raimea have applied to go to the college for the first time this year. It is hoped that these teachers will be admitted to the college to begin their training. In this way they can teach the other teachers as well as the children.

To assist the work of the Carmelite Missions in East Timor contributions can be made to: Carmelite Missions, Attention East Timor, 8501 Bailey Road, Darien, Illinois, 60561.