We are very thankful for a visit from 3 new friends from The Salvation Army: Commissioner Gillian from England, Major Kelvin from Australia and Captain Alberth from Indonesia. We were able to go around and visit many people and organisations. The plan was to get an overview of Timor-Leste and try to identify some needs. It was a good opportunity to get to see places myself that I wouldn’t normally have reason to see.
The new church at Sidara is looking awesome – the previous version was burnt down by a disgruntled local.
The new me, attending meetings and sipping cups of coffee – urgh! A necessary evil I suppose, made sweeter by nice folks including Bucko from Yooralla who tossed around some pearls of wisdom.
The Australian Ambassador was also kind enough to see us after we were stripped of dangerous items like cameras and phones.
Local grocery store.
A morning visit to Christo Rei – God even provided the lamb.
…which we happily consumed for breakfast (just kidding, heh heh) Here we are with Sr Carlos from the Presbyterian Church.
Hera School is humming along.
The Great Wall in the river going up to Sidara – its the dry season now, very dry.
With sweet Branca and the loo I built behind the clinic 9 years ago with a Salvo donation from Grafton Corps. They still use it!
The gardens at HIAM Health malnutrition centre where they not only restore kids lives but teach parents how to grow nutritious food. Timor-Leste currently has the highest rate of stunting in the world.
By some miracle we got to see the Bishop of Dili who gave us a warm welcome.
One of the perks was a flight to see Pastor Samuel at Los Palos. Thanks to MAF for their assistance with this.
Lining up the landing strip.
The very deep well dug by hand by Lino’s family in Los Palos – they still haven’t hit water.
Kelvin’s mature looks belie a rascal at heart. Checking out the 3 wheeler used by the Nazarene Church at Los Palos.
Pastor Samuel hopes to be able to sell the white corn from the youth farm. Stored in drums donated by MAF.
Checking instruments as I fly home – look mum, no hands!
