Current
Projects 2016
Seeds Of Life
SoL is not a personal project of ours but it’s the place
where Samuel works every day as a full time job. It pays our bills but more importantly is an important
part in the development of East Timor.
SoL is funded by Ausstralia and is an integral part of the
Timorese Government’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
(MAF). Its main focus is to research and
deliver new varieties of seeds for staple food crops so that the farmers can
grow enough food for all the people.
Samuel is the Crop Systems Advosor within SoL.
Ministries
A “ministry” is a term Christians use to refer to a service
that they do for God. Here it refers to
the things we do that are, if I can say, “God-focussed”.
Salvation Army
Nazarene Church Los
Palos
The Nazarene Church is a Timorese church
spreading the good news of God in East Timor. We have been working with Pastor Samuel and Ully since
2010. This year we are assisting with organising
funds and supplies for their work.
Transformation Seed
Serving our World,
Timor Leste
This is an NGO run by a committed young Timorese man called
Mateus. The international organisation
comes from the US, but in this country its very much a Timorese directed
organisation. They run a school
extension program with a nutritious meal provided each week. About 100 students attend the program. Samuel provides mentoring support for Mateus
and helps where he can. Mateus hopes to
complete the construction of a school building this year and a simple toilet
block and kitchen so they have their own place to learn.
Bible Distribution
Samuel is keen to see every Timorese person have access to a
Bible. Many of them believe in God but
lack an understanding of who God is and how to live for Him. Most Timorese do not have a Bible.
These scriptures come mainly from Wycliffe and a Catholic translation.
Other Supported Ministries
WEC
We sometimes rub shoulders with WEC, a Christian
organisation with a strong Brazilian and European vibe. Great people who run a variety of ministries centred around youth and children.
Dayan the director is working with Samuel on the Bible Leadership
Course. Sometimes, when Samuel is not
too busy (heh, heh,) he gets a chance to go out and inspect the water supply of
a village that Dayan works in.
Sidara
Sidara is a small village about 30 minutes drive east of
Dili along the coast. A faithful work
there is being done by Branca, a Brazilian nurse, and Samuel’s all-time
favourite missionary hero. She is a quiet
lady with a big heart. Samuel and
Cynthia help supply her with various needs for her work (eg baby clothes,
sanitary pads, Bibles, guitars) This
year Samuel hopes she can upgrade her car – she wants a newer hilux to take
patients into the city which involves a river crossing.
Hera
At Hera, another Brazilian lady named Soraya runs a
school. She lives with Branca and for
reasons of fairness she should also be called Samuel’s all time favourite
missionary hero. Soraya is a dynamic
lady who has patiently built up a school of national recognition. Soraya saved our family out of a rather
sticky situation in the early days and in return Samuel built a set of sturdy
shelves in her storage shed. Samuel
doesn’t get out to Hera enough but occasionally a new set of shelves appears in
the school as that’s just about all that Soraya ever asks him to do.
Business
These are the things that we do to help the Timorese stand
on their own two feet. They are intended
to be economically viable and open up employment or income generating
opportunities for the Timorese. They
have a financial focus but, as for all crazy Christians, these things I hope
ultimately have God at the centre.
Bele Kria
Bele Kria is a small sewing room. It was established by Cynthia primarily to
produce cloth pads and baby nappy products. With assistance from donors we have been able
to hand out gift packs to many women.
Other income is
generated by alterations, custom clothing and accessories.
Nautilus 63
Nautilus 63 is our boat that lives by our house in Beto Tasi. Samuel is helping a young Timorese man named
Tobias to set up a trade and transport route from Dili to Atauro. Tobias stocks an old fridge in the boat with
ice and goes over to the island with various goods, rice and money to trade for
fish, bamboo and goats. This helps lift
the economy especially on the remote west side of the island as well as
provides some income for Tobias.
Occasionally foreigners hire the boat with Tobias to go to the island or
do camping or touring trips along the coast.
It is currently soundly financially viable so long as Tobias remembers
to take the ice.
Corn Farming
In one of the house churches in Los Palos we met a lovely
young family that grow corn. They have
been brave enough to go along with one of Samuel’s crazy ideas to boost corn
production in the area. Together we have
bought 2 silos that can store around 3.5 tonnes of corn as well as a corn
grinding machine, a set of scales to weigh the corn and a few other bits and
pieces. The idea is that being able to
store and process the corn, Lino will be able to make a profit to repay the
cost of the items so that the same plan can be done for another farmer.
Other Supported
Business
These are a few more things that still run but with little
input from us as they are in the last stages of needing our assistance. Within a year or two they should be
completely independent.
Amena’s Units
Amena is the wife of our neighbour and good friend Maun
Je. Samuel worked with Maun Je to build
2 units on the beach. Maun Je died suddenly
one night possibly from an aneurism. His
wife, six children and a number of mountain youth are being supported from the
income of these units. They also use
some of the money to repay the loan from us.
Anen’s Units
Amena’s units worked so well that we did it again with
another neighbour, Anen. This is a set
of three units on the beach that provide for his family, another nearby widow
and repays the loan. Both of these
projects have spurned further investments from foreigners so that these quiet,
unassuming Timorese families have a good income.
Weto Construction
During all of the construction, Samuel trained up a team of
Timorese builders headed by Anen with some comparatively reasonable building
standards. They now have their own
building contract and Samuel provides some technical assistance, financial
management assistance and they still come and borrow his tools.
Biogas
Sitting out on its own as its not religious in nature or a
business, we are assisting a Japanese organisation with a small but fun biogas
project. Samuel got sucked into this one
because of his soft spot for methane and all things alternative. Its also fun to work with Japanese. There are some odd moments like driving in a
car with a Japanese, Timorese and Samuel the Aussie and passing a set of caves
from World War II where the Japanese soldiers forced Timorese to dig an
armaments cave in their fight against the Aussies. Time changes things. Anyhow, Samuel’s job has been to design and
cost a suitable biogas system to be built in the central mountains of East
Timor. Drums On Farms
