Belola School - wonderful progress acknowledeged

In a line of communication we are able to see the wonderful effect Rotary contributions have made to Belola School.     

                                                                                                                                             

      Kia ora Belola school builders.

      It is  always wonderful to hear news from Ricardo from Port Melbourne Rotary giving us an update from Timor Este. Look at what your contribution has made.

       Donna Reed - Youth Director 2019/20 & PP - Plimmerton Rotary.                                                            

 
Ricardo's letter and Kris’s report and pictures follow from here;    

Hi Everyone,
If you are receiving this it is because you or your club, contributed to the construction of the Belola Primary School in Balibo, Bobonaro district, Timor Leste.The school has now been operating for some months and it is gratifying to see how quickly the parents, teachers and students, starts adding to the school’s impact on their community. Please see below a report by Kris Webb from Spend it Well, our ‘in country’ partners Timor Leste. Kris took a group of donors with her to visit the Belola School and to attend to the official opening of the new Railuli Primary School. Thank you again for your generosity  and if you are interested, our next school construction project, will be the new Falowai Primary School, also close to Balibo. As with Belola and Railuli, Falowai will also be delivered in partnership with the Balibo House Trust and Spend it Well. David Dippie, who has now taken over from me, will be in touch re Falowai.
Cheers, Ricardo
 

Hi everyone,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I visited Belola School on the morning before the Railuli opening when the children were arriving and starting school. The school and playground are looking good. There seems to be an ongoing problem with the water despite repairs from the builder.  We are going to get the Australian water engineer who will be up there shortly to look at this for us. There are fenced off gardens to the left and right of the school and a number of inventive propogations in old water bottles and bamboo structures at the front of the school. Simon and I met with Ego Lemos who runs Permail (school gardens) when we were back in Dili.  He was extremely enthusiastic about how well the garden program is going at Belola. He said that the community (particularly the women) are extremely enthusiastic and hardworking. The garden to the left of the school has been planted and looks quite established.  He also said they have bought avocado and mango trees which will be planted at the front of the school to create shade and produce food (he believes strongly in the concept of combining beauty and function). More gardens will also be planted in front of the school.  Ego is suggesting the formation of a women’s horticultural co-operative who be given the use of the garden to the right of the school. The concept would be that they give 10% of the proceeds to the school and keep the remainder.  Apparently the workshops with surrounding schools have gone very well and there is a lot of interest from other schools.  We said we would find funding for the small amounts needed to get those other gardens established.  Ella (who works for the Trust) and has been working with the Permatil program at Belola is great and will provide excellent continuity for the Belola and surrounding gardens at the end of Permatil’s year’s work. I believe Ego is seeing Belola very much as a flagship school for the Permatil program which is great. He said he took a 20 person Australian choir there recently.

 Kind regards  -  Kris