This little project caught my eye because I have been at a school (Raouli) in Timor Leste in 2018 to hand out similar school backpacks to students with nothing. Their school was just a cow shed built after the Indonesians burnt down their school in 1975. Timor Leste is an impoverished country, so rebuilding anything takes an extraordinary time. The trip brought a perspective on life that couldn't be understood unless you saw it with your own eyes. I am sure that Geoff and Di Double, who were also on that trip, will give an insight into Timor Leste's history and hardship. While Omelai school is 300 km from the Balibo District, the need is the same. When we were in Timor Leste in 2018, we had meetings with Spend it Well (the people organising the backpacks) concerning building the schools and found them to be a caring organisation with a focus on building rather than profiting. Five years later, they are still doing what they are doing, so I trust they will deliver.
Remote Omelai School in Timor Leste has a new building with three classrooms, a teachers' room, a kitchen for school lunches, five toilets and a hand-washing facility. It has good quality desks and chairs from Australian schools arriving soon for the new classrooms. Some of these desks may have been collected by the Rotary Club of Berwick and sent to Donations in Kind in Footscray for delivery to this school! (Our Club does fantastic stuff right here at home, too!).
The new buildings will officially open on Monday, September 25, 2023. We'd love to give each of Omelai's 130 children a good quality backpack filled with school supplies - exercise books, pencils, sharpeners, rubbers, pens, a ruler, a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap. We can buy these items in Dili for $30 per child.
If you'd like to give a backpack, please donate $30 using the button below - write "backpack" in the notes section. Your donation will be tax deductible and we will send you photos. We'd love you to send us a personal message from you or your children we can put inside your backpack - you can scan and send these to kris.webb@spenditwell.com either in English - or you could write it in Tetum using the online translator!
The new buildings will officially open on Monday, September 25, 2023. We'd love to give each of Omelai's 130 children a good quality backpack filled with school supplies - exercise books, pencils, sharpeners, rubbers, pens, a ruler, a toothbrush, toothpaste and soap. We can buy these items in Dili for $30 per child.
If you'd like to give a backpack, please donate $30 using the button below - write "backpack" in the notes section. Your donation will be tax deductible and we will send you photos. We'd love you to send us a personal message from you or your children we can put inside your backpack - you can scan and send these to kris.webb@spenditwell.com either in English - or you could write it in Tetum using the online translator!
I have purchased a $30 backpack using the link above. There is an optional fee of 43 cents for card processing but then 100% of my funds go towards the supply of a backpack that will make a big difference to someone in the picture below.
BEFORE
AFTER
