Our Schedule

Here are some of the major things that we are involved with weekly here and some examples of our daily experiences:

English Lessons for the University Teachers: Monday 10:00 am, Tuesday 8:00 am, and Wednesday 1:00 pm


One of the main things we are here to help with is teaching English and the students and teachers are anxious to learn or perfect their English, especially with native speakers. Brendan and I both meet with university professors for sessions many times a week. He teaches the guys and I teach the girls. It’s interesting because each person is at a different level (from really struggling to almost fluent) so we have to tailor our lessons to where they are at. But hopefully with the one-on-one attention we will be able to see significant improvement soon.

And it’s fun! This is our chance to really get to know the other teachers. So not only do we get to help them improve their English, but we also get to hear the stories that many of them are dying to share. These conversation lessons are always interesting and great for building relationships and quickly improving a person’s English.


English Club: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2:00-3:30

This is ‘our baby’ and it’s still going really well. We help the high school students to improve their English using lots of conversation practice, games, music, movies, and soon we will have our first field trip!

Volunteering at the Clinic: Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at the clinic

The clinic is a great place to work with great people. Sister Aquelina is a nurse who runs it and two Timorese girls, Aurita and Marcia, help out a lot. So far I’ve been able to help mostly with wound care – cleaning and wrapping sometimes substantial wounds. The worst injury I’ve been able to help with is a flesh-eating infection on the foot of a girl who comes in daily to get it cleaned and wrapped by me and Aurita. Luckily it is improving.

As a more longterm way of helping I’m working on translating all of the medicines with English labels and instructions into Tetum so that they will know what they have at the clinic. Sister Aquelina and the girls all speak a little English, but not much, and they don’t know the specifics of what the English medicines are used for or the doses. So that’s my big project right now. I’m hoping to be finished in a few weeks. It will take awhile because many of the medicines no longer have the instructions with them so I will have to look up the information on the internet. But hopefully it will help, the girls seem excited : )


Geography: Wednesday 8:00-12:00

Brendan has picked up two more classes teaching Geography to the second year senior high school students on Wednesday mornings. Right now he is teaching them how to use an Atlas and about time zones, both things that are difficult for them, but he’s doing a great job.

English 5: Thursday 8:30 – 12:00

This is the university class that we teach. It is the highest level of English at the university. There should be twenty-seven students, but if they fail English 1-4 they have to stay in the class below. So we only have seven students, but it’s pretty much a perfect class size.

We pretty much get to pick whatever we want to teach to further refine their English. Right now we are focusing on business communication in English by having units on CVs (their name for resumes in this part of the world), interviewing skills, and business presentations all in English. Hopefully studying English in terms of these more practical things will help them learn, especially since soon they will graduate and enter the working world (or continue their education).


Choir Practice: Friday 5:30

We practice Fridays at the Filipino Embassy. It’s a lot of fun actually. I’m surprised by how motivated we are to go back each time. Probably because we’re getting to make friends with both internationals and Timorese, and sing in awesome four part harmony.

I’m a soprano and Brendan’s a bass. I sit with two Timorese girls who are shy, but very good singers, and Brendan sits by the piano with Victor, a big UN Peacekeeper from Nigeria with very deep voice. On Friday at practice they were beat boxing together as we sang an African song.


Hospital: Saturday 8:00

Besides working at the clinic, Brendan and I have also started helping Sister Aquelina on Saturday mornings. First we will visit sick people in the community and bring them Jesus in the Eucharist and then head to the hospital to help however we can. Last Saturday we spent the whole morning visiting with different patients and people in the community. We had just been given a big box of chocolates so we took them to the hospital and shared the love. The only problem was that they were fancy chocolates and some people really liked them and others really liked the gesture, but when we saw them try it later it was clear they didn’t like the taste at all.


Bible Study: Saturday 4:00

We mentioned this before, but we meet on Saturday afternoons at the church. They don’t have any special facilities or anything, we just take a few plastic chairs outside the entrance and sit in a circle and read and pray and discuss. Quality. Right now we’re reading through the Old Testament in Bible study. Iwuozo, a deepely faithful man from Nigeria, coordinates things, and we all take turns leading each week.


Mass: Sunday 10:30

We always go to Mass on Sunday and now we sing in the choir. We are also making it to as many 6:30 am daily Masses as we can during the week…it’s a beautiful thing!

After Mass every Sunday we meet with some fellow volunteers and talk. Sometimes we go find a restaurant to get a pop and chat or we go to each others’ houses. It’s been really fun and relaxing and a great way to find out more about what’s going on in Dili.


Games with the Girls and Sisters: Sunday 4:00

On Sundays we go back to the Canossian school and play games with some of the Sisters and the eighty girls who are from outside of Dili and stay in a building next to the school. Mostly they like playing basketball. It’s great fun!


Conclusion:

With all of this going on we only have Tuesday and Thursday afternoon and Friday morning free to do grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning our house, and lesson planning for the week. But it all seems to work out. So now you know why we are so busy that we rarely make it to the internet, but it is for a good cause : )

Love and Miss You All!
Rachel and BrendanP.S. Happy birthday to Brendan’s sister, Rebecca Egan! She turns 21 today! Like all of the Egans, she is an international traveler and adventurer. Right now she is studying abroad in South Africa. Happy birthday Rebecca!!!