Side Projects

*Hey everyone! Sorry there's no pictures in this one, but this and the next are probably the most important blogs we will write here, so we hope that you enjoy and read all of them!

I went on a walk with Donna, an Australian PALMS volunteer, the other day and we were talking about how we handle the times when we are homesick. In my opinion, one of the best ways to maintain focus during the hard times is to have side projects - things to benefit the school and community that we work on after we leave school. We have many side projects going right now and many of them are in the final stages! And all these projects are thanks to Gus and Cathy.

Just before we left the country last September some of Brendan's family friends asked us if they could contribute to our mission. They gave a significant amount of money to us with an incredible amount of trust - allowing us to use it as we saw needs and in whatever way we thought best. While we have been here we have tried to be completely worthy of that trust - using the money for significant needs of the Timorese (not on anything for ourselves) and keeping careful track of every penny. So today I'm going to tell you about our side projects so Gus and Cathy can be assured that their money is being used well.

Textbooks

In March, volunteers with the Christian Brothers gave us an English-Tetum textbook and Teacher's guide that they had developed so we could use or photocopy it as necessary. In March, we photocopied 15 books and gave them to the youth at Ahisaun. Ahisaun is a home for young men with physical disabilities. After Brendan finishes work on Fridays, he teaches an English lesson to the boys there. They go through the textbook and then practice what they've learned in conversation. The guys are great - all open and friendly and grateful for every little thing. They have appreciated the textbooks in a place where having a textbook is rare.

Last week, with the help of some of our students, we photocopied 70 more of the English textbooks, with an inscription in the front that says (in Tetum),"From your friends Gus and Cathy. Jesus loves you!" We plan to give one to each interested family in our area. They'll go fast - any help learning English is in high demand here. Some families have asked us for an English book without even knowing we were planning this. The textbooks will be a welcome surprise and supplement to all the people who we don't have time to help in person.

Bibles

Like I said, here anything in English is considered valuable and highly practical. So we gave Sister Sonia money and asked her to buy English Bibles while she was in Singapore. It's hard to find English Bibles here - much more popular and Bibles in Tetum and Indonesian. But we thought that English Bibles would give us an opportunity to multitask - helping along their English and, more importantly, helping them to grow in their faith.

Sister Sonia was able to get 28 English New Testaments and we have given out about half of them so far, all to peole who already have a decent level of English so it can actually be used. And it does work well. Just today I was working in the clinic and Marcia took the Bible we'd given her out of her purse. She was reading through Proverbs, trying to grasp the English, but we started talking and ended up translating my favorite Bible story - when Jesus walks on the water. Hopefully we'll continue talking about it soon. It's especially rewarding to practice English by talking about God and life and the deeper things. That's why we're here!

Library Improvements

As you know, in addition to being a Professor of English at the university, Brendan works a lot in the university library so it will quickly improve in time for the government accredidation. He helps with the computer program KOHA, which he, Sister Etalvinia, and Gina use to input all the books so soon they will have a computerized catalog system in line with the Dewey decimal system.

For the accredidation, the library is supposed to have more than 5,000 books (and it did not have that many yet). To help pass the accredidation, Brendan gave $300 to the university to buy more books - $250 for appropriate books for the Computer Technician and Office Management programs and $50 specifically to to used for books to expand the Faith and Christian Living sections. The last I heard, Sister Terezhina was planning to go to Indonesia to buy the books - there will be a lot more available there and they will be cheaper so the money will go much farther.

Medicine Project

My side project has been translating the medicines at the clinic into Tetum and Indonesian, so that all the medicines can be used if necessary. The clinic has almost exactly 100 different medications stored there. Many of their instructions were in English and as Sister Aquelina and the girls don't know English perfectly yet, the medicines just sat on the shelves and collected dust. So starting in March, I began going through all the medications - writing down all the important information.

It has been quite a process - it turned out that only 40 of the medications had the instructions with them or the necessary information on the containers. Many they use by memory - which won't help when a new nurse or volunteers come. So over the past couple months in my spare time I've been on the internet at school a lot looking up the information I needed. It was a slow and painful process until I found www.drugs.com, which lists the info for all the drugs marketed in the US. Then only the international (especially Indonesian) drugs gave me trouble.

A few weeks ago I finished my part - the English instructions are ready. I made a form using Excel that has the name of the medication and 3 sections for the basic instructions in Tetum, Indonesian, and then English. Each page is in a plastic sheet protector and everything is in a red binder. The information is divided into medical sections and within each section they are in alphabetical order. The donation money paid for the 100 photocopies, sheet protectors, and binder.

Now it is almost finished! Because medical translation is something that should be done by a professional, Sister Maria is currently translating for me in her free time (she is fluent in all 3 languages and very nice to help). Then I will ask Sister Sonia, who is a trained nurse, to check the English and Tetum and make sure that the translation is correct. When that is finished I will give it to Sister Aquelina at the clinic so she can know about all her available resources when she is prescribing.

Medicine

People from the community also come to the clinic. Recently, an elderly man came in with a severe cough. He said he had been to the hospital several times, but it had not helped (in general the hospital does the same thing as the clinic - giving out the cheap medications of paracetamol, multivitamins, and antibiotics). Sister Aquelina assessed him and said she knew of a medicine that should help, but it was very expensive ($30). He offered to pay for it over a long time, a little each week and by bringing in fresh oranges instead of money. Long story short we gave the money to Sister Aquelina, who bought and gave him the special medicine. He has since gotten better and he's always smiling when we see him on our walks to and from the school.

I've heard that the clinic is run on about $100 a month, which leaves no money for special expensive medicines. And many of the families who live close to Canossa and may come to the clinic are farm families. They don't have the money to pay for special medicines although they often need them (they don't come in unless they really need help). So when I see that there is a real need, Brendan and I talk and pray about it, and intervene with money to get medicine that could cure the condition instead of only dull the pain. In my opinion, quality of healthcare is one of the biggest things that separates East Timor from America and Australia. Less money = less options, worse medication, worse equipment, and fewer staff (especially highly qualified staff).

Physiotherapy/ Physical Therapy Therabands

Speaking of health-related things, a blessing we had was that Peggy, a personal and family friend and great physical therapist, donated 3 sets of PT therabands of different strengths. 1 set we gave to Assert, the only physical rehabilitation location outside the National Hospital. I have been volunteering there for a couple hours on Tuesday afternoons since March. Sister Aurora, my official boss, is on the council that founded Assert (which is desperately needed here). The clients are mostly children, so they love the brightly-colored therabands and the PTs were excited to have equipment that they recognize. The second set we will probably give to the rehabilitation area of the National Hospital and the third will probably go to the Canossa clinic. Thank you Peggy!

RAK

One of our most fun side projects lately has been RAK (Random Acts of Kindness). In this the English Club doubles as a secret mission force. Each has a code name which they use during RAK missions and they bring normal clothes to wear instead of their school uniforms.

$12 from Gus and Cathy provides enough to buy a 35 kg. rice bag for each mission. 1 rice bag can last most families 1-2 months. We take the rice bag and tape a note on it that says (in Tetum) For you and your family. Jesus loves you! Then we deliver it as secretly as possible, trying to make it an anonymous gift. We give it to families whose need is obvious from our personal contact, and seeing their houses, clothing, visible resources, etc., with a preference for the very poor, widows, and orphans.

We worked out the details for a few weeks and since then have completed 2 drop offs, both very successful and appreciated by the families. We will try to do one RAK mission per week, all at houses in the poor areas close to the school.

One of the most rewarding parts for me is having the English Club students involved. The 10 students are learning that giving is exciting and rewarding. But they are also learning to look around their community, notice needs, and try to meet them - not for personal recognition, but because they have been blessed and can. Because the Canossa schools are among the best schools in East Timor, many better-off families send their children here ("better off" being relative to people within Timor). These students will be the next generation of well-educated adults who can make a positive impact...and I think they these students will : )


To recap, Brendan and I want to thank Gus and Cathy (and Peggy) for their donations and their trust. Without their help, our ability to help would be much more limited. But right now we feel that our side projects are making a significant impact to improve education and healthcare in our area, as well as helping people to grow in their faith and in knowledge of Jesus and His unconditional love which is what life's all about! : )

Love,

Rachel and Brendan

P.S. I just taught English Club and told them I was coming to write you all. They said to say hi to you from them!