Bruce

After East Timor voted for independence rather than stay under Indonesian control the nation fell into anarchy as the para-military forces loyal to Indonesia set about to destroy the nation. They burnt and destroyed all the infrastructure and killed and intimidated the people who wanted independence. Many had to flee into the mountains to survive. Eventually Australian troops entered to bring peace and to help in the restoration of the nation. There were no essential services, no markets or farms or dwellings for the people.

While watching a television report months later on the progress of the rebuilding we (Jeanette and Bruce Dean) saw a section on a fledgling library called the Xanana Gusmao Reading Room. There were so few books in this reading room. We also knew that there were no books for the children when they did start school again. We wrote to Kirsty Sword Gusmao who is an Australian married to Xanana Gusmao one of the leading fighters for independence. Xanana Gusmao was jailed for a number of years in Indonesia for his pro-democracy movement. She was delighted with our idea but warned us of the difficulty in getting the books to East Timor.

Jeanette and another lady in the Sutherland Municipal Library found a large number of old children’s books which were about to be thrown out to make way for new books. We aquired them and had them in boxes all over my office. Kirsty Sword Gusmao was correct in that it was difficult to get anything into East Timor. Eventually the mail opened up but it was very costly. Far more than I could get together here.

I then asked for help from Victor Kubik from LIFENETS international They kindly supported me with money as did another friend in the USA Dale & Mona Schurter. This enabled us to cover the cost of the postage. There were some other cost but all this worked out.

Xanana Gusmao is the leading figure to become the first President of the East Timor. Please find below the letter I received from Kirsty Sword Gusmao as a result of receiving the books.

I am going to write to Kirsty again and ask if there are any other needs for the children in the education area that we maybe able to help with again.

Dear Vic & Dale [Schurter],

I just received this encouraging email from East Timor regarding the books I sent for the children of East Timor. It took quite a while for the books to get through. I mentioned both of you in the letter which went
in each box of books. It was a very big project but as you can see it has been most appreciated. I can only thank you so much for your support of this project.

We had 14 boxes which were around 164kgs of weight. It averaged near 12kg per box. I can only guess but I think there would have been around 30 books per box - maybe more - or around 420 books for children. Please find attached a copy of the letter I sent to Kirsty. You may not know but her husband is one of the prime leaders of East Timor and could be prominent in the upcoming elections. All the best and keep up all the great work that you do in humanitarian efforts.

Kind regards,
Bruce & Jeanette Dean
PO Box 3092
Kirrawee Delivery Centre NSW 2232
Australia

Dear Bruce and Jeanette,

I am writing to thank you most sincerely for the large shipment of books which you and the Sutherland Shire Library kindly donated to the Xanana Gusmão Reading Room in Dili, Timor Lorosa´e. All of the books arrived safely by post, and I must extend a vote of thanks also to your friends in the USA who assisted with covering the postal costs, which must have been quite hefty. Transportation of donated goods is indeed often more costly than the value of the goods themselves which is alwas discouraging, so on behalf of the Management Committee of the Reading Room, we thank you both for your persistence.

We hope that you do not mind if we donate some of the books to schools, particularly those in the more isolated districts of East Timor, which do not enjoy access to much of the material assistance available to the population of Dili. The remainder we will display in the Reading Room for benefit of school groups and the wider population of children of Dili.

Next week we will begin a week of celebrations and activities to mark the first anniversary of the opening of the Reading Room. We wish that you could be present to share in these with us. I must say that the East Timorese youth group which has managed the Reading Room for the past year has done an admirable job, with minimum financial resources and supervision, and I am very proud of them and their creativity and initiative. In the coming 6 months we hope to be able to provide them with some training opportunities to consolidate their skills and to spur them on in their commitment to the work of the Reading Room.

Once again, please accept our sincere thanks and our very warm wishes, in the hope that we may one day see you in East Timor,

LifeNets Helps With Shipment of Children's Books for East Timor through Bruce and Jeanette Dean of Sydney, Australia

LifeNets Helps With Shipment of
Children's Books for East Timor
through Bruce and Jeanette Dean of Sydney, Australia