A rewarding evening listening to and understanding better the emotions and personal impacts of the ‘immersion’ experience of St Canice parishioners to the Jesuit Railaco Mission last June.
Tagged as: Railaco
Railaco 2019 Barbara
The students of NOSSEF, the Jesuits’ Railaco secondary school of nearly 400, see the blessings that their education brings them and therefore they focus on their studies. Last year, all students passed the national exams and the school came 2nd in the country only to be pipped by the Jesuit-run school outside of Dili. Amazing achievement because these are children from poor villages who have experienced the brunt of their recent brutal history.
Railaco – Malcolm France
It had never occurred to me that after PNG, East Timor is Australia’s closest neighbour. Far closer than other neighbours we may be more familiar with such as New Zealand or perhaps Fiji. Australians can travel to the capital Dili on a comfortable modern jet from Darwin in less time than it takes to fly from Sydney to Melbourne.
Our neighbours in East Timor of course live in a very different neighbourhood. But the smiles and the welcomes are as warm as any we could hope for from our neighbours back home.
Juanita Railaco
The purpose of this trip was to visit the Mission, meet the people, and see first-hand the work that we have been supporting.
And amongst many interesting questions, one that was raised and that I will attempt to address first is:
As my religious affiliation is non-Catholic, why am I a donor to this Jesuit humanitarian project?
Mother-Love
The key observation I made during our visit to Fatu Besi was that the people have great need, but they are NOT needy. We can make friends with our neighbours in Timor Leste, we become equals. We are not the givers and they the takers. We can inspire each other as friends do, help each other as friends do, love each other as friends do.
Children delight at eating tasty food
This video is about Children eating tasty food brought by the Railaco Jesuit Mission in the remote sub-district Cocoa in East Timor.
It’s quite incredible that 100 children turn-up in the small sub-district of Cocoa outside Railaco today to greet us.
A very fruitful relationship
The last week of June was a very fruitful and memorable time for the 18 visitors and parishioners from the parish of St. Canice in Sydney Australia that spent the whole week in East Timor.
Kids in remote village in East Timor stare in awe
Travelling into a remote sub-district, Khoda meets and shares a meal with children of the village. The Railaco Jesuit Mission in Railaco has been driving out to this village for fifteen years now. Khoda got busy chopping onions and garlic to help make the meal, before climbing aboard the stormtrooper to drive up the mountain to the village and help serve the kids. Imagine how big and round their eyes were when Khoda alighted from the back of the stormtrooper he was travelling in with his mum, Odelia Potts, and started marching up to the gathered kids playing his bagpipes.
Our Neighbours in Timor
The word neighbour derives from those near-by. When the neighbour is drawn into the exchange of kindnesses, our human-ness is enhanced by the enabling of goodness.
This is what the relationship between St Canice Elizabeth Bay parish and the Jesuit Mission in Railaco is all about – simply being neighbourly, the mutual comfort each of us derive from having good neighbours.
Fr Jorge Serrano SJ – ‘Sharing Best Practices’
Fr Jorge Serrano Sj, a visitor from the Jesuit Curia in Rome came to St Canice’s today with Helen Forde of Jesuit Mission to get a first hand view of the many outreach activities in our parish. Fr Jorge says, “people want to be invited to be part of the mission of the Society of Jesus”.