Child Feeding Programme and Jesuit Mass in Railaco and Leorema

This weekend I went with a group of young Jesuits to Railaco, a tiny village in Dili's cool mountainous hinterland.
We arrived in Railaco after an one-hour-drive in the red 4WD. Sister Rita, Father Sami, Father Bong and the others already had prepared dinner for all at the Jesuit's Residence:
We started the next day with a walk through the village. The region is famous for coffee production. Introduced by the Portuguese, East-Timorese coffee is definitely one of the world's best!
Many ruins in the village are silent witnesses of the country's recent history. After the Referendum in 1999, Timor-Leste became independent and a 24-years-period of Indonesian occupation ended. As a consequence to the Referendum, many houses were burned and important infrastructure (especially water and electricity) was destroyed. Many refugees still did not return to their houses because they are afraid of upcoming tensions.

This ruin now hosts a supermarket in its left part (with roof):
Secondary school:
Cleaning the cass-rooms before 6-months-holidays (!!) start:
As all teaching is now supposed to be in Portuguese (official language in Timor-Leste), teachers themselves have to improve their language skills. After the official 3-months-holidays teachers are on training and schools remain closed until January!

Child Feeding Programme

Later we went with two sisters from the Jesuit church to deliver nutritious food to the children in remote mountain villages. Moving moments... seeing the children appearing from all parts of the village with their plates and spoons in their tiny hands... with their dark eyes wide open, hungry but always a big smile on their faces and just so patient and calm. I honestly miss the words to describe what I experienced during these couple of hours.

The baby has apparently never seen a Malai before. It started to cry....

Sunday's Mass in Leorema

On our way to Leorema, another mountain village... electricity supply existed even in remote villages during Indonesian time:
After the independence most of the infrastructure was destroyed or just not maintained anymore. The young country still doesn't make any efforts to improve any infrastructure.

With one of the Jesuit candidates in front of Chefe de Suco's house:
Sunday's Mass in Leorema:
Chefe de Suco ("Bürgermeister") shows the grave of Lobato's family. The Lobato's are a family of important politicians in Timor-Leste.
Landscape...
Drying coffee:
Final picture with Father Bong, Father Same, Sister Ruth and some of the Jesuit candidates - Thank you so much for the warm welcome and a wonderful weekend!
Leaving Railaco with the candidates...