A Word from Our Chairman
I hope that everyone will enjoy reading this newsletter as it is filled with good news about what has been an extremely busy and successful period in the past three months with Connect East Timor (CET) launching into the Pilot Project. This stage will culminate in 2007 with the deployment of village radio networks in the Balibo and Lacluta sub-Districts, providing an estimated 20,000 people in these rural areas with access to simple and affordable communications.
We can be very confident that this simple radio technology will have the same catalytic impact on these communities as has been experienced in Atabae since May 2005 when the earlier CET Demonstration Project was deployed there.
The CET ‘family’ of donors, supporters and volunteers is growing steadily! This is a wonderful group of organizations and people who have adopted the CET vision as their own and are very generously contributing time, skills and expertise, money and/or in-kind gifts. Step by step, we are making the vision a reality!
Please read on to see how… Peter de Haas
Visit by Project Manager, Alan Collier
CET volunteer Project Manager, Alan Collier, visited Timor - Leste for ten days in early October 2006 to undertake a technical reconnaissance, check on the performance of the demonstration system in Atabae, explain to the communities of Lacluta and Balibo about the village radio system they will receive from CET in 2007, and brief the Minister of Transport and Communications, Inacio Moreira as well as officials in the Timor - Leste Government and in other agencies.
Alan reported that the response to the radio system installed by CET in Atabae was extremely enthusiastic, and similarly, the people of Lacluta and Balibo are very keen to receive their systems. In Lacluta, Alan noted that the nearest mobile telephone coverage is 35km away (a trip in a car, if you have one, of over 90 minutes on poor roads); nor do they have a functioning electricity system, and receive no radio or television broadcasts. CET will make a huge difference to these people.
Training Course, Brisbane 16 - 24 Oct 06
Four enthusiastic representatives from Timor-Leste bravely came to Brisbane for 10 days from 15-25 Oct 06 to attend the CET training course. It was a visit they are unlikely to forget as it was marked with many new experiences: significantly, it was the first time any of them had been out of their country and also the first time they had traveled on an aircraft.
They were: Mr. Estevao Guimaraes, representing the Ministry of Transport and Communications, Mr. Jorge Leite, of Atabae, Mr. Johannes Edi representing Balibo, and Mr. Claudino Ximenes das Neves of Lacluta.
The course was kindly sponsored by Queensland Rail in that they donated the use of the training facilities and also the time put into the course by their technicians, and key CET volunteers, Robert Moore and Michael Witt.
Held at Queensland Rail’s Mayne facility, the training went very well. The students from Timor-Leste, after the initial culture shocks, settled into the course and participated enthusiastically throughout. Importantly, they now consider themselves to be key members of the CET ‘team’ and all have agreed to assist with the implementation of the Pilot Project in 2007.
In a packed program, they learnt about: issues that arise when people from different cultures work together on development projects; the CET Pilot Project; basic theory of radio-communications and a comprehensive familiarisation with the CET village radio equipment. After hours and on the weekend, they were hosted (and feted) by the Brisbane based partner communities: Friends and Partners with East Timor (FPET) and the Balibo-Kedron Friendship Group.
An unplanned highlight was the kind offer from Queensland Rail to let them visit and drive the simulator used by the train drivers. Apparently the virtual kangaroo population was considerably reduced by the time they were finished!
The only dampener on their visit was the unscheduled one night stopover in Darwin on the return journey due to the closure of Dili airport. Now they are all home safely.
CET sincerely thanks them for accepting the invitation to assist us as our representatives in their communities and in the Ministry of Transport and Communications. It was a real pleasure for everyone to meet and get to know them while they were in Brisbane and we look forward to continuing this association as CET unfolds in 2007! .
Welcome Function 16 Oct 06
On Monday 16th Oct 06, 41 of CET’s donors, supporters and volunteers came together for dinner at Brisbane’s award winning restaurant, ‘Seasalt at Armstrongs’, to welcome our four visitors from Timor-Leste and to celebrate the commencement of the Pilot Project.
Peter de Haas introduced the visitors and provided an update on the status of the CET campaign. Importantly, he noted that by the time the Pilot Project is completed, CET will be providing affordable communications in three sub-Districts with a combined population of 30,000+. He compared this with the current Timor Telecom customer base of approximately 35,000. Peter then thanked all for their support of the CET vision and urged everyone to keep building on what had been achieved to date towards the objective of connecting all 300,000 people in the rural areas of Timor-Leste.
Fundraising Lunch 6 Oct 06
Mr. Warren Tapp, Managing Director of Directors Australia Pty Ltd, and one of our earliest supporters, kindly organized and hosted a CET fundraising lunch at the Brisbane United Services Club on 6 October 2006. Nine of his colleagues and friends kindly agreed to come along and hear the CET story for the first time, knowing full well that there is no such thing as a free lunch!
Through this initiative, Warren has already helped to secure a further $21,000 in pledges towards the Pilot Project but, just as importantly, the CET ‘family’ now has some very enthusiastic new members. (We hope to provide further details of their pledges and gifts in our next newsletter.)
Federal Government and CET
Peter de Haas recently visited Canberra to brief senior officials at the Department of Communications Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA) and AusAID. DCITA officials, with the relevant technical and international expertise, agreed that the simple and robust radio-based communications system trialled by CET ‘is an appropriate response where the commercial environment is unlikely to meet rural needs and they noted the value of similar technology in remote parts of Australia’.
AusAID advised that they were unable to assist CET with any funding at this time.
Following these briefings, a policy paper on CET was prepared with the objective of seeking a higher priority for basic village radio-communications within Australia’s aid program for Timor-Leste.
With the assistance of the Australian Christian Lobby, this paper has been submitted to the Coalition parties as well as to the Australian Labor Party in the context of reviewing policies for the next election to occur sometime in 2007.
Pilot Project Funding
The fund raising target set for the Pilot Project for 2006 is $100,000. After covering the costs of the recent training course and visit to Timor-Leste by Alan Collier, there is currently $58,000 available for the Pilot Project.
We ask all our supporters and donors to please consider their ability to help CET reach this target for 2006 so that we can be confident that there is sufficient to meet the expected costs of the Pilot Project implementation in 2007.
Thank You!
On behalf of the people in Timor-Leste that we are seeking to serve, CET acknowledges and sincerely appreciates the following people and organizations:
· Bob Scheuber, Chief Executive Officer, Queensland Rail, for sponsoring the CET training course by donating the use of the training facility at Mayne and by releasing Robert Moore and Michael Witt on QR time to prepare and deliver the course
· Robert Moore and Michael Witt, for their professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication in designing and delivering the technical elements of the training course in a challenging cross cultural setting – a great credit to themselves and to QR
· Warren Tapp, Directors Australia Pty Ltd, for hosting the fundraising lunch at his own expense and also for a further gift of $1,000.00
· The Collier Family for kindly agreeing to release Alan from his duties as husband and father to undertake the visit to Timor- Leste and for a cash contribution of $5,000.00 to CET which more than covers the cost of the visit
· Brian Marsden for organizing the welcome function on 16th Oct and for contributing the cost of $240 for an excellent selection of wines
· Roger O’Halloran, Executive Director PALMS Australia, and Brendan Joyce also from PALMS, for taking two days of their valuable time to present the cross-cultural component of the recent training course
· Susan Rix, for her staunch support and assistance throughout 2006 and for her cash gift of $1,500.00
· Jim Wallace, Executive Director, Australian Christian Lobby, for assisting CET with the preparation and presentation of a policy paper to the Coalition parties and to the ALP
· Betty Byrne Henderson AM, for her additional cash gift of $1,000.00 and for helping to introduce CET to her guests at the welcome function
· Friends and Partners with East Timor (FPET) for their assistance with the billeting and support of Jorge and Dino while they were in Brisbane
· Margaret & David Hall (PALMS volunteers in Atabae) for the great effort over many days and several trips to Dili, in helping the visitors obtain passports and visas
· Joel Hodge, a member of FPET for his willingness to ‘go the extra mile’ in ensuring that our guests from Timor – Leste were well looked after and for also helping to involve the local East Timorese community
· Kedron – Balibo Friendship Group: for their assistance with the billeting and support of Estevao (Steven’) and ‘Edi’ while they were in Brisbane to attend the course, and also for a cash gift of $920.00 towards the costs of the training
· St Vincent de Paul, NT, for taking care of our visitors during an unscheduled stopover in Darwin on their way back to Timor – Leste
Let’s keep going!!
|
