Historic Vessel Vega
3.5-hour hike through the jungle
Historic Vessel Vega visits the Topu Honis Shelter home in Oe-cusse, East Timor
- Topu Honis, which means "Guide to Life" operates two Shelter homes in Oe-cusse, one is in Mahata at the coast where the older youth live and enjoy the oppurtinity to visit the Junior high school. The second one is in the mountain village of Kutet.
- After meeting the children and a hot rice lunch, we set off by foot along an unsealed road that faded into a surreal landscape. The path morphed into a trickling stream as we began the ascent and soon we found ourselves scaling uphill into a jungle river.
- Historic Vessel Vegas crew visits the Topu Honis Shelter home in Oe-cusse, East Timor
- Over 40 children from Mahata led us on a 4.5-hour trek up the mountain to Kutet. Everyone was laden with the donations of school and medical supplies from Vega
- The trek was not all-hard work as we often stopped to refresh ourselves in the deep pools of that cool mountain stream.
- Dusk was approaching by the time we reached Kutet. Just getting here had been a grand adventure.
- I couldn’t wait to see the place in the morning light. Historic Vessel Vegas crew visits the Topu Honis Shelter home in Oe-cusse, East Timor
- Topu Honis is modeld like the homes of the Timorese village.
- Kits-4-Kids schoolbags, donated by the German European School Singapore - 50 bags went to the students in Kutet where they attend the village primary school
- Dr. Ruth translates the letters from the schoolbags into bahasa indonesia.
- Mira
- We had great moments observing the childrens happiness when they opend their new schoolbags and compared all their new treasures
- Anjelina
- Aldo is happy to recieve a letter from Heike Sauer
- The children spent the afternoon enthusiastically replying to the letters they had received in their schoolbags from the Singaporean children
- Dr. Ruth conducts a class on Vitamin A deficency, a big problem in Timor Leste
- Adat dance during the cermony
- Father Richard with Oliver
- The church is a combination of traditional Catholic processes and the “adat”; the local belief system of the Meto people.
- It's time to visit the service
- Alexis having a good time
- Before church the children included us in their games
- Boys wearing the ModuSpec shirts brought by Vega in 2011
- Father Richard in front of the church on Sunday
- Father Richard in front of the church on Sunday
- Boys styled in the traditional Meto dress
- Alex and her new friends
- The planting beginns in April and is stagger the plantings so there will be a continuous supply of fresh vegetables from June until November.
- The best producer is the eggplant, which bears fruit well into the beginning of the wet season.
- On one terraced hillside, gamal, a fast-growing, tree-like legume is planted, with pineapples in between. On three wider terraces, there are all kinds of vegetables.
- The garden in Kutet is quite hilly, the seeds and fertilizer Vega delivered in 2011 where put to good use.
- The local school in Kutet only goes to the fourth grade.
- The homes in Kutet and Oekusi are in the middle of villages, a kind of village within a village.
- After two days we had to leave
- We took a different route back to Mahata
- We went along the landward side of the dry, desolate mountains towards the coast
- Kits-4-Kids schoolbags, donated by the German European School Singapore - 50 bags went to the students in Mahata where they attend the junior high school
- Kitchen house in Mahata
- Lili Tarung, caretaker at Mahata opening one of the art boxes Alex brought from Australia
- Palmira Coa a student who was raised by the Topu Honis orphanage is getting ready to start studies at the university in Kupang. She is one of the 3 students in Oecussi, East Timor who recieved Laptops from Vega.
- The coastal facility also has the advantage of five water wells.
- In Mahata they grow different types of crops.
- Watermelons grow well on the coast, but not in the hills. The same goes for tomatoes. We learned that they can grow carrots well in the hills, but not on the coast.
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