Radford College & Fatunaba Memorial School

Radford College Partnership Proposal with Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare Timor Leste PURPOSE: As part of the Radford Awareness and Service Program (RAS), Radford College seeks to partner the Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare (pronounced Dahray) in Timor Leste under the auspices of the Office of Kirsty Sword Gusmao. Radford can make a commitment to the partnership for the next 3-5 years. The partnership program has been developed in a manner that provides: • Material, financial and relational support for the school community • Support for practical needs of the community that will have a carry over benefit more broadly into schools of Timor Leste • A deepening of our mutual learning and respect for each other Radford participates in and seeks to help build communities that are just, inclusive, diverse and sustainable. The Fatunaba Memorial School partnership makes it possible for Radford College to gain: • a solidarity with the life of another community • greater learning and understanding of the challenges of a new nation and people who have been subjected to invasion, colonisation, poverty and the brutalities of war • an opportunity for a small group of senior students to briefly experience firsthand the community of Dare Memorial School The education of children is fundamental to the growth and stabilisation of the world’s newest nation and democracy. Radford’s role will be extremely modest but real none the less. PROPOSAL 1. Financial: • The RAS programme will grant financial assistance to enhance the student classroom and learning environment of Fatunaba Memorial School (around $8-10 000 in 2009). 2.

Curricular (Radford): • Continue to develop Year 5 PYP unit on Government and Democracy, looking for ways Timor Leste in general, and Dare in particular, could be used as a case study within our region. Year 5 students may also choose to support Dare Memorial School as an Action component of their PYP unit. (See below) • Engage more intimately in the Yr 5 Heroes unit with the person and story of Xanana Gusmao; the struggle for Timorese independence

and the links with Australian Defence forces in WWII and the INTERFET Peace Corp of 1999. 3.

Practical: • Engage in practical support o Stage 1: the Dictionary Project (see below) o Other stages will be explored and developed

4.

Relational: • Send Radford students to Dare on expedition: o Senior Students in Winter holidays participate in the work requested by the Dare Community through the office of Kirsty Sword Gusmao. Winter 2009: the WWII Veterans Narrative and education kit

SPECIFIC DETAILS for the 2009 Winter Expedition Purpose • To further develop links between the Radford and Fatunaba school community • To develop greater learning and understanding of the challenges of a new nation and people who have been subjected to invasion, colonisation, and the brutalities of war • To provide a small group of senior students to briefly experience firsthand the community of Fatunaba Memorial Primary School and the Dare region and to provide assistance as requested and required. • Complete the Dictionary Project (Printing, covering and delivering 2000 Tetum-Portugese-Tetum dictionaries) • Creation of a WWII Veterans Narrative Educational Kit for use in Fatunaba and other schools • Assist in development of Democracy Unit for Yr 5 Radford Students Term 3. Travel Dates: 20 June – 1 July o 3 days: orientation geography and culture, including a coastal trip, a village stay, mountain walks, visit to Balibo (hopefully) and introduction to Dare and the school community o 5 Day work: Veterans Narrative Project; interviewing, camera work, editing and compilation of material; activities and engagement with students of Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare. o 1 Day Debrief Preparation Students will be expected to continue in their enthusiastic commitment to their academic studies and: o Join in a Timor Leste orientation (language, culture, history) o Contribute variously to: Dictionary Project; Veteran Narrative Project and the RAS Charity Fundraiser o Fulfill the expectations of students Expectations of Students

o Independently raise their own costs o Contribute their energies and skills to the demands of the projects and journey o Travel to Timor Leste ready to learn, work and be open to the people and their story o Be committed to living out the Radford ethos and represent well what the College stands for, expressed practically through students ability to imagine, listen and respect, deeply and well. Project Details: RAS Charity Fundraiser (due on Foundation Day, 9 April 2009) Working target of over $45 000 for whole school Multiple tasks with publicity, tutor and year group promotion etc. Dictionary Project  Organise printing of PDF Dictionary File targeting the Junior School and working with its student council  Organise collection, proofing, binding, packaging  Facilitate further copying if needed  Organise transportation and delivery Veteran Narrative Project Create an education resource box to facilitate the teaching and learning of the events and stories relating to the Australian forces fighting alongside the Timorese Creados during WWII. Research: Australian War Memorial, Australian service links, maps, pictures, archives etc. Video and edit interviews with Veterans and their relatives while in TL on the expedition (organised by the office of Kirsty Sword Gusmao) and complete the education kits to present to Fatunaba Memorial School. Note: there is the very real possibility that these resources might be for use in wider schools also. It is understood that even in the midst of great hardship, poverty and struggle, the knowledge of their own story and national identity is crucial to the emergence and stability of one of the world’s poorest and youngest nations. It is acknowledged that we undertake this task because it has been asked of us. BACKGROUND information a) Yr 5 Unit on Government and Democracy Year 5 Unit of Inquiry on Government: examining the instruments of democracy, its institutions and governance arrangements and include consideration of parliamentary structure, language, police, army, judicial system, constitution, education system etc. (possible connections with the Old Parliament House Democracy exhibition in which Kirsty Gusmao features, Joy McCann curator). This unit when developed could be shared across the international PYP community. b)

Dictionary Project Portion of email from Kirsty Gusmao The dictionary project grew out of the requests of a number of schools to establish small libraries, given the almost complete absence of reading/didactic materials for the use of both teachers and students

within most schools. Students have virtually no reference material on hand to assist them in grappling with the mammoth task of acquiring at least one second language (Portuguese and Tetum are the official languages of Timor-Leste and are not spoken in the majority of the nation's homes, and yet they are the language of instruction in schools across the country). Tetum-Portuguese-Tetum, Bahasa-IndonesiaPortuguese-Bahasa Indonesia and English-Tetum-English dictionaries or word lists are an essential resource for schools and yet sadly very scarce. They are eagerly sought in large quantities by the vast majority of schools I have visited to date. If the students of Radford are able to make available copies of each of the above-mentioned word lists/dictionaries this would represent an invaluable contribution to education in the Timor Leste. In summary: photocopying and sending as many Dictionaries as possible will make a huge difference. c)

Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare and the involvement of Kirsty Sword Gusmao Kirsty Sword Gusmao is intimately bound to the longings and hopes not only for the people of Dare but for all the people of Timor Leste. Her husband is Xanana Gusmão, Prime Minister of Timor Leste. She is a passionate advocate for women and children and the value of providing them with education and employment opportunities to ensure the future stability of the world’s newest nation. Timor gained sovereignty and independence from the Indonesian government on May 20, 2002. Timor Leste (or East Timor) has long been connected to the affairs of Australia, notably during WWII and most recently leading the UN sponsored process towards self-determination. As Timor Leste builds a nation from the ground up, educating its young is absolutely vital. Dare Memorial School is in the mountains south of Dili, and has been a personal project of Kirsty Sword Gusmao since the community asked her to help them get a school about 5 years ago. There are over 300 children in the Dare community. On my first visit, I guess I immediately had this vision of a memorial school, which would honour the memory of the Australian soldiers, the Timorese credos that died in Timor during World War II. I wanted it to be something which allowed for the children of that area to feel connected in a very special way with the acts of courage of their forebears. (Kirsty Sword Gusmao May 10 2008) The original Dare war memorial was built by members of the 2nd/2nd Independent Company in 1969 as a gift to the Timorese people. In particular the memorial commemorates the sacrifice of hundreds of Timorese Criados who fought alongside the Australians and hid them and looked after them in the mountains until they were evacuated in 1943.

Dr Karl James, an historian at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, says “the Japanese hand was often brutal and carried out punitive raids against Timorese, executing numbers who had helped the Australians. During the course of the war it's estimated about 40,000 Timorese died." The memorial was destroyed in the troubles in the lead up to the vote for independence. Kirsty Sword Gusmao has worked closely with the remaining men of the 2/2nd Commandos and the Dare community in building the memorial school on the original memorial site. The school is an open structure with minimal facilities. The children of Dare have a broken record of their own history, have lived with considerable violence and poverty and present as traumatised victims with poorly developed patterns of creative play.