23/7/16
As cruisers we live in a very privileged world where we are able to visit very remote places and experience their hospitality and generosity. We all carry on board various items to give the villages, such as clothes, educational items, medical items, building materials etc and today we were given the opportunity to visit a local school and give them some of our gifts. The children sang a few songs to us, which actually bought tears to our eyes. They were so excited to have us there and after the singing we were invited to dance with them. They were rather shy at first but eventually started giggling and responding to us – after all the festivities all four boats gave them some gifts – basketball and hoop, pens, paper, books, little torches, etc and their faces said it all. We loved every minute of the visit.
We were then taken on a tour of the school, which was very well equipped. Some of these students get scholarships to universities in Portugal or Dili and they are educated up to 18 years. They have veg gardens, chickens, and they also have rooms where girls can sew school uniforms and other clothes for sale. Its a really well run organisation.
S/V Indian Summer 1 