(ANS – Fatumaca) – Colégio de Don Bosco Fatumaca was honoured to be visited by His Excellency, the Prime Minister of RDTL (Republic Democratic of Timor-Leste) Dr Rui Maria de Araujo, on the 18th of July, 2015.

by Bro. Amilcar D’Silva, SDB

The Prime Minister and his committee arrived at around 09.00 a.m. local time, and were welcomed by Fr Tomas Gusmão de Carvalho SDB (Rector in-charge), Bro. Adriano Maria de Jesus SDB (Principal of the Technical School) and the whole Educative Pastoral Community of Colégio Don Bosco Fatumaca. The Prime Minister was accompanied by the Minister for Public Services, Mr Gastão Sousa; the Secretary State for Professional Training & Employment, Mr Ilidio Pereira, and other dignitaries.

At the reception ceremony there were about 300 people, with the music band of the Aspirants. One of the students read the welcoming speech and gave the finest Tais to the Prime Minister and the Ministers as a sign of welcome to the eminent guests.

The Prime Minister and all the dignitaries then proceeded to the refectory of the Salesians accompanied by Fr Eligio Locatelli SDB, Fr Gusmão and Bro. de Jesus. Then the Prime Minister had a visit to the building under construction. Fr Eligio Locatelli, the founder of this institution, explained that the purpose of putting up the building is to provide more classrooms, offices, a library, a computer room and a design room for the technical students.

Then the Prime Minister and the dignitaries visited the four workshops: Woodwork/Carpentry, Electricity, Metalwork/Mechanics and Electronics. The Prime Minister was impressed on observing the students working in the workshop and he interacted with some of them.

Immediately after the visit to the workshops, there was a thirty-minute meeting with the teaching staff of the technical school. The Principal thanked Mr de Araujo for giving of his time for this special meeting with the teaching staff. Mr Jose da Costa, the representative of the teachers, read a prepared text of proposals and of suggestions to the Prime Minister and handed it over to His Excellency. In response, the Prime Minister highly appreciated the demands, suggestions and proposals which put first the best interests of the students. He said that “this is a role-model for making requests that all the teachers in the country should bear in mind that the good and interests of the students come first”.

The next meeting was held in the Electronics hall with all the Salesians, the Novices, the teaching and non-teaching staff and the students. During the interaction, which lasted an hour and a half, the Prime Minister stressed the important role of the church, especially the Salesian Congregation in Timor-Leste, in providing the best quality of technical education to the youths of this country. He said “the government could not fail to recognize the great contribution from the church and the great services of the missionaries in the development of this country through education”. He showed great appreciation of the learning process of the Don Bosco institutions and he declared that the Don Bosco Technical School Fatumaca teaches the students not just by imparting “know-what” but also know-how to do and produce something. He encouraged the students to set clear goals for the future after completing their course in this school. To end, he thanked all the members of the Colégio Don Bosco Fatumaca and in a special way he expressed his deep gratitude to Fr. Eligio Locatelli for his great services.

To complete the day, the Prime Minister had a short visit in the afternoon to the cultivation fields, warehouse, piggery, before his departure.

Published 20/07/2015