The Mission in East Timor from 07 of April to 23 of May 2010

A mission of the International Pastoral da Criança (Child´s Pastoral) was carried out in East Timor to strengthen the methodology of the Pastoral da Criança in the dioceses of Dili and Baucau by means of training in the basic activities of health, nutrition, citizenship and education.

East Timor is located on an island in the Asian Continent with a population estimated at 1.100.000 habitants.

The Pastoral da Criança (Child´s Pastoral) methodology began to be introduced in the country in 2001. The missionaries who took part in this mission Sister Maria de Lurdes Matiello, Sister Diva Rossi and Miss Vanderlúcia da Silva were able to get to know the reality of the country and the beautiful work what was being carried out by the Pastoral da Criança leaders.

During this visit trainers and leaders were trained to do the free gratuitous work of accompanying children and pregnant women. The work to be carried out by the groups of volunteers who were trained in the Pastoral da Criança methodology is intense seeing that in East Timor the infant mortality rate is 66,7 for every 1000 babies born (UNICEF statistics – 2006).
The great challenge of the missionaries was the language barrier, in a country where the official languages are Tetum and Portuguese, however, as the majority of the population does not speak Portuguese the Brazilian missionaries had to rely on the support of voluntary East Timor translators who helped with the translation during the training sessions that were carried out.
The teams that were prepared in the dioceses of Dali and Baucau took on the commitment to pass on the training sessions they had received to the local leaders of the Pastoral da Criança in the country thus spreading information about health, nutrition, education, infant development and citizenship to the families that are accompanied by the Pastoral da Criança in the country.

Read the history of the Pastoral da Criança in East Timor prepared by Sister Ivanilde Rodrigues and Sister Ana Fusinato who were on mission in the country.