Clinic for the Disabled site
Lots of soil to get it level
Fence up and ready for next year
WHEN WE ARRIVED A BIT TO DO
HANDS MEMBER 5 YEAR OLD AMARA
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2010
CLINIC FOR THE DISABLED & MISSION CENTRE MAINTENANCE
Much work was done this year in a short time. Arthur arrived early and painted the kitchen of the mission centre and did the ever so hard task of getting our container of the warf, this is a project in itself.
Once the teams started arriving things started to happen, the floor in the kitchen of the mission centre was breaking up and was very uneaven. A self levelling compound was poored over the floor and left to harden, once hard it can be tiled to, good tiling job gang.
New roofing iron and purlins where ordered from Baucau and for a change, we still had a bit of rain hanging around which we have not experienced so re-roofing needed to be done one section at a time. While in the roof the wiring was checked and repaired as required.
At the same time the site of the Clinic for the Disabled was cleared and loads of soil and rocks where brought in, packed down and levelled ready for the building work to start next year.
2009
STAGE 2 - HERA SCHOOL
This year we travelled back to East Timor to help complete stage 2 of the Hera School Project. When we arrived we found that the project had come to a halt due to Australian Relief Mercy Services not being able to raise funds to complete the stage this year. Fortunatally we where still holding money in our school project account that we could access to help get on with the work.
There was a surveyer doing some work in Dili who travelled to Hera for a couple of days to help complete some jobs who kindly donated a large amount of money plus one of our members also helped with some money. Materials where purchased and the work started in a very short time with the help of 3 small teams plus a group of ladies from New Zealand we managed to paint the building inside and out, erect the roofing trusses and place the roof on, fit windows and have the floor of the large dinning room concreted. We also managed to do some repairs to the walls on stage 1 and repaint it the same colours as stage 2.
Thank you to BLS Construction for the help of their employees on the concreting job. We have already purchased the toilets for this stage. Just a few jobs left prior to the start of the new school year which has now been realighned with Australian school year of a start in late January 2010.
We travelled back in August - November with a small team and got lots done, some of the list was: connect water, power, fit ceilings, lights, fans, tiles and toilets just to name a few jobs. We left some money so the local workers could complete the floor tiles in the class rooms. All is ready for this years intake.
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GETTING CLOSE
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CLOSE BUT NOT QUITE COMPLETE TOILETS IN PLACE BUILDING COMPLETED IN NOVEMBER
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Sidara rework
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2008
REWORK ON SIDARA SCHOOL AND CLINIC
In 2008 we revisited our old stomping ground at Sidara, as when we built the pre school in 2004 the piku we used only had a short life span and needs to be replaced every few years. We purchased timber, a CSR product called Cematel Cement Sheeting, 20 x 28Kg tubes of jointing compound, sealer and paint and placed them all into a container along with more school desks and chairs and tools and sent them all to East Timor. John and Arthur arrived a week prior to any work teams to arrange getting the container from Dili to Sidara. Not a regular path for a truck so trees had to be cut a ramp made to allow a truck to drive out of a dry river bed and a fence needed to be removed. All this prior to the truck driver having a look to see if he thought the truck would make it.
The container was onsite by the time the first team arrived. The piku was removed from the clinic and the frame work to make way for new framing to hold the cematel sheeting, hanging beams for the ceiling was also added, the piku was removed from the school more noggins added and sheeting was placed onto the school. We also added new room deviders to the clinic and painted them. This year we hired 3 local men to assist us and for us to teach them new skills. Juse, Florindo and Jaimito all worked very hard and appeared to enjoy the challanges we gave. 2 weeks gone and six people had left leaving John to carry on with the workers until the next team arrive a further 2 weeks down the track.
A cement slab was placed at the rear of the Clinic to hold the generator, we took a steel cage in the container and this was placed in the slab, a brick surrond was built outside the cage and a roof placed on top for protection from the waether. Wiring run to the Medical Clinic and the birthing clinic for lights and power. A plywood ceiling in the clinic painted. The cematel sheets needed to have the joins filled, a sealer placed over all the sheets then a textured finish then painted, quite a task. All was completed on time and with only a few items of building materials left over. Now we start to plan for 2009.
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Hera stage 1 complete
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2007
STAGE 1 HERA SCHOOL COMPLETED
2007 prooved to be a good year for the Hera School Project, Rooms where painted, ceilings put in place and tiles placed onto the floors. But the best sign is to have all the furniture placed in the rooms to be used by the children.
The work was done by East Timorise men as well as teams from Western Australia, HANDS of SA and a group from New Zealand. It was good to see the play ground supplied by HANDS and the container full of school furniture and supplies. The children certinally where busy trying out all the new toys and teaching aids. HANDS was there for the opening and what a day.
Government representatives, consulate reps, international police and a large number of Hera families attended. With stage 1 now in operation it means now we start stage 2, please keep this in your heart as we need assistance and you could be the person we need.
2008 will see the beginnings of stage 2, HANDS will concentrate on some more work in Sidara but, we will help in Hera as soon as we are done in Sidara.
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Hard work pays
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2006
VEGETABLE GARDEN - SIDARA
In 2006 we travelled back to East Timor to assist in any way we could. Due to civil unrest it was not possible to purchase building materials to complete the painting and floor coverings in the School at Hera. However, we were able to assist in other ways. One of those was to assist the the community of Sidara in establishing a vegetable garden. First we had to buy some tools for gardening, some taps to repair those brocken on the water tank and some hose to assist in getting the water to where it was needed. These tasks took 3 mornings of driving around Dili going from hardware store to supermarket to plumbing stores and back to hardware stores. At this point not all shops where trading. However, we found enough to get started.
When we did start we found a group of ladies would come out to assist each morning. They showed us a thing or two in setting up a vegetable plot. It took 5 days to transform the weeded area into a vegetable garden big enough to supply the village with fresh vegetables. We supplied enough seed to last that season and from that they could then start to collect seeds from the crops to continue. Upon return a year later it was good to see the garden had expanded.
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Hera school stage 1
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2005
STAGE1 - HERA SCHOOL START
In 2005 we started a large project, much to big for HANDS. Australian Releif Mercy Services (ARMS ) took on the project and with our assistance work started on the School in Hera, a rural community just 12 kilometres from Dili. This project took 4 weeks just in foundation work and floor slabs. The days are hot and as the frame was to be made from steel it was decided that the heavy digging and foundation brick work should be done in the mornings and the manufacture of the the steel frames could be done in the sheltered area in the afternoons out of the sun.
Steel C sections where trucked from Bacau, we then cut them to length and assembled all that we could in the shaltered area just leaving the final assembly to the day of errection. Cement blocks came from Dili as did the cement, sand and concrete.
It took just 12 weeks to get the building to lockup stage with the assistance of 2 Local men, Jamie and Rosetto and a combination of Australian Releif Mercy Services and Help And Nurture Developing Societies members plus a couple of people who where staying at the YWAM base in Dili, they caught a Microlet up to assist on the final day of pooring the floors.
There where a couple of builders working on this job, however. We still had a large makeup of non builders, consisting of men woman and young adults.
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Sidara school site
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2004
SIDARA SCHOOL PROJECT
This was our first year in travelling to East Timor. With $10,000.00 Australian and a set of plans, we headed to do some good. After a survey of the site and the building styles used it was decided our plans did not fit, so some modifications, (new plans) and we got to work. 4 weeks later and only $3,000.00 over budget the Pre School was completed.
All materials where purchased in East Timor, by doing this it helps the locals earn money rather than shipping it in. This gave us a challange as we had to find the materials required. Take it from me it is quite a task to build with timbers not straight, nails that bend when looked at and hammers that fall apart if you hit anything to hard. However, we did manage to build the school. Builder in charge was Graham May and his team consisted of male and female office workers, a handy man, a few computor technitions and a couple of students. A perfect selection of builders labourers not to mention some local men and children who where always waiting to eagerly assist. The building also gets used as a community building and a Sunday School until the villagers built their own Church. Sidara is a village that is growing in God and the people are gentle and loving. God is great.
This was the beginning of HANDS, we did not know that at the time but on return to Australia we knew we could not continue to do Gods work without some kind of organisation to back us up for fund raising and tax deductability. So the incorporated body of HANDS was formed.
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