Planos, promessas e desafios… – From Timor, With Love

As I pointed out earlier, after handing over the beekeeping and organic agriculture and health projects to the respective Ministries, many meetings followed in an attempt to present and argue the benefits of implementing them to improve the quality of life and the well-being of the Timorese community..

One of the requirements we ask the Ministry of Agriculture, considered the most essential for the development of our beekeeping and agriculture projects, It was land with approx. 3 hectares. The directors and advisors of the Ministry of Agriculture informed me that they were not aware of any existing land that could be assigned to us and advised me to look for land in the districts that had suitable areas with the potential for beekeeping..

During 2 years of incessant search in 3 districts, with many setbacks and ups and downs, We found a plot of land with approx. 6 hectares, belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture of Gleno.

After numerous meetings, both with the local director of this ministry, as well as with the regional director, the national director and finally with the director general of the Dili Ministry of Agriculture, the final conclusion was that it was not possible to deliver 2-3 hectares for our project, because the Gleno Ministry of Agriculture had a horticulture project that was about to start, according to their information, very soon. Two years have passed and the respective land, and integra: 6 hectares, still full of weeds, without being cultivated a single inch of land…

Very sad and disappointed I came to the conclusion that the Portuguese saying that says: “don't even do, don't let others do“ applies so well to this situation.

One of the proposals for the collaboration agreement that we presented to the representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture was aimed at the full funding of this project., by the Timorese government, and theoretical/practical training in organic beekeeping and agriculture would be offered free of charge by our Foundation, through our collaborators.

pasts 2 years in meetings, where we get so many promises and encouragements of help and collaboration, we were informed that our project was presented to the Council of Ministers of the government of East Timor and that they came to the conclusion that it was not a priority for the Timorese government and they were not interested in carrying it out.

Two and a half years ago we were visited by friends from Australia, you e Luke, who are our closest partners, e, when we talk about the needs of these people, we came to the conclusion that if we wanted to see this project come to fruition, we would have to bear all the costs inherent to the purchase of land and other expenses that would be necessary for the execution of each stage of this plan, so wonderful and at the same time so challenging..

We were aware that our resources are limited and that the dimension of this project was really big and that it exceeded our financial possibilities., yet confident, also, that the same God who had placed in our hearts the desire to carry out this project would provide the necessary resources to carry out each phase of it, because we believed that he, being the absolute Owner of all the resources of both the Earth and the vast Universe, had no difficulty in arranging “some change coins“ to make this dream a reality.