Radford College

Partnership Proposal with

Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare
Timor Leste

PURPOSE:
As part of the Radford Awareness and Service Program (RAS), Radford
College seeks to partner the Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare (pronounced
Dahray) in Timor Leste under the auspices of the Office of Kirsty Sword
Gusmao. Radford can make a commitment to the partnership for the next 3-5
years. The partnership program has been developed in a manner that
provides:
• Material, financial and relational support for the school community
• Support for practical needs of the community that will have a carry over
benefit more broadly into schools of Timor Leste
• A deepening of our mutual learning and respect for each other

Radford participates in and seeks to help build communities that are just,
inclusive, diverse and sustainable. The Fatunaba Memorial School partnership
makes it possible for Radford College to gain:
• a solidarity with the life of another community
• greater learning and understanding of the challenges of a new nation and
people who have been subjected to invasion, colonisation, poverty and the
brutalities of war
• an opportunity for a small group of senior students to briefly experience
firsthand the community of Dare Memorial School

The education of children is fundamental to the growth and stabilisation of the

world’s newest nation and democracy. Radford’s role will be extremely modest
but real none the less.

PROPOSAL
1. Financial:
• The RAS programme will grant financial assistance to enhance the
student classroom and learning environment of Fatunaba Memorial
School (around $8-10 000 in 2009).

2. Curricular (Radford):
• Continue to develop Year 5 PYP unit on Government and
Democracy, looking for ways Timor Leste in general, and Dare in
particular, could be used as a case study within our region. Year 5
students may also choose to support Dare Memorial School as an
Action component of their PYP unit. (See below)
• Engage more intimately in the Yr 5 Heroes unit with the person and
story of Xanana Gusmao; the struggle for Timorese independence
 and the links with Australian Defence forces in WWII and the
INTERFET Peace Corp of 1999.

3. Practical:
• Engage in practical support
o Stage 1: the Dictionary Project (see below)
o Other stages will be explored and developed

4. Relational:
• Send Radford students to Dare on expedition:
o Senior Students in Winter holidays participate in the work
requested by the Dare Community through the office of Kirsty
Sword Gusmao.
Winter 2009: the WWII Veterans Narrative and education kit

SPECIFIC DETAILS for the 2009 Winter Expedition

Purpose
• To further develop links between the Radford and Fatunaba school
community
• To develop greater learning and understanding of the challenges of a new
nation and people who have been subjected to invasion, colonisation, and
the brutalities of war
• To provide a small group of senior students to briefly experience firsthand
the community of Fatunaba Memorial Primary School and the Dare region
and to provide assistance as requested and required.
• Complete the Dictionary Project (Printing, covering and delivering 2000
Tetum-Portugese-Tetum dictionaries)
• Creation of a WWII Veterans Narrative Educational Kit for use in Fatunaba
and other schools
• Assist in development of Democracy Unit for Yr 5 Radford Students Term 3.

Travel Dates: 20 June – 1 July

o 3 days: orientation geography and culture, including a coastal trip, a
village stay, mountain walks, visit to Balibo (hopefully) and introduction to
Dare and the school community
o 5 Day work: Veterans Narrative Project; interviewing, camera work,
editing and compilation of material; activities and engagement with
students of Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare.
o 1 Day Debrief

Preparation
Students will be expected to continue in their enthusiastic commitment to
their academic studies and:
o Join in a Timor Leste orientation (language, culture, history)
o Contribute variously to: Dictionary Project; Veteran Narrative Project and
the RAS Charity Fundraiser
o Fulfill the expectations of students

Expectations of Students
 o Independently raise their own costs
o Contribute their energies and skills to the demands of the projects and
journey
o Travel to Timor Leste ready to learn, work and be open to the people and
their story
o Be committed to living out the Radford ethos and represent well what the
College stands for, expressed practically through students ability to
imagine, listen and respect, deeply and well.

Project Details:
RAS Charity Fundraiser (due on Foundation Day, 9 April 2009)
Working target of over $45 000 for whole school
Multiple tasks with publicity, tutor and year group promotion etc.

Dictionary Project
 Organise printing of PDF Dictionary File targeting the Junior School
and working with its student council
 Organise collection, proofing, binding, packaging
 Facilitate further copying if needed
 Organise transportation and delivery

Veteran Narrative Project

Create an education resource box to facilitate the teaching and learning of the
events and stories relating to the Australian forces fighting alongside the
Timorese Creados during WWII. Research: Australian War Memorial,
Australian service links, maps, pictures, archives etc. Video and edit interviews
with Veterans and their relatives while in TL on the expedition (organised by the
office of Kirsty Sword Gusmao) and complete the education kits to present to
Fatunaba Memorial School. Note: there is the very real possibility that these
resources might be for use in wider schools also. It is understood that even in
the midst of great hardship, poverty and struggle, the knowledge of their own
story and national identity is crucial to the emergence and stability of one of the
world’s poorest and youngest nations. It is acknowledged that we undertake
this task because it has been asked of us.

BACKGROUND information
a) Yr 5 Unit on Government and Democracy
Year 5 Unit of Inquiry on Government: examining the instruments of
democracy, its institutions and governance arrangements and include
consideration of parliamentary structure, language, police, army, judicial
system, constitution, education system etc. (possible connections with
the Old Parliament House Democracy exhibition in which Kirsty Gusmao
features, Joy McCann curator). This unit when developed could be
shared across the international PYP community.

b) Dictionary Project
Portion of email from Kirsty Gusmao
The dictionary project grew out of the requests of a number of schools to
establish small libraries, given the almost complete absence of
reading/didactic materials for the use of both teachers and students
 within most schools. Students have virtually no reference material on
hand to assist them in grappling with the mammoth task of acquiring at
least one second language (Portuguese and Tetum are the official
languages of Timor-Leste and are not spoken in the majority of the
nation's homes, and yet they are the language of instruction in schools
across the country). Tetum-Portuguese-Tetum, Bahasa-Indonesia-
Portuguese-Bahasa Indonesia and English-Tetum-English dictionaries or
word lists are an essential resource for schools and yet sadly very
scarce. They are eagerly sought in large quantities by the vast majority
of schools I have visited to date. If the students of Radford are able to
make available copies of each of the above-mentioned word
lists/dictionaries this would represent an invaluable contribution to
education in the Timor Leste.

In summary: photocopying and sending as many Dictionaries as possible

will make a huge difference.

c) Fatunaba Memorial School, Dare and the involvement of Kirsty

Sword Gusmao
Kirsty Sword Gusmao is intimately bound to the longings and hopes not
only for the people of Dare but for all the people of Timor Leste. Her
husband is Xanana Gusmão, Prime Minister of Timor Leste. She is a
passionate advocate for women and children and the value of providing
them with education and employment opportunities to ensure the future
stability of the world’s newest nation.

Timor gained sovereignty and independence from the Indonesian

government on May 20, 2002. Timor Leste (or East Timor) has long been
connected to the affairs of Australia, notably during WWII and most
recently leading the UN sponsored process towards self-determination.

As Timor Leste builds a nation from the ground up, educating its young is
absolutely vital. Dare Memorial School is in the mountains south of Dili,
and has been a personal project of Kirsty Sword Gusmao since the
community asked her to help them get a school about 5 years ago.
There are over 300 children in the Dare community.

On my first visit, I guess I immediately had this vision of a memorial

school, which would honour the memory of the Australian soldiers,
the Timorese credos that died in Timor during World War II. I wanted
it to be something which allowed for the children of that area to feel
connected in a very special way with the acts of courage of their
forebears. (Kirsty Sword Gusmao May 10 2008)

The original Dare war memorial was built by members of the 2nd/2nd
Independent Company in 1969 as a gift to the Timorese people. In
particular the memorial commemorates the sacrifice of hundreds of
Timorese Criados who fought alongside the Australians and hid them
and looked after them in the mountains until they were evacuated in
1943.
 Dr Karl James, an historian at the Australian War Memorial in
Canberra, says “the Japanese hand was often brutal and carried out
punitive raids against Timorese, executing numbers who had helped
the Australians. During the course of the war it's estimated about
40,000 Timorese died."
The memorial was destroyed in the troubles in the lead up to the vote
for independence.

Kirsty Sword Gusmao has worked closely with the remaining men of the
2/2nd Commandos and the Dare community in building the memorial
school on the original memorial site. The school is an open structure with
minimal facilities. The children of Dare have a broken record of their own
history, have lived with considerable violence and poverty and present as
traumatised victims with poorly developed patterns of creative play.