By Hollie Harris
CHRISTMAS has arrived early in East Timor in the form of 1600 shoe boxes collected from Tewantin, Cooroy, Coolum and Pacific Paradise State Schools which left here in June and arrived in Timor Leste.
The shoe boxes full of educational items arrived at Sao Miguel at Raikotu, a school about 30 minutes west of Dili, a few weeks ago and thousands of students were excitedly waiting to receive one.
Community Bank branches of Bendigo Bank in Cooroy, Marcoola and Tewantin and the Rotary Clubs of Noosa and Cooroy partnered together to support a cause that would instil a sense of responsibility into each student who compiled these special gifts.
Attending a school which receives no help from the ministry of education in Timor, Sao Miguel students are in desperate need of the simple educational items that many children here take for granted.
Each parcel took the form of a decorated shoe box filled with exercise books, rulers, erasers, pens and pencils and a personal item from each student from the three state schools to the child opening it at the other end.
Tewantin State School principal Corrie Connors says learning of the arrival of the shoe boxes has brought an emotional reaction from his students with the spirit of the project really hitting home in anticipation of seeing the presentation of the shoe boxes arriving.
“The students and our school all have a real connection to this project. They had a ball putting the care parcels together, and it’s great to see the collective efforts of the kids, their families and the teams at Bendigo Bank put those shoe boxes into the hands of the kids who need them most,’’ Mrs. Connors said.
“It’s great to see their thoughtfulness come full circle, and we’re excited and proud to have been part of it all again this year. Every shoe box was personally decorated and had educational items to further the education of a child less fortunate than themselves. Each student also enclosed something small of theirs such as a soft toy or tennis ball. It added something simple but personal to each box,” she said.
Tewantin Community Bank branch manager, Wayne Hoens agreed and said he felt the project continued to build on something special.
“Our Community Banks are all about giving back, and in this case the community recipients have been international ones. This project is about community partnership and feels as relevant now as when we started in 2008. We’re delighted to continue our collaboration with Rotary, and I’m looking forward to watching some of the kids recognise their shoe box in the photos. We all love this project and are committed to doing it all again in 2017,” he said.
