Pune Village - A rewarding visit

VISIT TO PUNE VILLAGE

Our visit to Pune Village was one of the highlights of the trip.  As the crow flies it is in the highlands, 20-25Km South west of Oecusse town. We travelled over very rough riverbeds and mountain roads to reach it.  We travelled along the river bed of the Tono river which is dry during the dry season.

TONO River Dam project   - ZEEMS is managing the construction

This area is generally impassible during the wet season.  And this dam and various other forms of infrastructure (bridge and mitigation channels)  should address this, making it far more assessable ithoughout the year

PUNE GREETING:

On arrival at Pune we were given a touching musical welcome and each presented with traditionally woven Tais cloths, which is part of the nation’s cultural heritage and used for cultural adornment.

We met a truly impressive group of local dignitaries and discussed their urgent need to repair or replace and approximate 2Km run of pipe from a fresh spring in the hills to the village. 

They are fully prepared to provide any labour involved in the project but request assistance with the supply and design.

TRACEL:

We also met the two young leaders of TRACEL and NGO that operates here.- Augustinho Bahan and hos charming fiancée, Regina. They teach English, computing and music and were co-sponsors of the green games, the district soccer championship.

Things were well in hand, Bruce had soccer and rugby balls. 

The Catholic parish of Yass, near Canberra provides financial support to TRACEL and Epping Rotary has assisted them with refurbished computers (shown above) 

Senior student Roberto leading pupils in song

PUNE SCHOOL

 

Next, we visited the main school over the road and met the principal and staff. We discussed the possibility of assistance with books, computers and data projectors. 

GREEN TL/TRACEL Cup:

Concerned about the lack of future prospects for young people, the high rate of unemployment, and their own perceived lack of leadership skills; Luis and Judy decided to organise a sporting competition to give young people some positive to do, learn teamwork, leadership think critically and to feel better about themselves and improve their teamwork and sporting skills.

The first youth in action Green Games were played in 2008 and it has become a much-anticipated annual event with now over a thousand participants and well over a thousand spectators to each of the games. This year it was relocated to Pune.

One of the things that worried both the Rotarians and Judy  - but nobody else  - was the state of the soccer field.

The gravel, trenches, dust, large boulders and overlapping volleyball court with its cement blocks supporting the metal poles were of concern

When it was said that Judy and the team would take no responsibility for broken bones or gravel rash, all of the players simply laughed. They breed them tough in Oecusse.

Some of the  younger players where playing in bare feet or thongs.

 Later Judy told us at the end of the games there were no human problems, but 6 soccer balls were punctured and destroyed during the games.

We were thoroughly impressed buy the enthusiasm and sportsmanship exhibited during the games. The organization which went into holding the games was outstanding and made for their success

 

 Congratulations to Luis and his skill in looking at both the overall picture and the smallest details that ensured that everything fell precisely into place.

High on our agenda is to send to Pune some used soccer boots and new socks. 

Our long journey home meant that we could only see one match, however we all agreed that the junior teams (8-12 years) could give any team in Sydney a run for their money,

Our visit to Pune was a very memorable and inspiring day.