Destination Timor Leste - CERES School of Nature & Climate

Our Timor Leste trip is coming up in June!

In 2016 CERES Global will be running 3 trips to Timor, looking into the key environmental and social issues facing the country alongside our partner organisations. Come along to our information session to find out about how you can join our socio-environmental cultural journeys on mutual learning and exchange.

When:

Thursday, 21 April 2016

Where:

CERES Eco House, Corner Roberts and Stewart Streets, Brunswick East (enter via the Lee St gates)

Time:

Permaculture Design Course trip: 5:30 – 6:15pm
Reforestation and Cultural Preservation Walk: 6:15 – 7:00pm
Music Exchange: 7:00- 7:45pm

Timor Leste is Australia’s closest neighbour which most of us know very little about. The Island, surrounded by picturesque coral reefs, is divided between sovereign states to the east and Indonesian states to the west. Made up of 11 distinct ethno-linguistic groups, wild beaches and mountainous landscapes it is both culturally and geographically rich and beautiful, but Timor is not without its struggles. Over recent years Timor has had a huge baby boom said to be from confidence in their recent Independence, while also having low life expectancy due to a generation of turmoil and conflict. Today, it is a country slowly rebuilding and learning how to sustain its young and growing population. Each year, at the end of the dry season, Timor suffers from what are called “the hungry months” where food becomes scarce leading to serious food security issues and malnutrition.

Trip 1 – Music (June 12 – 18, 2016)
We are collaborating with Moreland City Council’s “Friends of Aileu’ to initiate a culture and music exchange. Local Aileu music groups will join us, and young music enthusiasts will head up from Dili for the weekend workshop exchange based on the community stage in the centre of Aileu. Musicians from our Melbourne community are encouraged to join us – with places subsidized for them. The week will finish with a joint concert.

Trip 2 – Permaculture (June 17 – 26, 2016)
In June we will return to Timor on the last section of our International Cross-Cultural Permaculture Design Course. Since our first visit to Timor CERES Global has been asked specifically by the community if we can help in designing a permaculture garden. Here we will use the CERES Global principle of two way education and sharing by getting you, the course participants, to design the garden in your final project with the assistance of permaculture teachers.

Trip 3 – Reforestation Walk (June 21 – 28, 2016)
CERES Global is offering participants to join us this April on a walk following the reforestation trail of the exemplary organisation With One Seed. This is an opportunity to walk from village to village through the reforestation project, learn from the locals about their difficulties, hopes and aspirations and support the great work of a community organisation.