ASIA/EAST TIMOR - New Catholic orphanage in Baucau diocese: local Church also engaged in social field to alleviate poverty

Baucau (Fides Service) - A new Catholic Orphanage was recently inaugurated in the diocese of Baucau in East Timor: the Home, opened by the local Church and the Salesians, can take 60 children. The orphanage named after St Therese of the Child Jesus is in the parish of Laga and it is the best in the country: a complex including a medical centre, six school classrooms for children aged 10 to 13, as well as dormitories, refectory and recreation hall.
Salesian bulletin ANS reports that the Home was inaugurated in the presence of local civil authorities, East Timor Labour and Solidarity Minister and his Portuguese counterpart, Bishop Basilio do Nascimento of Baucau and Salesian Fr Vaclav Klement, East Asia-Oceania Salesian counsellor.
During the ceremony there was also the blessing and laying of the foundation stone for a chapel which should be ready in 2007. The news of the opening of the new Children’s Home marked the start of broadcasting by Baucau diocese’s new radio station Fini Lorosae Radio.
On 20 May East Timor will celebrate the fourth anniversary of independence from Indonesia. The people live in extreme poverty, half the population (900,000) is illiterate and less than half has access to clean water; 60 of every 1000 babies die before reaching the age of one and life expectancy is about 55 years. The local Church besides ensuring spiritual care for over 665,000 Catholics in two dioceses Dili and Baucau, provides health and social services and farm development programmes. (Agenzia Fides 6/4/2006 righe 28 parole 284)