In his keynote address at the International Conference on Peace andReconciliation that was held in Dili in April 2012, His Excellency
Xanana Gusmão, the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste said that:“for the Timorese people, peace meant
living free from hatred, revenge and distrust.
Peace meant living in harmony with our enemies, andespecially with ourselves, both individually and as a whole.”
He believed that “the character of the Timorese People wasforged in this desire to live in peace.”
We at Colégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola had the chance toexperience this process in a small way.

Welcome again toColégio de Santo Inácio de Loiola

This is how C S I L looked on 27th February.
Let us go back a few days now.…..

A number of parents from villages close by and further away,
who had not heard of the school before, approached us.
Since we had a few places free, Frs. Plinio, Bertand Quyen called 9 of these parents with theirchildren for an interview.
Eight ofthese children
were finallyadmitted.
In thephotographwe see one ofthem.

The journey to school and back:Parents had been
informed, fromthe start, thattransport would not beprovided by the school.
They would needto come together
to find a solution.

The arrangement made by the parents:
The owner of this truck agreed to bring about 25 children toschool and take them back to their homes in Dili every day.
The expenses will be borne by the individual parents. Today
about 40 children use this bus.

It was Ash Wednesday, 13th February. Sr. Selma Sr. Mary and I
accompanied Fr. Quyen and Fr. Ura to the school. We wanted toattend the Ash Wednesday services to be held for the children afterschool.

After Mass and the application of theashes, the students left for home.
Those in the truck were having their
scenic drive back home.
Usually Fr. Quyen follows thistruck till they reach the town.
Today we were a bit late.

When we reached the Dili-Railaco junction
at Tibar, we found the truck halted there!!
Fr. Plinio in his cassock had parked his car behind thestationary truck and was out settling some problem.
Scholastic Isaias was out there as well.
What were they doingor looking for ?..??...???
Apparently some of the youth of thevillage had thrown stones at the children
in the truck !!
Fr. Plinio wanted the matter settled immediately.
He had already met some of the parents and the
local Policeman was also there.

Fr. Plinio, who had met some of theparents the previous evening, had
explained to the Principal of the local
Primary School what had happened.
It was a situation that neededimmediate attention.
Not only did Fr. Plinio want thePrincipal to do something, he himself
had to speak to our students.

… at the Assembly the next morning
Fr. Plinio and then Fr. Quyen
explained to the children
the rules they should
follow…
when incidents likethat of the previous
day occurred.
= what they should do= and what they should not do.

They did not want such incidents repeated ! ! !

……and then..

a few days after the incident ! !

the youth

who had thrownthe stones,
came with their parents to CSIL.

They came to say sorry andshake hands with thechildren affected by theirstone-throwing!
This was one more step
forward for Peace andReconciliation.

We want to be close to the communities around.
It is their children who will come to our school.

Those of us, who have not experienced what the Timorese
People have had to go through during the years ofoccupation and their struggle for independence, cannot
easily understand all that happens inside of them.
Well, the incident which we have reported is one smallincident.
I was speaking with Fr. Quyen who told me, that a few
years ago, they were finding it difficult to conduct
friendly football matches between two schools especiallybecause of the attitude of the onlookers. If things did
not go according to what they would have liked … things
could happen! The situation has changed.
This process of working towards peace and reconciliationis one of the important tasks ahead of us.

Once again, the children in
the bus can enjoy their
scenic rides to and fromthe school in peace.

AdMaiorem

At a later date they can see
CSIL from above …

DeiGloriam