About Me

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I Dont Really Care What People Think About Me. I Be Myself, And I Love Who I Am. And Thats All That Matters.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

My Favourite Sport

Football is my most favourite sport. I like soccer because it really helps to bring people from different cultures, races and nationalities from all over the world together; and the only game that many people watch as far as I know. Also soccer was the only game that was played by many people in the place where I grew up.
I started playing soccer when I was seven years old with my neighbour in the small volleyball field in our school because we didn’t have a soccer field yet at that time. It was fun playing with the neighbours and I still remember all those past experiences of mine. At that time, we kids in my place were around twenty, and every afternoon at four o’clock we called each other to play, and we were able to form a small team among us. That experience is still fresh in my mind and I will never forget it in my whole life. Then from that neighbourhood experience I was chosen with other friends to represent our school in the competition. I was given a task to play in the defence midfield and I enjoyed playing on that position; even until now this position is still my favourite position.
Aside from playing soccer, I too watched four consecutives FIFA World Cup and EURO cup tournaments on TV, and I even missed some classes because of staying up late watching soccer during these two big competitions. These two big events really brought people around the world together, and even in a small country like East Timor. Also it helped me to learn some skills from the players and apply it when I came to play.
I feel that playing soccer has helped me to know other people who have different backgrounds and cultures, and built friendships through and after the game. Soccer will always be my favourite sport all the time





Timor Leste Educational system

Education is one of the important parts of a country’s development in the world and East Timor is one of the examples of it. As a new country with plenty of natural resources, East Timor needs a good educational system to produce its human resources to run their country and explore their natural resources. However, what type of educational system is appropriate for the country is still in uncertainty even though the country has been using Indonesian and Portuguese educational system.
Since its separation from Indonesia, the educational system in East Timor has been upside down. There is no proper curriculum that has been set up by the government to be used in the schools for the teachers to teach, no text books as guidance for the teachers and students as well, no public libraries and one common language from four languages are now spoken by Timorese to be used in school. These have been major concerns for us the Timorese people, and our government has been trying hard to improve but so far there is no sign of improvement.
I think the problem for our educational system is that we were educated by two different countries. Our old generations were educated by the Portuguese and they are the leaders of the country now, and we the young generations were educated by the Indonesians for the future of the country. Therefore, our mind has been set up by two different educational systems and it is hard for us to put these two things together.
So, the way to solve the problem of the educational system is that the government has to study and take some important parts from these two educational systems of Indonesia and Portugal, and come out with something new from the combination of these two. I think this will solve our educational system and it will provide human resources for our country in the future and its well being.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Uato-Carbau My Lovely Place

Uato-Carbau My Lovely Place

My favourite place is my hometown Uato-Carbau. It is an isolated small village which is located in the south east part of the eastern province of East Timor. This home town of mine is rich in natural resources, such as oil with its famous name Timor Gap, marble and a beautiful beach for tourism.
I really love my hometown very much because it was the place where I was born and brought up, and not because of its resources. It was the place where my eyes opened for the first time to see the world, and it was the first time I spoke the first word in my life. I still remember the experiences of mine in of my childhood there. Aside from this, there I learned to love people, to work on the farm, to build friendships and to help each other. I still remember when one of my neighbours passed away my parents asked my brother and uncle to go there and offer themselves if there was anything that we could do to help (the family) who
mourned for the loss of their beloved. This was a small and simple help, yet it had a deep meaning because after so many years this family still considers us as a part of them. Even until today, I do believe that any small thing that we do with a sincere heart to those in need will always be remembered wherever you are.
Now, after so many years my family has moved to the city for our further studies, yet Uato-Carbau is still in our hearts. I hope one day I could see all my friends and the people who have been part of my life and spend sometimes with them to recall again the lovely past experiences we had. I also long to see the natural resources of Uato-Carbau and swim at its beaches as I did in my childhood life with fun and joy at that time.

Baguio My Favourite Place

Baguio My Favourite Place

Since my arrival in the Philippine, I have been to two places outside Manila like Mindoro and Baguio. Of these two places, Baguio is the one I like most compared to Mindoro. It is located on a hill and surrounded by green trees; also it has its culture and native people and their traditional houses.
In Baguio there are more things to see than in Mindoro. For instance, there is a residence of the president for summer vacation, a hydropower system which is an electricity supplier to the city, the old architecture building which was as built by the American on the hill named Mains view, the big churches and a Botanical Garden which is located in the main city of Baguio. During my two days’ stay there, I was able to visit these places chatting with the local people and I had fun with them. It was an enriching experience getting to know people from outside Manila because they have a different way of life and a different way of adjusting to the situation that they are going through.
Besides this there is Baguio’s weather. It has cool weather and this reminds me of my hometown which has the same weather as Baguio. It brought me the memory of my life in the past where every day I had to wear a jacket and sometimes didn’t take a shower for a week. It’s also good for walking around the city with this type of weather instead of taking a
transport as I did when I was there.
Another interesting thing in Baguio is horse riding. I liked riding horses when I was a child; however, after moving to the city I couldn’t ride anymore. So when I found out that there were horses for people to ride I took this chance.
All the experiences in Baguio really made me like this place very much compared to other places. I am looking forward to going there again when there is a chance to go back, and I will visit the other beautiful places that I didn’t have a chance to go to.

Monday, December 1, 2008

My Personal Journey of Life

My Personal Journey of Life

Looking back on the experiences of life from my childhood until now, there have been many changes, and much growth has taken place in me. I have grown in so many ways, whether physical, emotional or spiritual, and there have been many events that contributed to my changing and growth.
I come from a devoted Catholic family and we were very faithful to our faith. However, the presence of the Indonesian army which occupied my country East Timor made me forget about my faith. The Indonesian killed my people and I began to worry, and felt that God was not helping us. Day by the day, my hatred towards the Indonesians, whether the army or civilians, was getting stronger and it drew me away from God. I hated all the Indonesians at that time, whoever they were. Many times I felt life was meaningless because there was no justice at all for the East Timorese. However, everything slowly changed after my country broke off from Indonesia to be an independent state. Yet the most significant moment for me was when I joined the Jesuit candidacy program to be a priest.
The Jesuit candidacy program is a one and half year program for those who want to be Jesuits, and this program really helped me a lot. During my time there, I learned about Jesuit spirituality, psychology, the history of the Catholic Church, general history, and I experienced an apostolate with poor people every weekend. I learned very meaningful things there because it helped me to grow in every aspects of my life. For instance, I began to know myself and be able to let go of my hatred, and create more space in my heart for God’s love. So, after completing my time in the candidacy program, I then wrote an application to the Jesuit superior of East Timor to be interviewed and admitted into the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus. Soon, within one month after I applied and was interviewed, I received a letter from the Jesuit superior that I was accepted into the novitiate. It was a moment of joy for me because another step of my vocation would begin soon.
Novitiate life was not an easy life for me because it was an international novitiate where people came from different countries for their formation. Even though it was difficult, but during my two years of Novitiate formation, with different pastoral exposures with the poor and the marginalized people have played a very significant role in my growth and change. By being with them I learned how to love, to forgive people, to let go of my hatred. And aside from these, we also had a Psycho-Spiritual Integration program to help us to purge out all our negative emotions of the past, and to move on by letting go of what had happened to us in the past. Every day I was challenge to be brave enough to accept the reality that I had to move on, and I finally became able to accept this reality with the help of my Novice Master. After two years in the Novitiate, many changes had taken place. I was so happy to see the changes and growth in me. At the end of my novitiate formation I was able to say yes to God unconditionally and was ready to move on.
Being in the Philippines is a blessing for me. I have learned many things during the past one year through the Musmos group which is helping street children who have no opportunity for education or better living conditions. I am glad to be part of this group because of the great work they are doing.
Now looking back on how I have changed and grown, I am really grateful for what I have been through in my life and for the people who helped me to change and grow. It’s really a blessing to have these wonderful experiences in my life because it changed my life. I am proud of myself to have had a chance for all kinds of experiences in my life. I will always treasure my past experience to cultivate my present life.