Communio Calling
Communio Calling
Timor-Leste Staff Immersion
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In June, GSE Staff Immersion participants journeyed to Timor-Leste, taking part in the first staff immersion since 2019. The group included staff from our GSE schools, the Good Samaritan Schools Network (GSSN) and, GSE. The 8-day immersion saw participants learn about the country's rich history and witness the impact of the work of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, particularly the work of Sister Rita Hayes sgs.
In this episode, host Gabrielle Sinclair is joined by participants Megan Goodwin from St Mary Star of the Sea College, Eliza Johns from Mater Christi College, and Adrian Peachey from St Scholastica's College. Together, they reflect on their journey and share their experience, learnings, and relationships they formed.
Welcome to Good Samaritan Education's podcast, Communio Calling. My name's Gabrielle Sinclair and I'll be your host. A different conversation for you today. I have the pleasure of sharing with you the energy and transformation still in motion of three of the teachers that participated in the first GSE staff immersion since 2018. A Motley group of twelve from our GSE school, two of us GSE services team, and one teacher from our Good Samaritan Schools Network. Travelled to Timor, Australia's closest neighbour, just a short flight from Darwin to share eight days of learning and unlearning, listening and sharing. Today our three teachers share with you some of the elements of the program and their experience. We have Megan Goodman from St. Mary Star of the Sea, Eliza Johns from Marta Christi College, and Adrian Peachy from St. Scholasticas College. I was fortunate enough to travel with this amazing crew, and it's safe to say we will never forget our Timor experience. So as I introduce you, I'd like you to share which country you're from. I am coming today from Waragerie Country in the central west of New South Wales. So Adrian, tell us about where you're from today.
SPEAKER_00So I am currently down in a town called Baruga, which is in Yorta Yorta Country, which is on the Murray River in the Riverina area in south New South Wales.
SPEAKER_02Eliza, where are you coming from today?
SPEAKER_01I'm coming from the Bunaron Buneron Country. So just like the Casey area, about an hour away from Melbourne.
SPEAKER_02Lovely. And Megan, whereabouts are you today?
SPEAKER_03Hi, I'm currently on a driving holiday and been on Rajary Country for the last three days. So I'm in Nimaji.
SPEAKER_02Oh, how beautiful. Our podcast communio calling is always intentionally grounded in story so that we honour the fabric of our connection, who we are, where we come from, that incarnate reality, consciously acknowledge that diversity of who we are through story. So if you don't mind, we're gonna start with story and I'm gonna invite you to share each of your story, perhaps a bit about how you journeyed to be part of now the Good Samaritan education community. So Eliza, I'm gonna invite you to go first if you don't mind. Would you like to share some of your story?
SPEAKER_01Well, I grew up in the Yarrow Valley area. So my biggest influences growing up probably were my family. Very kind of like outdoorsy, sporty family. So we valued community and teamwork very early on. I went to a Catholic high school, which was founded by the Sisters of Mercy, which had strong foundations that kind of I guess I can see now that I'm at Marta Christie. So I studied teaching at Monash and then Marta Christie is my first teaching job. And yeah, I guess it has a big emphasis on community and compassion, which has been kind of like driven all the way through my childhood.
SPEAKER_02Well, Eliza, tell me a bit about where do you fit in your families? How many siblings do you have and where do you fit in?
SPEAKER_01I have two older brothers. So I'm the youngest and I'm the only girl. So I kind of just follow them around. And they were big influences in terms of like I'm very into like soccer, my sport, and we kind of all followed them all the way through. There's about a three-year age gap. So we're all kind of close in age and to have grown up together, which has been nice.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Now it's given that's your first teaching role, what are the things that drew you to Killy to Martich, or was it just a happenstance that you ended up there?
SPEAKER_01Well, I did like a lot of the same values that it had at my high school. So just I guess having the Catholic school and the foundations of that faith as a background was really nice when I applied for it. But it was actually I took someone's maternity leave who was also called Eliza. But it was a small world because her best friend was actually my lecturer at university, and we didn't know that until I went to work there. So there was like a whole lot of little ties. It's very local to me. So it was quite nice how many people I knew in the community when I arrived.
SPEAKER_02Sounds like it was meant to be. How wonderful. Meg, would you like to share us a bit about your story?
SPEAKER_03Sure. Yeah. So I'm one of four. Got two older brothers and a younger sister. I grew up in Wollongong and have lived in Wollongong on and off all my life. My husband and I have lived overseas a bit, but we always tend to come back to Wollongong. It really feels like home. You know, I was very blessed to have a happy childhood in a very busy household, but always felt loved and I belonged, had a strong sense of that growing up. I went to St. John Vianney's Catholic Primary School, which is now, I don't know if it was a Good Samaritan School then. I I guess maybe it was, but it is now actually, it's called Good Samaritan School now. There was a bit of a change that occurred maybe 10, 15 years ago. So yeah, I went to St. John Vianney's and then I went to St. Mary's, Star of the Sea. My mother had been there before me. I had the delightful experience not too long ago of going into the archive at the school and seeing in the most beautiful cursive writing the role from when my mum was in year seven. And my mum has passed. So you know it felt very special to see her name on the role in this most uniform and elaborate and most beautiful cursive writing. So felt connected to St. Mary's even before I went there because I knew mum had been there, and it was the only girl's school in the area. My two brothers went to the boys' school, St. Paul's, and then it kind of just felt like the thing that I would do, I would go on to that school, and my sister did as well. So strong connection to the college over a long period of time.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, wow. Tell us about your travels overseas. Tell us a little bit about how they influence your outlook and your day-to-day.
SPEAKER_03Well, gosh, in many ways, I guess. My husband and I taught in Hong Kong for a couple of years, and I taught at the Sacred Heart. It's called Kitsam Secondary School, which is a girls' school, Sacred Heart Girls School, and my husband, who is not religious at all, taught at St. Joan of Arc. So that was a great experience for him as well. A nice kind of way to meet in terms of faith. That was wonderful. And of course, Hong Kong is really close to lots of wonderful, exciting places. So we were very fortunate. We travelled all over that North Asia area. We went to Outer Mongolia, which was just a wild and crazy experience, still a nomadic culture in the year 2000 it was. So to be able to just have some little experience in seeing that was just wonderful. And we also worked in America for a year on a teacher exchange, which was kind of weird and crazy in all sorts of different ways. And I also had the opportunity to study at a university in Java to learn Indonesian. So I've kind of had travel, I guess, has been a very big influence on me. And it just makes you realize so, so much that how we experience the world and how we see things is very particular to us as individuals. Everyone, you know, all over the world just has a very different reality. And I like learning about that. I feel very alive when I'm in cultures that are different, really different to my own. I actually I love that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. You are definitely a great asset to our group in having that mindset as we travel together. Thank you for sharing some of your insights. Adrian, would you like to share us a bit of your story, your influences growing up, and how you've landed in the Good Samaritan education community?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Like Megan, I'm one of four as well. I'm the eldest child and I grew up in a younger family with a younger mother and father who separated when I was only a baby. But luckily, if I've been fortunate enough to stay in contact with my father, and that's where I actually am now, I'm down at my father's. So I did a lot of moving around when I was a younger child until I reached primary school. I went to a school in the southwest of Sydney, and I was lucky enough to go to St. Gregory's College in Campbelltown, which is a Marist college, and they introduced me to their charism and their way of looking at the world through a religious point of view, which at the time I probably wasn't the most devout, but it did give me a good introduction to what life is like through religious requisition. After high school, I attended university for two and a half years, where I was studying sport and exercise science. But unfortunately, I quit university in my third year and went into the workforce, and I started working as an optic fibre joiner for Telstra for many years, for about seven years before teaching. And that was through my 20s. And I was kind of in a sticky situation there because I felt stuck and I didn't feel myself, and I was going through a bit of a darker time, didn't know what to do with myself. I thought it was all doom as I approached 30, and I decided because I quit uni that I would go back and start from scratch. And at the time I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew I needed to do something to change the situation I was in. And I decided the best thing to do, especially for myself, but being surrounded by a lot of males working for Telstra, I decided the best thing to do was to give back, and that's why I decided to become a teacher and started my studies in 2019, right at the start of COVID. So that was quite a challenge going back to uni from scratch, trying to source employment and be able to support myself while being a student full-time. That was quite challenging, but I got through and I'm so grateful I did because I landed at my first school at St. Scholastica's College, and I knew within the first week that this school was meant for me. It was a challenge. I never thought I'd see myself in an all-girls school, but I absolutely love it. I think the girls are so mature, and that's that's where I was introduced to Good Samaritan education, and I found myself as the social justice coordinator there at the college and doing a lot of things with GSE and the students and going on immersion trips. It's just been a whirlwind, and I'm really appreciative of the journey so far.
SPEAKER_02Well, Adrian, your story is very much proof that everything happens for a reason, and the journey that we're on is just you never know what the next steps are where it's going to take you. Thank you for sharing that part of your story. It's funny, one of the unique things about going on immersion or pilgrimage together, and from not knowing each other, essentially, most of us at all, we share an amazing amount of our stories while we're journeying together, and it's been an absolute privilege to get to know you guys, and thank you for sharing a little bit of your story with our listeners. So, this staff immersion that we've just been on, it was the first time Good Samaritan Education has hosted a staff immersion since COVID. And the last one was back in 2018 and it was in Curibus, and I know there's lasting friendships from that group that went. So in June, uh just over a month ago, there were 12 of us that set off from across Good Samaritan Education schools to Timor Leste to get a completely new understanding of its people and its history. Megan, would you share us a little bit about why did we go to East Temor and perhaps explain to our listeners why this was an important place for Good Samaritan education staff to better understand and indeed experience?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, so Sister Rita Hayes is the former principal of St. Mary's Star of the Sea in Wollongong, which is the school I mentioned earlier that I attended and that my mum had attended, and in fact, my daughter also attended. And so when I was there as a student, Sister Rita Hayes was the principal of the college. And I don't actually know when she left St Mary's Star of the Sea, but I know that after she left there, she went up to Timor with Michelle Reed. So they went up to Timor Leste to establish a school after independence. So I am now a teacher at St Mary's Star of the Sea, and we've had lots of opportunities for fundraising for East Timor, and we've heard a lot over the years about the work of Sister Rita Hayes up in Timor. We have one of our college houses named after Rita Hayes. It's Hayes House. And I just happened to get put into that house as well when I started work at the college. So there's been this ongoing association, and I've had little snippets of the work that Rita had done. I've been really intrigued about how, you know, I knew she was an absolute dynamo because of when she was principal at the college. And I was always kind of quite in awe of her. She knew everyone's name. She was just always busy. She just seemed to be on top of everything. So I was keen to find out about what she'd been doing up in Timor. And then this opportunity arose for all of us to go and see firsthand that tiny school that she'd established and then when it moved to the new premises. So it was absolutely, for me and I think for everyone, just fantastic to see what these women achieved. I marvel at what they have been able to achieve. And I think as good Samaritan staff members, it's just so wonderful to see that charism in practice up in Timor, that that wonderful achievement of changing probably thousands of people's lives. So I was super keen, having sort of had a little bit of knowledge about it, but I was super keen to go up there and just to see firsthand. I was even more impressed when I saw the scale of what she had been able to achieve.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. Watching people's faces explode with like a smile when you talk about Rita or ask them anything about Rita was a beautiful thing to see. Having lived in their community for 15 years up in Relaco Cray was an amazing thing to experience. There's an ongoing relationship there through the foundation and has been through the scholarships down at the Nosef School. And yeah, it was great to see and start to understand the impact that our schools have been contributing to that foundation and those scholarships as well.
SPEAKER_03I I really I absolutely love that. They call her Mother Rita. I think that says it all.
SPEAKER_02It does. And the beautiful images of her around the sisters, some of the good Sam's joke that she's Saint Rita. Anyone that visited her there while she was in Timor, they certainly got the impression that she had been somewhat deified, but was very well loved, and we certainly saw that in our experiences there. So one of the images that we often talk about in preparation for going on these immersion experiences and programs, as we come to terms with the place that we're going to and the place of encounter being completely different, being likened to entering someone else's garden. Adrian, would you share a little bit about how you, apart from our initial gathering as a group or our briefing session and the chance to meet each other, how did you engage with the idea of immersion and perhaps your initial thoughts about and experiences entering this particular culture for the first time?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, sure. Like anything new, there was an aspect of the unknown. And when I'm unsure about anything or if I am not knowledgeable in that particular area, I source materials that will help me learn more. So I turned straight away to the internet. And I remember the day I was accepted to go on the immersion that night. So I went onto YouTube and watched a few blogs about the country and learned a bit about the history. And I knew from past, being the late 90s and early 90s, that there was some conflict there. So I knew about that already, but I didn't know fully what happened. So I I did go online and do a little bit of reading about the resistance and the conflict with the Indonesian invasion. I also spoke to some people. I spoke to our head of mission at the college and asked her about her experiences and dealings with Timur Leste. She was unsure as well. There wasn't much information, but I was excited to go to visit another culture, and I tried my hardest not to compare with other Southeast Asian nations because that's easy to do. And when I got there, it was completely different. It was a completely different experience to what I thought it would be. I went there with an open heart and tried to listen as much as I could, and I was gifted. It was a gift going over there. I was so happy I went. And yeah, I really appreciated the opportunity.
SPEAKER_02Eliza, would you be able to share it with our listeners a little bit? Just a brief overview, particularly about our program in Dili and some of the things that we learned about the country and its history.
SPEAKER_01A little bit like Adrian, I didn't know a lot going over Tetino Lester, but the program with Dili, I think, really helped us get quite a good scope of the history. We did a lot of visiting, we did the Santa Cruz Cemetery, which I think probably was probably one of the more moving moments. A lot because of our guide and Nas also speaking about his personal experience there. But I think it kind of worked well doing the Santa Cruz Cemetery and then going to the Max Stahl Museum and kind of seeing the real life footage of that massacre in 1991. So we did a lot of historical stops. We also went to the Dare War Memorial, the Chega Museum, which I think I could have spent hours there. We had kind of brief time there on our last day, but that was extremely eye-opening. I think speaking to a lot of the other teachers that were on the trip, that was really eye-opening because a lot of them were living their life when that was happening to the Team Marie's. And I think just showing that resilience and struggle and what they had to fight through was amazing. We also went to the Dare War Memorial, which kind of showed the connection with Australia, which I didn't know going over there how we were connected to Team Oreste. So that was really interesting watching that documentary. And then we got to kind of walk with the locals, we got to go to a mass with the locals, which was really lovely. It was all in Portuguese, so I couldn't understand anything, but it was still a really good experience to be there and just be immersed. Everyone was super lovely. And I think our guides, having them with us, that was something I guess you can't book or you can't do if you were just going over there, just having their little insights and their stories everywhere we went. I think was probably the best part of in terms of like what we could learn firsthand, as well as going to all of those historical sites.
SPEAKER_02I think one of the things that particularly stands out for me is the people and particularly the guides that we had with us who were amazing and how generous they were in sharing their stories. And we could ask any question. And it was this resilience that we'd seen in the story in general of the people, but just experiencing that. I think I said to the group after our first kind of sit-down and after our first full day in Delhi, after we'd had those experiences and starting to understand the culture and the history a bit better, that our guide, Anis, was a true example of what trauma looks like when it's transformed. And I could have been repeated so many times with some of the other people that we met because there has been a significant amount of trauma in that country. I'd like to invite you each to talk a little bit about the people that you engage with, particularly about in our home stay up in Relaco Cray, and describe an encounter that you had with someone that really left a lasting impression. Anyone that would like to jump in to share?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'll jump in first here. We were lucky enough to stay in a small village on a mountain in Relaco Cray, and we each stayed with a family, so to speak. I stayed with this family who I'll never forget really, because when I was there, everything in my life kind of paused. I realized that this is life. This is what people deal with in a different culture. This is what people have to go through each day, and it's significantly different to what we go through each day. There were two boys in the house, two young teenage boys, 12 and 14, who sat with myself and Reese each night. We sat there at the dinner table for about an hour and just translated our languages and spoke to each other. Nothing in that moment, nothing else mattered in the world. It was really a peaceful and humble moment. And it was a testament to their parents. They were the most caring, loving, present people, and you could really tell with their children that it really shone through that they were going to be good people. And it just made me reflect a lot. Um, it was definitely the highlight of my trip staying with the family, and I'm forever grateful.
SPEAKER_02Thanks, Adrian.
SPEAKER_01I am the same. I think the homestead was honestly my favorite part of the whole trip. I stayed with Esperanza. I don't actually know who lived in the house. There was anywhere between 20 people, a lot of kids. But I think it was just slowing down for me and just being so present and sharing space with people who just welcomed us just with open arms. Esperanza didn't know myself or Madeline, but she took us in. She ended up being our second mum or our mum away from home, and she just would do. Anything for us, always accommodating. And then just every night spending dinner. I think the meals were probably where I found I was most present. And even though we didn't have the best, like there was a lot of language barriers there. And we did, as Adrian said, try to navigate through the booklet to try and have some conversations. We still connected over so much. And I think especially just her talking about her family and how proud she was with them and us explaining how we grew up and how she was so interested was just really amazing to see. I also really enjoyed the kids. There was a lot of kids in that area. And it did just remind me of universal joy with the kids because even though, again, we had a massive language barrier, we shared so many moments, whether it was kicking the ball or there was one significant moment where we all watched Spain versus Portugal on this little TV. We were up at five in the morning and everyone was there. And even though, again, we weren't communicating.
SPEAKER_02You had half the village in your house, didn't you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. And even though we weren't communicating, we all knew what was going on. Like there was just so much emotion and joy in that time. And I think that home stays made me quite mindful and appreciative and just a bit in more intentional in terms of how I show up in my everyday life. And I think I needed to have that time and to slow down and just be present to build that connection, which, like Adrian said, I just won't ever forget that.
SPEAKER_03So I stayed in a household with grandma, Rosara, her daughter, Paulina, and Paulina's little son, Abu. Wasn't quite sure where the men in the family were. A son kind of came and went, but it was mainly the two women and little Abu. When we were getting kind of dropped off at the house, which was I actually thought was a beautiful experience, that we all walked up the hill and stayed outside while the two people or whoever was going to stay in the house kind of went in and met people and saw that. It was I just really liked that. Anyway, when we went in, Jen and I, they opened the door of the bedroom and there was a double bed in there. And I actually remember having the thought, oh, I don't know Jen very well. We're going to be sharing a bed for a few minutes. I thought, oh well, we'll just have to do that. My absolute relief when I found that there was another room where she was going to be was palpable. I mean, I got on very well with Jen, but I didn't know her that well. So I was thrilled to have my own room. We had a lovely stay. It was a quiet household. We did play with Abu a fair bit. And then he was happy to, you know, to play the games and stuff, but he was quite shy about even speaking in Tetham. He was he was just quite a reserved little kid. But we did really enjoy that and loved interacting with Paulina and Rosara. But the beautiful moments, and I know Jen mentioned this at some point in one of the reflection sessions that we had, that just sitting out on the front porch area, which did look out over the valley, and it was really beautiful. We just a couple of times found ourselves sitting out there with Rosara and not saying anything, just sitting together. And it was really, I mean, super low-key, but just super lovely to share a few quiet moments of togetherness without even speaking. It was just being in each other's presence, which was really, really lovely. I also won't forget that experience of living with the family. It made me realise how hard the women were. The men may well work hard too, but in our household, just seeing what the women did was I thought, wow, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for sharing. Yeah, my experience in the homestay was there's lots of juxtapositions. Like in my house, there was a fridge and a washing machine. Like the washing machine was never used because there's not the water to actually make it function. But there was also a fridge and essentially a little kitchen area inside the house, but it's not used because the outside kitchen is where it's all at with the open fire. And I loved spending time out there in the kitchen and helping as much as they'd let us in there. It was a beautiful experience. And in our first night, it was literally open school for English lessons with the kids, but also the young adults that came and were just going through their books, and yeah, it was horrible to see some of the books that they were learning out of that had all of these spelling mistakes and things. It was like, oh, I just want to give you, I just want to correct all the problems in this book, but just also being in the moment there, you just had to be fully present and they just wanted help and practice and practice and practice, which is a beautiful experience. One of the things that we also had the opportunity to do was to visit the schools and being teachers, being put in front of a classroom of people that potentially don't speak English very well. Some of us got to teach a little bit. Do you want to share some of your experiences at the schools that we visited, particularly the Nossef School?
SPEAKER_00We were fortunate enough to attend Nossef High School, which was in Rolaco. It was a high school from around 7 to 12. However, the classrooms weren't arranged in year groups, they are arranged in competency levels, so to speak. From the moment we arrived, we were welcomed in a fashion that simply wouldn't happen in a school in Australia. I speak for myself, but I'm sure the others will agree. We kind of felt like superstars. We were up on stage and there was dancing and the singing was amazing. We were welcomed by a marching band, and what really stood out to me was the student leaders. I could tell there were students at that school who were naturally born leaders and they knew their roles and didn't do it because they were requested to by their teachers. They did it because that's who they are. Right down to the students we met who held the Good Samaritan Education Scholarships and took us around the school on a tour. Just their willingness to participate and engage with all of us blew me away. Um, and I also was really impacted by Father Soy. His presence at the school, he wasn't as vocal, but he was there, he was present, and he added a really nice layer. I'm not too sure if anyone else wants to speak about Father Soy, but he really you could tell he had an impact on everyone there, which was lovely to see.
SPEAKER_02So the school is a Jesuit school initially set up in partnership with Sister Rita Hayes and the Jesuits. Father Soy doesn't have a teaching background, but this is his ministry. There's the principal there, and he's been there for it was about three years from now, I think. And you could really tell that he was there to do the best by those students and bring the gifts that he happened to have. And yeah, he was quite an astonishing figure. Someone else want to share about their school experience.
SPEAKER_03I'll jump in. I loved going to the school for all those reasons that Adrian has just mentioned. I also loved uh the little tour we were taken on by Lucia and Adami were the two English club students who showed me around. They were so proud of their school. So, so proud. Even though, I mean, some of the facilities, I guess comparatively, they were good. But in terms of what we are familiar with, you know, the environments we work in, they were, for example, the the library was a very run-down building with lots of empty shelves. They were shabby kind of buildings. But the kids were really, really proud of them. And it was so lovely because it just made me certainly think, well, it's just so relative. It's just so relative. In my school, our facilities are beautiful. They are absolutely beautiful. But I wouldn't necessarily say the kids have great pride in them or think that they're super, super wonderful and special. Whereas these kids with these buildings that were in need of repair and whatnot, they were just super keen to show me all around. They showed me like storage cupboards and it was all important and beautiful. And they were just absolutely delightful girls as well. I loved spending those few hours with them. It was great. And I've thought of them often since. I think they were friendly and clever and funny and just so proud of their school. It was beautiful.
SPEAKER_01I think touching on what Megan said is the biggest thing to me as well was how proud they were, but also just the dedication to get that education. I think a lot about the conditions they have to go through to get to school. So I found that really difficult coming back to my own school. And you know, it's a bit cold, and students are like, oh, it's too cold, or it's period five. Can we not do any work, period five? But then I think about the students who are walking two to three hours, and some of the times it was they took their shoes off and their um tops off so they wouldn't get them dirty, so they were clean by the time they got to school, because it was really that pride to be immaculate in that uniform because this is representing the school, and I think yeah, it was amazing to see that. And then when speaking to the students, they were so proud of their school, but just so grateful to have the opportunity to be educated, and that was amazing, even teaching in the classes. We had a class where I think it was global sustainability that we walked into, and we were interesting in terms of what we tried to teach them about that, but they were just so happy to be taught anything. They had so many questions and they were so intent and engaged the whole time. And speaking to a few of the students who were going around and just their aspirations and their dreams, and just how they were like, This education is going to help me get there. I think that was eye-opening and just a really good reminder of what education can do. And I think, yeah, sometimes you forget and we take that for granted. But then that was just a really good reminder to be like, it isn't as accessible for everyone, and it is a great opportunity to have it. So I think going to all the different schools was really amazing in that regard.
SPEAKER_02Thanks. Well, we've touched on a little bit on some of the challenges. But what would you say some of the most challenging aspects of the immersion were and what insights have you perhaps gained from them?
SPEAKER_01I think, which I feel like we've already kind of touched on, probably besides just like the some of the physical challenges, the contrast I think was quite big for me and just I guess gave me a bit more of a deeper reflection in terms of how I see things and how I define things from my own experience at home and going over there. So just again, like I said, things like education and running water and just like the toilet facilities, and we turn on a tap and we have access to it and we don't think twice about it, and just that that being like their reality every day. I feel like we adapted really well, especially in the home stays. You kind of can fit back into that lifestyle very quickly. But I think, yeah, just observing that and coming back into my own life and just being a bit more conscious of how I'm living and that bigger purpose of what I could be doing to help, and also just making sure that I'm, I guess, a bit more intentional in terms of how I'm living now, knowing how other people live. I think that was probably the biggest challenge when I was there. I knew it was happening, but then when I came back, I think it was more of a challenge when I came back to just keep that at the forefront of my mind because it's very easy to just come back and slip into your everyday life.
SPEAKER_00When I first arrived back the first day of school, we had a staff meeting and I was asked just to share a brief word about our trip. And I mentioned to everybody in the room, I said, Yeah, I understand that we have problems in our life, and I knew coming back to school there's only a few weeks left, and everybody was manic and rushing. And I said that to everybody, I was like, I understand we have problems, but they're not real problems. Yeah. And for me, the last few weeks of school when I returned, it was chaotic and stressful. In the back of my mind, I was able to get through it quite easily because of the experience I went through in Timor. I didn't try and express it to my students. In my own mind, I was reminding myself, you know, the conditions to get to school, the roads, the water, even the meals, the portions, just little things like that that were so different, but enough to make you think this is what the real world is like. And I kept thinking about other places around the world that would be similar and how we are probably the minority in the developed Western world. We are probably the minority. We are lucky. We are lucky to live in the world we live in because I know most of the population on this planet would live quite similar to Tim Oreste. And that was enough for me just to pause and reflect on my emotions and how I view the world. I'm still doing that now. Yeah, it was challenging, but it was good.
SPEAKER_03For me, the big challenge was learning the history of the country, learning about Australia's part in that history, especially the trip to the Resistance Museum. It stayed with me, and I have kind of read a lot more about it now. But Australia hasn't been a very good neighbour to Timor Leste. I mean, there's been some positive things that Australia has done, but bugging their parliament so that we could get the upper hand in negotiating over the sunrise oil and gas agreement is just something I have struggled to come to terms with because this is a fledgling nation who are trying so hard to get on their feet. And I just think that is not what a good neighbor does. So that's been really difficult. Uh, we'll see how that all pans out now. I mean, it's been rewritten, the agreement has been rewritten, but it's still very much undecided whether the infrastructure to develop the oil and gas will be in Darwin or Timor. And of course, the Timoreste people want it there so that, you know, this is a chance for them to really develop their economy. As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a decision on that yet. And I'm really hoping that it goes in favour of Timoreste so that economically that can contribute to them getting on their feet, because at the end of the day, a country is viable if it can earn money. So it was really hard, and I still feel so, so sad about that. I guess I was glad to hear that Australia had played a constructive role in peacekeeping in the early 2000s when the civil strife broke out. That made me sort of feel like, oh, there are some bright sparks. We also visited that other tiny school that the Australian veterans had funded. So I know it's not all bad, but just think we're at a pivotal moment now where we can make amends for some of the bad things of the past by allowing Timor to take control of the resources in the Timor Strait. That plays on my mind a lot because I'm really eager for that to be resolved in their favour. Australia will be fine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we've got plenty of other options. They don't have quite so many.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was tricky, but I'm hopeful.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, thanks, Meg. I think one of the things that was particularly important and one of the things our guides would reinforce all the time is that us being there and just learning their story was just so important to be able to take back to Australia and take back to the people that we know that Timor is more than the news clippings that they might have seen, and they are trying to develop it as a place for holidays that people will actually come. And I seriously want to go back and go to the island and do the snorkeling because they have so many natural resources, and that it is a beautiful, beautiful place. Once you get over the heat when you first stuff off the plane, it is a stunning, stunning country, and the people are just even possibly more stunning than the physical environment because they have a beauty that just shines from within despite all of the chaos that their country has endured. I might just invite you to just share perhaps when you have a colleague ask you what was it like? What is the thing that you share when you only have that one thing to share? Because I know I struggled with it, but now you've had a bit of time since you've come back. What is the little thing that you share if you only have a small opportunity with colleagues and friends?
SPEAKER_00For me, it was the connection to the people, without a doubt. It was the connections to the people that I met along the way. It trumps, you know, any natural wonder or any landscape or anything. It was the people and their attitudes towards me that really had an impact. It will forever.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, similar to my one, but not even just the connection that I built with the people, but just observing their connection together. There's such a deep-rooted community in Timor Leicester, and it was just amazing to see, even though, like, especially at the homestead, they didn't have as much as you know what we might have back at home, but the love and joy and connection that they had. Some people would never ever experience that in their lives. They're rich in that way, and that's really hard to communicate when we get back, like coming to school and trying to explain that to my colleagues. It's just, I think, something you have to be there and observe in real time. But trying to capture that and bring that home and explain that was probably the biggest message I tried to bring home with me.
SPEAKER_00A great example was last night in the home stay, we had a bonfire. And when I arrived at the bonfire, all the children were sitting there with no device, ready to participate, ready to sing. And they did. The children were sitting there singing. That was a moment for me. There was one particular song where I didn't even sing, I just sat there and listened, and it was such a great experience. So it's by the people for me.
SPEAKER_03Just on that note, Adrian, I got to sit next to Gabrielle when we were singing, and that was an absolute treat in itself because she was singing with all of her heart, and she is a beautiful singer. So I felt like that was just a beautiful moment. I'm still struggling with my elevator speech. Yeah, it was a lot. I kind of say things like, I'm so glad I went. It was really transformative. I feel like I met our neighbours. I feel like a little moment to see into the lives of these people who live so very close to us and who I knew so little about. And I also probably I have spoken of Lucia and Adami and their beautiful pride in their school. Yeah, that was just another precious experience.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. Well, it's probably a beautiful place to finish our conversation because it is something that will continue to transform us as we continue to reflect and find our place and our way of articulating it to our friends and family and colleagues as it continues to change us from within, as the amazing experience of meeting our closest neighbours. Timoreste is really the closest Australia has to a neighbour physically. And thank you again for sharing your experience with us. It was an absolute delight. Programs like Immersions and Pilgrimage is often when you hear so clearly coming together all of the elements of Good Samaritan Education's charism being enriched and inspired by the parable of the Good Samaritan, the rule of Saint Benedict, and the stories of the sisters. If you've heard our podcast earlier about immersions and their transformational nature, you will have heard the echoes of all of these things in the hearts of this beautiful community that was born over these days in Timor. And the transformation continues. A great deal of work, love and attention goes into building these immersion experiences, and Fran Bella for our community has brought this to life, and a great deal of thanks goes to her. The discovery also of Timur Unearthed has been a great guiding light, and their work and mission definitely parallels all of our hopes and dreams for immersions. So thank you, Alex and Annis from Timor Unearthed, and Fran, of course, from Good Samaritan Education. But until next time, as you continue through your day, may the transforming table of hospitality be wide, inspiring you with mercy and compassion to go and do likewise.
