The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Australia (AUC) needs volunteers for a project that will provide classrooms for children living in one of the poorest countries in the world.
Students at Timor Adventist International School, in Dili, Timor-Leste, have been meeting in three small tents next to the mission office. In August 2018, retired Australian property developer Peter Koolik secured a one-hectare parcel of land for the school—he now needs fly’n’build teams to erect classrooms on the site.
“We need fly’n’build teams to fundraise $A28,000 for each classroom building,” said Mr Koolik, who is now working for the General Conference, helping to establish centres of influence around the world.
“These teams will then go to Dili to erect five prefabricated school classrooms. These buildings were recently loaded into two containers at Watson Park (Qld) and [have] arrived in Dili. They are the same buildings that I used when we transported and erected 65 cyclone-proof buildings in Vanuatu and Fiji after the cyclones there in 2015 and 2016.
“I will be going to Dili with a team of volunteers in mid-July to erect the first building. This first one will then be used as a prototype for the following buildings. If possible, we need all the buildings up by the end of this year.”
In July 2017, the AUC announced a new focus for its Global Partnership program. Following a 14-year partnership with Mongolia, the AUC has now turned its attention to the countries of Timor-Leste and Laos.
AUC Timor-Leste projects coordinator Pastor Brendan Pratt said the school build was among a number of exciting projects in Timor-Leste that churches in Australia can become involved in. Other projects include building centres of influence in Same, Atauro Island, Liquica and Ossu.
“The dedicated and generous support our Church here in Australia has shown the mission work in Mongolia over the years has resulted in the growth and influence of Adventism throughout the country,” Pastor Pratt said.
“Pray that the same will be seen in Timor-Leste as we now dedicate our efforts to the work there.”
For more information and to get involved in the fly’n’build projects, email brendanpratt@adventist.org.au.
