"A very interesting development and what I believe will be hugely advantageous for further development of Rotary in Timor Leste," stated Ray Fauntleroy PP Area Governor Group 1 http://www.rotary-icc.org/

Dear PP David & Rtns Judith and Mario

Cc Rotary ICC Singapore National Section Chair - IPDG Mohan Munisamy

I hope I have gotten your names right. I am very glad that we have connected with RC Dili.

It was years back when a delegation from RC Singapore visited Dili in helping to initiate the birth of RC Dili. I read that Rotary East Timor now has 2 clubs.

I am writing to update you of a new development with regards to Rotary Inter Country Committees ASEAN. The purpose of a Rotary ICC is to increase fellowship and intercultural understanding, foster stronger ties between members, clubs, and districts from different countries, and establish networks across borders. The formal framework of Rotary ICC is for strategic, long term relationship.

Inter-Country Committees, in a very real sense, are the backbone of international policy in Rotary as it permits people, in two or more countries it links, to get to know each other well. The ICCs provide assistance in finding partners for interesting club projects, in other countries, developing the network of twins clubs. Inter-Country Committees provide an additional means for Rotary and Rotaract clubs to fulfill the responsibilities of the 4th Avenue of Service, namely international understanding, goodwill and peace.

The Rotary ICC ASEAN consist of all the 10 ASEAN countries with the latest member being Vietnam restarted just last month with 2 clubs. In total we are now over 1500 clubs with ~ 42 000 members. As East Timor is part of S E Asia, we hope to bring East Timor into the realm of the Rotary ICC ASEAN. It would be great for Rotarians from the ASEAN member states to know more about your club and East Timor. The Rotary ICC ASEAN is planning to hold its first General Assembly in Singapore for the signing of the charter protocol and the target dates shall be 10-12 December 2021. Singapore is now working to achieve its target of herd immunity and will facilitate green lanes for 500 local and overseas delegates to join in this historic event. It will be a hybrid event but I hope you and your members may like to join us physically when this happens.

Nonetheless as we work towards the event, we will continue to organize events albeit virtual ones where we can learn more of each other’s work through Rotary especially during this challenging time. I will be sending invitation links so that you and your members can join us.

In the meanwhile, please tell me more about your club and the Rotary movement in East Timor so that I can share with the members of the Rotary ICC ASEAN and link them to you.

Do keep well and stay safe!

Yours in Rotary

Jimmy Ooi

Rotary Club of Singapore

President 2012-13

Assistant Governor 2015-16, 2019-20

Chairman – District Vocational Training Team 2019-22

General Secretary – Rotary ICC ASEAN Planning Committee

Supporting the formation of Inter Country Committees

The Response from PHF David Boyce below, Rotary Club of Dili, explains the Rotary presence in Timor Leste very succinctly :

Rotary ICC ASEAN

Rotary Inter Country Committees (ICC) ASEAN

Dear Rtn. Jimmy,

Thank you for your email invitation of 3 Jul 21, and we are very much interested in joining this ASEAN ICC. I am writing this email on behalf of Club President, Mario De Jesus and the Board of the Rotary Club of Dili, Our Club was chartered in 2002, as soon as East Timor (Timor-Leste) was recognised as an independent Nation. I am honoured to have been the Chartered President , and still serve on the Board as the Chair of our International and Youth Committee. Our Club Language is English and we meet every Tuesday evening at Timor Lodge in Dili. Over the years we have come to sponsor 3 Rotaract Clubs in the District closest to Dili, Viz. Ermera, Aileu and in Dili itself, these Rotaract Clubs range around 100 members in each Club and are very active. As for our own Club we are now only 9 in membership (2 expats, 7 Timorese, 3 of who are women). However when the UN were present in Dili our Club was 35-40 strong, mainly expats, but always some Timorese, which was our initial objective, "To form a Rotary Club for the people of Timor-Leste" and still is ! We are continually looking for new members !

As we are resident in a very poor country, it is very difficult to raise funds for community work here, however we have a very strong relationship with Clubs in Australia, especially our Father Club, the Rotary Club of Darwin, Northern Territory. Together with many Clubs in Australia as well as in other countries of the World, over the years we have implemented many TRF Global Grant projects to the benefit of local communities throughout Timor-Leste, even today we currently have 8 GG projects in various stages in operation.

In one of our major events of the year we assist a group of Clubs from Sydney, Australia, in conducting a one week long live-in RYLA training program for 18-20 year olds, and generally 3-4 RYPEN programs conducted over weekends for senior school children. The RYLA program every year attracts about 1000 applicants, who are then sorted out by an interview process to the maximum of 100 we can accommodate at each course. The trainers are all Timorese, and now 10 years on are only supervised by a couple of Australian Rotarians. The RYPEN courses are generally limited to an individual school, with a maximum of about 50 children, although we also include some teachers as supervisors, and they become very interested in the program, for future involvement. Although these youth training programs are able to attract some funds from Australian Clubs, by far the main contributor is the big oil/gas company Woodside Petroleum, and they are very happy with their input over the last 9 years and have indicated their willingness to continue for years to come.

The other major youth project we conduct annually, except for these COVID years is titled New Generations Vocational Training, where with funding from some Australian Clubs, and hopefully a TRF GG in the future, we select 6-10 professional from all walks of life, and send them to their professional locations for two months on the job training in Australia, e.g. Doctors, hotel sub-managers, nurses and mechanics. We used to send 2 young students abroad on International Fellowship Exchanges each year, but they had all been directed to Brazil (Portuguese Language) and can home good English language speakers ! So when funds again available we will be looking to send such students to Australia Malaysia or Singapore - so all the better to be a participant in the ICC !!

The other Club in Timor-Leste is The Rotary Club of Dili Lafaek, which was chartered in 2017, and uses Tetum as their meeting language, although all of them can use English. They have about Timorese 12 members at present, and are also involved in several Global Grant projects. Have not had a chance yet to talk to them about the ICC, but feel sure they would be interested in joining.

We very much look forward to hearing more about the ICC, and would be especially pleased to welcome any Rotarians who are wanting to travel to these shores when the pandemic restrictions allow.

With Kind Regards and Best Wishes,

David Boyce, SAS, PHF The Rotary Club of Dili

Timor Lorosa'e