Mary MacKillop International
Mary MacKillop International MMI (formerly Mary MacKillop East Timor MMET , before that Mary MacKillop Institute of East Timorese Studies MMIETS ) is a non-profit institution based in Sydney and Becora , in the East Timorese capital of Dili . It was founded in 1994 during the Indonesian occupation by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart , the congregation of the Australian Saint Mary MacKillop . This complied with a request from Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo , Bishop of Dili and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate , in consultation with the East Timorese community.
Projects
The aim of the MMI was initially to satisfy the cultural, educational, health and material needs of the people in East Timor. The East Timorese culture is to be protected by promoting the official language Tetum in the church and in general education. For this purpose, a literacy program was developed in Tetum. Education is now being expanded to include parenting courses, intensive health education, teacher training, music education and the support of volunteers as teachers.
For example, the Hadahur Music School , East Timor's first music school, was founded by the Joseph Sisters in 2009 . Teacher training courses in singing and percussion are held both in the MMI center and in schools and in connection with training courses in the more remote regions of East Timor.
The Mai Hatene Tetum literacy program covers the area from elementary school through sixth grade and includes over 130 culturally relevant story books for elementary school and preschool as well as teacher manuals in Tetum. MMI offers advanced training to teachers using this program. The training program is based on the national curriculum and is suitable for children, age and activity.
MMI has been offering advanced training courses for Timorese teachers since 1996. They are now taking place in the MMI center in Becora. Subsequent visits from the teachers should monitor their progress. Occasionally, instructors travel to different communities to teach courses in remote areas. In the 2014/15 financial year, MMI trained 281 teachers, from which 10,000 students benefited.
The aim of health education is to provide teachers and parents with the skills they need to improve the general health situation in the country. Problems include malnutrition, tuberculosis , diarrhea, and dengue . Training on effective preventive measures as well as the development of good health and hygiene practices and improved nutrition should counteract this. The parenting courses in which MMI works with the Asia Foundation and World Vision also help here . Parents' commitment to early childhood education is to be promoted. The UNICEF model is used to train on-site volunteers who work with the people in their home to prepare their preschoolers for school.
The Mobile Learning Center aims to bring parents, teachers and children in the more remote parts of Timors-Leste closer to important learning areas such as arithmetic, reading and writing, and health. It offers adults the opportunity to take small group courses and children to take part in reading sessions and simple activities related to literacy and health. Children are given books to take away and teachers can borrow resources.
Others
In 2006, Sister Josephine Mitchell was the director of the institute.
In 2014, the then MMIETS received the Medal of the Ordem de Timor-Leste from East Timor's President Taur Matan Ruak .
literature
- Geoffrey Hull : “Maria Mackillop” - Orientação para a Padronização da Língua Tetum, Instituto de Estudos Timorenses, Baulkham Hills (Sydney 1994).
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c 11 Aug 2004 MMIETS: Letter to Herald re Timor's Oil: About Mary MacKillop East Timor (MMET) , July 4, 2006 , accessed on November 17, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d e f Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart: East Timor , May 2016
- ↑ Hadahur Music School website ( memento from September 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Jornal da República: Decreto do Presidente da República n ° 25/2014 , August 27, 2014 , accessed on November 13, 2019.