Dr Peter Carey, co-founder of the Cambodia Trust and Project Facilitator, ASSERT, writes:

"The renovated building was constructed almost entirely with locally recruited labour and even though this cost twice as much (than if we had just used a small team of professional builders) and took twice as long to complete, it means that we have a building and a project which is genuinely 'owned' by the community in Becora and something that they will value and sustain long into the future - not least because it is bringing them employment and benefits (e.g. clean water! There is a special community tap access to our water tower supply).

"This is a real achievement given the very run down, quasi slum-like situation of this part of Becora which we were given as our starting point for the construction of this project. Of all the achievements of the year I was in Díli, this is the one I feel most proud about. It took hours and hours of my time just to talk to the local community and get them on board (something which you never read about in any Development Manual!), but it was worth every minute."

This photo gallery follows the progress of the TLSPR building from a derelict site to a fully functional rehabilitation centre.

April - June 2004
Before the building work
Photos: © Susan Schulman

Children playing in an adjacent building.

The west side of the derelict building after demolition of the adjacent Director's house.

A goat grazing in the derelict building - these rooms are now offices.

Derelict buildings at the front of the rehabilitation centre. These will be renovated by a partner disability NGO in Díli - Katilosa (Klibur Alejados Timor Loro Sa'e / Disability Association of Timor).

Peter Carey talking with Chefes de Aldeia (Hamlet Heads) of two adjacent hamlets: Chefe Alex Mendes (Becussi/20 de Meio - Head of Becora Committee) and Chefe Seltorio Junior (Hamlet Head Auhun - Deputy Chair Becora Committee). KIPA member Antonio Borges looks on. This was the time of the signing of the KIPA constitution/plan of action. The KIPA (Komité Independen Projetu Alejados/Disability Project Independent Committee) is a community organisation which was formed to provide local input to the ASSERT project, such as oversight of the building works, the selection and supervision of night guards, and the recruitment/provision of local labour on a rotational basis for the building programme.

Peter Carey and his wife, Lina Suryanti to the left, with KIPA Members and local landowner - from back left - Chefe Seltorio Junior (see above 9), Chefe Jose da Silva (Hamlet Head/Chefe Aldeia Mau Coco Mate - thehamlet in which the rehabilitaiton centres is located), Caetano (KIPA member), Adao (KIPA member and landowner of area where rehabilitation centre sited), Chefe Alex Mendes (kneeling by table), and Antonio Borges (back to camera).



Jim Kinley, Australian Volunteer International (AVI), who helped at an early stage in the ASSERT project.

Dr Peter Carey with (to left) Chefe Alex Mendes (Hamlet Head of Becussi/20 de Meio and head of local Becora Committee) and Jim Kinley, AVI at the time of the briefing with prospective contractors.

May 2004: Briefing Day for prospective contractors.

1st June 2004: The Japanese Ambassador to East Timor, HE Mr Asahi Hideaki, with the Deputy Chair of ASSERT, Ms Vicky Tchong, signing the contract for the USD54,000 Japanese Grassroots Fund grant which paid for the renovation of the central block of the rehabilitation centre (workshop, machine room, rectification and oven rooms) at the blessing ceremony which took place in dining room of the derelict building (the area which the Japanese would renovate as the workshop).

1st June 2004: Peter Carey with ASSERT trustees Sr Aurora Pires (Canossian Sisters - our immediate neighbours in Becora), and ASSERT Deputy Chair, Ms Vicky Tchong (Deputy Secretary General and Director for Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Timor-Leste) after the blessing ceremony at Becora. The sign lists the names of all the donors to the structural renovation of the building and is now erected opposite the gate to the rehabilitation centre on the main road (Becora High Road).

Peter Carey with Mau Huno, third commander-in-chief (Commandante) (1992-93) of the East Timorese guerrilla army, FALINTIL (Forcas Armadas de Libertacao Nacional de Timor Leste/Armed Forces for the National Liberation of East Timor). Mau Huno (his nom-de-guerre - original name António Gomes, son of a Portuguese male nurse) suffered a massive stroke in November 1999 shortly after the Indonesian scorched earth withdrawal from East Timor and has made a remarkable recovery. He is now a patron of ASSERT and a role model for disabled people all over Timor-Leste. Others in the photograph (from the left): PT Haliwono civil engineer (the firm which won the building contract) , Luis Barreto (Chefe de Posto/Sub-Dustrict Head of Cristo Rey, the sub-district in which Becora is situated and a strong supporter of the project), Vasco (former bodyguard of President Xanana who was captured and badly tortured by the Indonesians, who now owns an arc-welding workshop and participated in the construction), and Pak Frans Haliwono (the contractor who did all the brilliant work on the building).


July - August 2004
Construction begins

The roof begins to take shape.

Building going on in one of the 30 metre long gait training areas (built out of what used to be sunken gardens on both sides of the main building, now the workshop).

View from the eastern side of the building as the steel roof pillars were being inserted - the weight of the entire steel roof (which weighs over 40 tons) was borne by these pillars thus preventing any of the original walls of the derelict building (which were all refurbished) having to be load bearing.

View from the west side of the building as above.

View from the west side of the building as above.

Pump-and-Power (H20), a Darwin-based water bore (artesian well) drilling firm, digging the 68 metre deep bore hole which eventually produced a 4 litre per second clear water flow for the rehabilitation centre on 27 July 2004 (this drilling operation was paid for by a generous USD15,000 grant from NZAID via the New Zealand Embassy in Díli).

The locally made teak wooden frames (from the coffee growing town of Ermera in the west of the country) being installed on the eastern side of the building.

Steel girders (imported from Surabaya in Indonesia) waiting to be hoisted into place on the roof of the building.

Indonesian civil engineer and site project manager, Engineer
Mustari (Pak Mos), talking with Ghanaian Quantity Surveyor, Mr Kwadwo, who was working on contract for the World Bank-funded school building programme in East Timor, who gave his time free every month to check on the building progress and sanction payments to the contractor, PT Haliwono.


January 2005
The final stages

The back of the nearly finished building (verandah wing) as the surrounding site area was being cleaned and prepared for a garden.

The long (20 metre) tiled verandah gallery at the back of the building which will be used as a gait training area.

The western aspect of the finished rehabilitation centre.

The front portico, with traditional East Timorese customary house roof made of coconut palm thatch (ijuk).

As above, with generator house in right foreground - containing
re-conditioned 60kva generaror bought out of a generous USD12,000 grant from Development Cooperation Ireland (Dublin).

The front approach to the finished building with the sign bearing the logos of ASSERT (to left) and the RDTL (Republica Democratica de Timor-Leste/Democratic Republic of East Timor).