Kirsty Sword Gusm達o ADDRESS ON THE OCCASION OF THE CONFERRAL OF THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY, HONORIS CAUSA, VICTORIA UNIVERSITY - 14 May, 2014
Victoria University Media Release: http://www.vu.edu.au/news-events/media-releases/dr-kirsty-sword-gusmaoinvestment-in-education-is-an-investment-in-the-future-of-any-country I am deeply honoured and humbled to be receiving this degree today. Coming from an academic institution of such repute and in the city of my birth, it is all the more significant a gesture. I would like to begin by offering a sincere vote of thanks to my friend and longstanding mover and shaker for Timor-Leste, Ms Jean Mclean. Thank you also to the many friends and family who have come out to share this special occasion with me. My husband was awarded with his own honorary doctorate from Victoria University in 2003. It was not his first nor has it been his last, but nonetheless I know that it was a memorable occasion indeed, not least because of the long and abiding bonds of friendship and solidarity that connect the people
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of Timor-Leste and the state of Victoria. Victoria has always been home to the largest number of East Timorese outside of our little half-island nation. One of them, Mr Abel Guterres who is today Timor-Leste’s Ambassador to Australia, was instrumental in introducing me to the brave struggle for national Independence of the people of Timor-Leste. This was back in the 1980’s, dark days indeed for the people of Timor-Leste or Timor Timur as the Indonesian occupying forces knew it. Massacres, arbitrary detention and other gross violations of human rights were common place and Abel, then a bus driver, plying routes around central Melbourne, would spend his lunch hours sharing reports, photos and information from the resistance with me. It became very evident that this was a just cause and one deserving of my full support. I used the language skills I had acquired at Melbourne University in the course of my Arts degree in the 1980’s to assist with translations and the dissemination of the sad tales of oppression and suffering that the reports told. Since that time, my life has been an exercise in turning my privileged background and good education to the benefit of the people of Timor-Leste in their efforts to develop their new nation, still the youngest in the Southeast Asia region. I established the Alola Foundation in 2001, initially to honour the experiences of a young woman, Juliana dos Santos, kidnapped in brutal circumstances by a militia leader in the wake of the popular consultation of 1999. She had been taken as a war trophy across the border into West Timor where she remains today. Her story was sadly not uncommon at the time of the political upheaval and chaos of 1999. Being as it was emblematic of the struggle for peace and dignity of all East Timorese women, I decided to attach Juliana’s nickname to the organisation I founded. The organisation has grown from a budget of a few thousand Australian dollars and a team of a handful of volunteers in 2001 to one of the nation’s most reputable NGOs and employer of some 90 staff. Alola’s capable managers are all East Timorese and predominantly women. In fact, 70% of Alola personnel are women, and I credit the great strides forward made across many spheres including women’s economic empowerment, education and maternal and child health to the clever and powerful women at the helm. It is no coincidence that our motto is “Strong Women, Strong Nation.” I am particularly proud of the work Alola has done to enable girls to complete their secondary schooling through scholarships and of its contributions to a dramatic reduction in rates of infant mortality. Timor-Leste has made significant progress in reducing Under 5 and Infant Mortality Rates and we have already achieved the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) 4 goal of a 2/3 reduction in child mortality by 2015.
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This is due in large part to Alola’s active promotion of exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and the grass-roots education work it has done on good infant feeding practices, immunization and birth spacing. Another highlight of the last 14 years in Timor-Leste was being sworn in by the President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste as Goodwill Ambassador for Education. Being as I am a teacher by training and latest in a long line of teachers, I have been honoured to have been entrusted with this important role of fostering partnerships for Educational Development in Timor-Leste and with promoting amongst my fellow Timorese a belief I hold dear; and that is that education is the key to a better, richer, healthier more dignified life for all East Timorese. As President of the Board of Trustees of the Dili Institute of Technology, I have been delighted to have witnessed the growth of a strong collaborative partnership between DIT and this University. VU has contributed significantly over the past ten years to the training of teaching staff, to accreditation of courses and to the development of DIT’s facilities and resources. Thanks to the hand of friendship extended to DIT, the institution is today educating some 2,000 students, has an operating budget of $US 2 million and is one of the nation’s leading, most trusted tertiary education institutions. I would like to make special mention of the guiding hand and unwavering friendship of Dr Helen Hill and Jean Mclean who have contributed to development of the tertiary and vocational education sectors in countless ways. Establishing and leading Timor-Leste’s National Commission for UNESCO from 2009 to 2013 was another stand-out experience for me. Over that period, I helped to establish and oversaw the design and implementation of a Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Pilot Program in three districts. The preliminary evaluation of this program has been very positive indeed, demonstrating the superiority of the use of a child’s first language at pre-school and in the early years of primary education. In the context of the enormous needs of a new nation struggling to cope with the legacy of centuries of colonial rule and of violent conflict, the achievements I have mentioned seem like a mere drop in a vast ocean. There is still so much to be done in order for all East Timorese to live without the heavy weight of need and dependence. A long overdue acknowledgement of Timor-Leste’s sovereign rights in relation to maritime boundaries would contribute in a very significant way to reducing the gap of wealth, privilege and quality of life separating our two great countries.
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From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for this recognition of my modest contributions to Timor-Leste’s national development. It gives a huge lift to my morale and is a great encouragement to me in the hard work that still lies ahead. Obrigadu barak. Thank you.
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