Port Phillip residents are providing home-stay for old friend Alberto de Jesus Barros from Suai who is currently in Australia on a 6-month scholarship studying English for Academic Purposes at Taylors College.
Alberto was travelling to Melbourne as his family and community were preparing for the 10 year Commemoration of the Suai Massacre on 06 September 2009.in Suai. Within days of his arrival he found himself at his first photo shoot as Friends of Suai were preparing for the Commemoration in Port Phillip. Photo by Jason Sammon, Port Phillip Leader.
Alberto has been connected to the friends of Suai for five years, during that time he has hosted many Port Phillip visitors in Suai, translating and showing them around the district.
He and his wife Lenta have 3 children; Asten 5, Anie (Anya) 2 and Joni (Zoni) is 1 month 2 weeks and 3 days.
Alberto graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Agricultural Economy from the Faculty of Agriculture and the Department of Social Economy, at National University of Timor Leste Dili, in 2003
He worked with UN Peacekeepers between 2000 and 2005 as a Language Assistant.
Later he was employed at the Suai Community Centre supported by the City of Port Phillip between 2005 and 2009 as a community development worker and financial manager.
In 2009 he took up a new position with the International NGO Peace Dividend Trust in Suai, Cova Lima, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to making peace and humanitarian operations more efficient, effective and equitable.
