Friends of Suai

Ho prezensa (Uma Media Regional)UMR suai nebe servisu hamutuk ho Centro Juventude Covalima ba programa Youth Media Centre (Yomatre) bele halo fasil kommunidade no joventude sira atu hetan asesu ba informasaun iha distritu Covalima.

Ema hotu kontente, halsolok (slogan Timor Telcom nian), mais ami nia slogan “Fo Beran ba Ema NEBE BERAN LA IHA” (give power to the powerless people).

Klaru katak servisu hamutuk ne’e fo benefisiu no opportunidade bo’ot ba komunidade iha distritu Covalima atu aksesu ba informasaun ho simples, la karun no sustentavel.

AGORA bele loke internet iha Estrada laran besik Centro Juventude Covalima nia oin (UMR/Yomatre)  deit depois tiha instola sistema broadband iha loron Tersa, 22 Septembro 2009.
Presiza aksesu ba internet…??? Mai iha CJC/Yomatre/UMR, Ami attende no servi ba ita bo’ot sira ho responsabilidade oras 24 nia laran. Hatene informasaun, domina mundu…

Chamot Egy and friend walking down the road with Egy carrying his laptop demonstratng that several hundred metres from the Youth Centre they have got a wireless signal? It must be a liberating feeling after so many years of feeling left out of the loop or waiting in queues at Timor Telecom.

Ergilio – Co-ordinator of the Cova Lima Youth Centre – Jen & Jeff ,filmmakers in St Kilda have been chatting on Skype using the new broadband access in Suai.

It took six years to get the video cameras and computers and ten to get Broadband but we did it, with a lot of help from others.

We chatted about what was happening in Suai in the past weeks and plans for the future – trying to work out what steps we want to take.

Egy has sent through photos of the satellite dish that has brought broadband access to the youth centre in Suai and a media house dedicated to regional journalism thanks to ICFJ. Egy in pink T Shirt with various others he has brought into the photo without giving names.

The long-promised, long awaited, 9 year dream has come true.

” dear….Thanks to everyone..
I’m sending this email to you all from my own desk at the youth centre office. today, our internet already on…

“..today and tomorrow so busy reorganize the place and removing the things, repainting all building with our volunteers. Erna and Jaimitu filming all the processes of installation as you remaind me..

when we go for skype..??

rgds

egy “

Sweeter words have never been heard – well maybe that’s an exaggeration but it is very good news, that Broadband access has arrived at the community level in Suai. This letter arrived from Ergilio Vicente the Co-ordinator of the Covalima Youth Centre recently. No longer the long queues at Timor Telecom that cost a fortune and fail! No more getting on the motor bike or into the car or walking up the hill and down and back again, Egy can email as he said in the subject heading of this email “from my desk”!

We look forward to seeing the photographs soon.

Thanks to Emanuel Braz and all at the International Centre for Journalism and the Friends of Suai who have helped make this dream come true. ( I hear USAID paid for it.)

Good news from Emanuel Braz, consultant to the International Centre for Journalists. Emanuel assured me the satellite dish is definitely going into Suai and that YoMaTre will have free access to Broadband as a result. Estimated time of arrival in Suai and Broadband arrival last week March!

Suai Media Space received news that the installation of the satellite dish earmarked for Suai  by the International Centre for Journalists, that would see broadband delivered in to Covalima, has been postponed. Emanuel Braz consultant to ICFJ and initiator of the Uma Media Project said on the weekend that ICFJ needed to clarify the relationships with the organisations in Suai before they could go ahead with the installation. Originally ICFJ said that the satellite dish would be installed in October – November.  Andrew Maher of Info Exchange said on Friday that until last week he had understood the project was on track. The Friends of Suai in Port Phillip only became aware of the delay this weekend too. It seems that the Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by all parties has created a stumbling block.

At a meeting of stakeholders initiated by the Friends of Suai and held in Suai in August, Emanuel Braz representing the International Centre for Journalists is reported as saying that ICFJ were not setting up a new Regional Media House in Suai. The ICFJ were aiming to support the Youth Media Centre (YoMaTre) to operate as a media house for international journalists in addition to supporting its current activities.

Ergilio Vicente, (Co-ordinator of the Suai Youth Centre) who oversees and manages staff of YoMaTre, reports that “the presence of ICFJ is also to provide Internet access to YoMaTre (at the Youth Centre) and the Community Centre, (the home of the Friends of Suai management and activities in Suai).”
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A meeting is to be held in the next two days in Suai between stakeholders interested in managing Broadband access in Suai.

At a meeting in Suai in June Ergilio Vicente, Simao Barretto and Friends of Suai Co-ordinator in Pt Phillip, Pat Jessen, met with Emanuel Braz, Deputy Country Director of the International Centre for Jouranlists to discuss the imminent broadband connection being brought to Suai by the ‘Uma Media House’ Project. The only Internet connection in Covalima presently is provided by Timor Telecom in Suai. The connection is very slow. The speed and maintenance of the network is an issue.

Despite many attempts, using a range of email service providers, in the YoMaTre Media Workshop in Suai in June, we were unable to email an image to Australia or to upload a single image to this website. It was frustrating in the extreme. Valuable time and money was wasted. It was very disappointing for the students, many of whom didn’t get the opportunity to practice what they had learned, due to the time it took to do simple tasks, taken for granted in Australia. Not to mention the $2.00 an hour paid for the service

After a meeting at the Community Centre and an inspection of the Radio Station Emanuel met with Ergilio at the Youth Centre to discuss the space for placement of the computers next to the YoMaTre Studio adjacent to the Youth Centre.

Following this meeting Pat Jessen met with Simao and Ergilio on separate occasions to discuss placement of the Internet computers, management and financial opportunities that Broadband can bring to their organisations and their community.

On Saturday, John Collins a member of the Friends of Suai Committee in Pt Phillip, left for Suai to attend the meeting between all stakeholders to be held tomorrow and Wednesday. There is no doubt, that Broadband access will be revolutionary for Suai and the rest of Covalima. and hopefully Internet access will be made available for the youth of Suai.