DILI, 09 august 2022 (TATOLI)—Japanese Ambassador to Timor-Leste, KINEFUCHI Masami visited and inaugurated Aelafa Elementary School in Daudere Village, Lautem Administrative Post, Lautem Municipality.
On his arrival at the Aelafa school on July 27, 2022, Ambassador was warmly welcomed by the teachers and students of Aelafa Primary School with the presentation of Tais and traditional dance.
During the visit, Ambassador Masami said he was delighted to see the new school building that has been constructed by Japan: “I am delighted to come to this beautiful place and see this new school building with all of you today. Japan’s assistance to Timor-Leste for more than 20 years is quite large, including large-scale infrastructure projects,” said the Japanese Ambassador.
In addition to the school building Japan also helped Timor-Leste build the No.1 national road from Dili to Baucau: “Before the completion of the construction project, it took more than 5 hours from Dili to Baucau, but now it only takes 2 hours,”
Following this observation, the Ambassador believes in the importance of small-scale projects such as school construction that can directly benefit the local community.
At the same place, Ambassador emphasized that during this time, Japan has also supported the Government of Timor-Leste by preparing the human resource to better contribute to the country’s development.
“We also support human resource development in Timor-Leste. We have several scholarship schemes for students to study in Japan,”
So far the construction of Alfela school was completed in November 2020 worth $90,699 under the Government of Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP) scheme.
This project aims to improve the educational environment and sanitation in Aelafa Elementary School to benefit more than 100 students from the new school building with three classrooms and five washrooms.
Since its first project started in 2000, GGP has launched 132 projects in 13 municipalities. The program mainly provides basic infrastructure assistance, including school facilities, public clinics, and water supply systems, to meet various basic human needs at the grassroots level.
Journalist: José Belarmino De Sá
Editor: Nelia Borges
