At this time of year, as she has for the past 11 years, Jan would be travelling to Timor Lestè. Her goal is to have interaction with various contacts she has there, and monitor the progress of projects Across the Timor Sea had been undertaking. However, at the moment, Australians are banned from travelling overseas (unless exempted), so she is unable to go this year; and we are not sure how long the ban will be.

2020 has been a problematic year for many, especially in Timor Lestè. Already dealing with existing challenges, the Timor Lestè Government acted quickly to contain the first signs of COVID19. As of November 2020, there had been 30 cases, 0 deaths and 30 recovered.    ~ A remarkable statistic.

News that we have from Timor Lestè is encouraging, as things seem to be returning to some semblance of ‘normal’.  They are being very careful regarding COVID19 safety; and this is very reassuring to us.

The school year is coming to a close, and as we have always found communications between Timor Lestè difficult, we are still waiting to hear how 2020 has impacted fully on the Across the Timor Sea scholarship students. We do know there is no electricity in Ailalec; and as the students were unable to continue their studies during the COVID 19 emergency, they have missed two months of the school term.