Day 12 Friday in Kasait
Callum Bremer and Anabel Rowe
We rose gradually from our classroom dormitories. Today is Anabel’s birthday and we remembered her at breakfast. The started day as we have the last few and joined our classes from yesterday before leading them into mass. Mass this morning held special significance as it celebrated the incredible work of Father Quyen SJ. He has been involved in the development of this college since its inception several years ago. He played a crucial role in the design and construction of the school and helped develop the curriculum and Ignatian ethos as Rector. Father Quyen has been asked by the Jesuits hopefully to replicate his achievements here in Timor Leste by establishing a new Jesuit school in Sisophon, Cambodia.As the mass commenced, in both Tetum and English, Father Quyen acknowledged Anabel’s birthday and the school sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for her. At the homily the atmosphere of the room gently shifted to one of loving grief as Father Quyen began talking about moving on. A majority of the students broke down in tears. Throughout our short time here it has been clearly evident that Father Quyen is a man of quiet strength and resilience. His beautiful, heartfelt speech showed his generous and kind nature. The congregation’s tears showed an appreciation of how much he has done for the students and staff at this school. He shared about this being his third time working in East Timor and how his precious two departures had broken his heart. In order to protect himself from the pain of having to say goodbye on his return to Timor Leste this time, he wanted to protect his heart. But his efforts were futile as the people here had found their way into his heart and to leave them now was once again breaking it. The Timorese children and teachers were very touched by his beautiful words and there were tears in abundance. We, the students and staff of the immersion, were also deeply moved by the students’ display of grief and tears flowed among us also. The respect the community here has for Fr Quyen is indescribable. He has been in East Timor for over seven years and is greatly loved and will be greatly missed.
On this emotional note, we left mass to begin football and volleyball games. Teams from Colegio San Ignacio de Loiola played our immersionistas in a championship final of Timor vs Australia. While both teams played well the Timorese were victorious, winning football 3-0 and volleyball 2-0. We then gave each class their final lessons from us. It was an animation class, so it was full of fun games, music and activities. This gave us a further opportunity to bond with the children. We wanted to stay with the kids for longer but reluctantly went to lunch. Some of us hurried our lunch in order to go back and communicate with the students. On the playground the kids would kindly offer us their food, if they saw us without any. This was yet another simple example of how generous these kids truly are. Many of the students tell us that they are going to be sad when we leave for Australia and we cannot help but feel incredibly saddened. Whether we outwardly express it or not, sadness will strike most of our Immersion group on our departure from Kasait.
The bell rang at the end of lunch and it was time for our final farewell ceremony. The students have been practicing in their classrooms throughout lunch in order to give us their best performances to show their appreciation. However, it should be us putting in the hours to perfect a performance for them, as they are the ones who have changed us immensely both our perception of life and our ability to love. They have helped us to discover the world beyond our bubbles in Australia and have given us one of the greatest gifts of all time, new friendships. One at a time from 7A to 7B to 7C to 8A to 8B to 8C, there was a wonderful mix of cultural dances by each class one by one. All the performers were full of life and received roars from the crowd during their performances.
We were called up to receive a Tais. Each of us was called to the front and presented with a Tais by one of the students. This process was very personal because most of us were presented the Tais by a student with whom we have bonded closely. We then performed the song ‘I’m yours’. It was clear that we did not practice as much as the local students. However, we had fun and it brought joy to the kids watching. There were speeches to farewell us and, more importantly, Fr Quyen. The staff and students all spoke in Tetun but you could feel the emotion from the facial expressions of those around you. Fr Quyen is a wonderful man and will definitely be missed. We got to dance with everyone and it felt like one big going away party with all our friends. The room was packed and humid, but we were having way too much fun to care. After all the jumping and dancing was done we moved outside to have class photos. The students were keen to have some memories so they can remember the good times that this past week has brought. When the final school bell rang, we were instantly bombarded with requests for our Facebook, emails and signatures. It made us feel like super stars. We will see them tomorrow, but it is going to be a sad day for us when we say goodbye.
After the last of the students trickled out we all sat down for some much needed quiet time, taking the chance to wash our immersion shirts as we’re to donate one of them tomorrow. By the time we were finished this some of us had gone off to play volleyball or just sit around one of the spectator’s huts for a chat and a lie down. After some time of relaxation we all came together around the main building for some private journal time as well as individual reflection. Before long we gathered for our final dinner in Kasait, a sad feat, before finishing the meal with what felt like the hundredth (and certainly 99th unnecessary but still nice) happy birthday. A birthday I will never forget.