Ba Futuru's Seroja Center Student Profiles

To provide a better idea of what the students at Seroja Center are getting out of their experiences at four student profiles are below.

Seroja Student: Fatima da Costa, Age 10

Fatima is ten years old and lives in a village near Seroja called Rai Kotu. She comes to the center everyday after school to follow art, music and English courses and to find new friends. She says: “I am happy at the Center as it is a place of fun and friendship.”

Seroja Student: Bartolomeu Jon “Junito”, Age 12

Junito lives near the center and comes there almost every day. “The activities that are run at this centre have great benefits to me, because I can say that before I was very bad at painting but now with Mana Any, the teacher, she makes me very happy. I can see that some of my paintings are much better than the ones before even though I just paint on regular paper. One thing that made me very happy was helping the guys from Arte Moris paint the skate park. Another thing was before me and my friends just played foot ball on rocks, but now we play football on cement which is really smooth.”

“I hope that in the future the center can get even better in the areas of: getting more skateboards, basketball, volleyball and basketball because right now we don’t have any basketball hoops and the balls are not very good. I also want to see extra classes added because sometimes the older brothers and sisters [youth] which are in the English classes use all the space inside and we children play or learn outside. I also want in the future to become a painter, a good one, like the guys are Arte Moris.”

Seroja Student: Natalino Ximenes “Ino,” Age 11

Ino comes to Serjoa Center everyday as he lives in the community just behind the center. When asked what he thinks about his experience at the center he said: “I think that I learnt a lot from the brothers and sisters [male and female Ba Futuru staff] here, like Maun Vidal, Jo, Helio, and an international woman who have worked here (Mana Marie); they always spoke nicely to me and taught me a lot. Sometimes before I liked to act up, threw rocks at the center, put nails in car tires, and I wasn’t scared to disrespect the Manas [women working at Seroja], but now I think that I can forget and get rid of those bad behaviors because I’m starting to learn better the things that they are saying and also that my father says to me.” When asked what he hoped for the future, Ino said: “I want them to takes us for outings at fun places more often, bring more skateboards to the centre and have skateboarding tournaments because I really like riding skateboard. And maybe if we could put in some small goals, like for football, we could play the games properly and not fight over who scored a goal.”

Seroja Student: Pascoela da CV.B, Age 17 

“My name is Pascoela but people always call me Qella. I have three brothers. I finished senior high school last year and I really wanted to continue my studies at University because I love to learn new things to improve my knowledge and skills. Unfortunately I didn’t pass the exam so I couldn’t go to University. It made me feel very sad and then I was just staying at home everyday. A neighbor of mine told me about Seroja Center and that she attends an English course there. I decided to go there to see if I could register and join with an English class because I need to improve my English so that I can pass my exam and have a positive future. 

The English language is a very important part of our future because it is an international language. It is very difficult for the Timorese to improve their English because they never get to practice as not very many people speak good English, but the Center provides us with a lot of opportunities for practicing with both Timorese and internationals. Also, Seroja Center doesn’t charge their students a fee, so it gives the opportunity to all Timorese children and youth to attend classes and fulfill their dreams. Although the English class was the reason I registered at the Center, I have attended TAHRE class as well which gave me an opportunity to share and discuss my past experiences of conflict times with Ba Futuru’s excellent facilitators. One day I would like to work with an NGO or with the government and I think that the activities at the Seroja Center can help me fulfill my dream. Improving my English will hopefully help me to get a scholarship so that I can go abroad. I have many dreams, but dreams don’t always come true.” 

Seroja Student: Filipe de Oliviera, Age 25 

“I came to Seroja Center because I wanted to improve my English. Here I have had a lot of opportunities to listen, write and read English with other students and teachers. They have both Timorese and international teachers which I think is important so that I can learn to both speak and write proper English. 

When I go home to my house I speak English with my brothers and my sister so that they also can learn. I would like to practice English everyday but it’s difficult because in Bairo Pite, Dili, where I live, there is no one to practice with. I want to study at the University but my family cannot support me financially because we are poor. Before I began going to the Seroja Center I had nothing to do because I didn’t have a job and wasn’t able to go to school. At Seroja I also joined the TAHRE class where I learned about how a can deal with conflicts in a non-violent way. I am very happy at the Seroja Center because it is a safe and beautiful place and it makes me believe in a good future for Timor-Leste. I think the people of Timor-Leste need to get opportunities to be trained in English so that we can go abroad and work and get the knowledge and skills we need to build our nation. My dream is that one day I can teach English for students in Leorema, Liquica, because this is where I come from and where my family lives.”