Helping St Bakhita School
Achieve BETTER Together
Atlantis Timetabling is cooperating with St Bakhita School to donate second-hand laptops to Timor-Leste.
My name is Dr Tim Cooper
I am the co-founder of Atlantis Timetabling (and before that, Edval Timetables, Skedgo Pty Ltd Trip Planner and Nasdaq SMARTS Surveillance).
I have travelled to Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor) nearly every year since 2003, conducting small-scale aid projects: establishing an electrical/mechanical workshop, working with rice & corn storage/packaging/marketing, and donating computers
I have donated around 120 desktops/laptops over 4 shipments, since 2003, to educational institutions (UNTL, UNDIL and others).
My name is Ornella Byak
Ornella Byak is a young Australian woman, now living in Same, Manufahi district, Timor Leste. She has established the St Bakhita School of Excellence in Same.
Ornella has been profiled in the SMH
Ornella’s school is growing and for the next phase of its growth, she needs laptops. The latest information about St Bakhita is here: https://bsesame.org/ . Ornella’s organisation is a registered charity in Australia (DGR).
What is clear to me after years of working with the Manufahi/Same community is that laptops are one of the most sought-after things the local people ask for. Very few people in the districts can afford even a second hand laptop, although they all know what laptops are. For the locals, laptops are a gateway to education, the outside world, and professional employment.
I have gotten to know Ornella and her school quite well. It is a very impressive operation. It is free for the students. Ornella uses donors, primarily Australians, for the financial support she needs to pay teachers and for all the infrastructure a school needs. They have recently outgrown their original premises on Church grounds and have moved to much larger premises on the outskirts of Same.
We are now looking for at least 30, and ideally 50 laptops to donate to the St Bakhita School. The plan is to collect them and refurbish them in Sydney and send them on a pallet to Same Manufahi. This plan might also be repeated in a year or two. They should be Windows laptops. We need laptops in good working condition but we will be able to do minor repairs such as replacing the hard drive or reinstalling Windows. If you can donate 5+ similar laptops from your organisation then this simplifies logistics, but we won’t turn our nose up at any good quality laptop.
Will you help us?
Call
Tim - 0488 084 136
