Our 25th Zoom meeting was a total inspiration thanks to the opportunity it gave us all to meet Libby Bleakley, who represents the best of Australia in so many ways: in her humour, her straightforwardness, her courage and passion for justice and most strikingly, I thought, in her compassionate acceptance of the human condition.
Libby is a member of the Blackheath Rotary Club which has taken on her Learning Centre in Timor-Leste as their RAWCS project. The Centre includes a school for teaching English, a Sewing Centre which enables its employees to make a living through commercial sewing and a Plus Fitness Gymnasium. It sounds bland enough, saying it like that, but listening to Libby it became apparent that this project is an extension of Libby’s peace-keeping mission in life, expressed through the lives and conditions of the East Timorese people with whom she spends a third or more of her days.
Interestingly, Libby chose to search for land for her project in one of the most troubled regions of the country and can claim that since the Centre opened in 2016 there has not been a single machete attack in their area. Children flock to the school, fibbing about their age in order to qualify, coming early and staying late. The Sewing Centre has ‘pivoted’, as we like to say in COVID days, from making aprons and bags to sewing protective masks and the income has empowered the women so greatly that one staff member has been able to save enough to build her own home.
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Students keen to learn | A budding teacher in years to come | Bento, H.E Xanana Gusmao and Centre Manager Dede da Costa |
The Gymnasium is one of the best in Timor-Leste and has a compelling drawcard in that membership is free. The catch is that any applicant for membership must be interviewed for their suitability and they must be prepared to contribute by helping with cleaning and maintenance of the gym. Its clientele is drawn from the rival outlawed gangs of the region who specialise in stand-over, drug trading and prostitution but they leave their hostility behind when they enter the Gym where the key word is Respect and machetes, knives and other weapons are banned.
Instead they focus on bodybuilding and beating their rivals in weightlifting and muscle expanding contests. They have even formed a gang to clean up Dili, a bit of news that troubled Libby until she found out that their target was actual refuse, not humans, inspired as they have been by pride of ownership in their Gymnasium and Centre.
Libby told many heart-warming stories, especially about the power of the Days for Girls kits that the Sewing Centre also make.
Many of us will take up Rob Ferguson’s offer to supply copies of Libby’s book, On A Mission, for $30 which will go towards meeting the $40,000 annual cost of supporting the Centre.
Read more from a recent update from Libby published in the District 9685 E news
Another way of helping is to buy coffee from Roasters with Altitude, a business that Libby operates to help fund the Centre. You can find them each Saturday at Carriageworks Market, 245 Wilson St, Eveleigh NSW 2015.
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The other highlights of the meeting were seeing Banjo Patterson’s desk, which Sue Owen has been legally working on for the past several decades and gaining access to the McWhannell Towers crypt where lie the arcane secrets of our Club. Also unforgettable was the meeting opener when acting Sergeant John Collins outed himself as a Life of Brian fanatic and technophile Simon digitally enabled us to view-him-viewing-the-promo of the film for several tantalizing moments.
Members were very concerned to hear of Sergeant Anne’s ill-health and unite in wishing her a fast and complete recovery. Sincere good wishes also to Ron who is in recovery mode and George who sadly isn’t.
Fines were exacted from members relying on virtual backgrounds and can be paid online at: https://wahroongarotary.org/stories/the-sergeant-s-corner/