Dili's version of Three Cups of Tea

If you haven't read Three Cups of Tea you really should. It is a wonderful book about building schools in Afghanistan. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts Timor Leste (East Timor) is a very poor and 'developing" country. Because of this they are in dire need of good schools. Last week the Ambassador wanted to go see a school that is being built in a remote part of the country. Chris was asked to go with him. We were both pretty excited about this. They left early in the morning and drove over crazy roads and forded lots of rivers (cars here have actual snorkels attached to them so that you can go in water up to the windshield!!! I will post a picture of one when I can.) The country is absolutely gorgeous. Christopher took a lot of amazing pictures but this one took my breath away:

Along the way they saw lots of local children willing to smile for the camera. This guy is too cute. We have no clue what he is holding, obviously a tool of some sort but what in the world would it do?

They stopped and looked at some of the ruins from the Portuguese schools

Chris also snapped a shot of this gorgeous old church:

They stopped for the night and stayed with a local family, sleeping on the floor of their hut. Houses that are built up on stilts like this are called "Sacred Houses".

The people here are so kind and generous. And the kids seem to love posing for pictures:

The next day they made it to the school.

They were able to bring along some toys and soccer balls etc. to give to the children. The locals performed dances and sang for Chris and the Ambassador. Chris has some really amazing pictures but we don't want to post anything we aren't supposed too... there is always a fine line :) It was such a wonderful experience for Christopher. It was great to already be participating in exactly the type of things we hoped this job would bring. I just hope the kiddos and I get to see some more of this gorgeous country