Hello, all! My name is Joana dos Santos Camoes. I am working with Ba Futuru, a small organization that has a wonderful program which facilitates human rights education, conflict resolution, and trauma healing lessons to the venerable children that live in orphanages or attend children's centre. Ba futuru means "for the future". It is a non-profit development organization. Its vision is to transform the culture of mistrust and violence by motivating children in Timor Leste to empower themselves and engage in creating a positive future. Its mission is to implement programming on psycho-social activities for mutual learning, capacity development, artistic self expression and children's rights. As a new country that just got the independence in 2002, we need to develop our country. This means we need to increase human resources. It will be achieved if everyone feels secure. Many people are still afraid, but want education, jobs, a home, food and a family. These conditions force me to learn more in order to be able to apply what I learn to the others in Timor Leste to rebuild self-confidence especially with the children. Many children do not know that education is a right and yet they are the future of the country. The TAHRE program helps to strengthen children's conflict prevention and human rights capacity. The goal is to enhance young people's ability to transform the culture of violence by expressing their needs, thoughts and emotions through nonviolent means. After TAHRE program implementation in a high-conflict area in Dili, Timor-Leste, Sister Monica, one of the women who runs the community center commented on the program. She noticed changes in the children she works with due to the TAHRE program, "Their behavior has improved significantly. Before when we gathered the young children together for activities, the children were very wild and undisciplined but now they are much more respectful of each other and toward the Sisters." Parents of the children in Bebonuk reported that after the TAHRE program implementation their children could better manage their time to study and that they demonstrated more respect for each other and were more diligent in school. A series of fourteen psychosocial workshops are being held in orphanages and other types of childcare institutions providing children and youth with a venue for processing the negative affects of conflict. This project uses the TAHRE Guide, an innovative curriculum melding of art, conflict resolution and human rights pedagogies. Through the TAHRE program, Ba Futuru contributes to childrens, childcare workers and teachers understanding of human rights, child rights and conflict prevention. Ba Futuru staff transfer skills during the workshops to those who work in orphanages and schools to improve human rights and conflict resolution implementation strategies. Ba Futuru is partnering with AUSTCare to implement the TAHRE program in schools throughout the Bobonaro district of Timor-Leste. Ba Futuru staff are training teachers, one from each primary school, in how to use the TAHRE Guide in the classroom. This will help to improve the teacher's ability to effectively teach about human rights, child rights and conflict prevention. Ba Futuru also does conflict resolution, human rights and child rights trainings with government officials. Ba Futuru plans to work with Human Rights Focal Points from each district as well as facilitate various types of trainings with police. The TAHRE Guide has been developed detailing conflict resolution and human rights methodology, curriculum, implementation procedures, outcomes and lessons learned, along with information on effective interactive artistic methods of working with children around trauma. This detailed teacher’s manual is used in the implementation of the TAHRE program by Ba Futuru staff and has also been distributed to childcare institutions throughout the country for their ongoing use. You can download a copy of the bilingual TAHRE Guide at (PDF): http://www.bafuturu.org/ . Joana Dos Santos Camoes Director Ba Futuru Rua Vila Verde Suco Haksolok Dili, Timor-Leste + 67 0 724 6022 http://www.bafuturu.org ======== Global Human Rights Education listserv ======= Send mail intended for the list to < >. Archives of the list can be found at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-education/ **You are welcome to reprint, copy, archive, quote or re-post this item, but please retain the original and listserv source.
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