Series of Seminar on Prevention of Covid-19 from WHO
March 2020
In response to feedback from our customer we have engaged with the World Health Organisation (WHO) to conduct a weekly workshop on the prevention of Covid-19 for the public at Xanana Gusmão Reading Room. There were two sessions being held at our space “Uma Mahon ” with a large number of participants from the public. The first session was held on March 18 with a total of 94 participants (30 males, 64 females) and the second session was held on March 20 with a total of 56 participants (21 males, 35 females), additional participants were our staff and volunteers. 

Post the first session, our staff and volunteers installed hygiene facilities around our office where all people will be easy to access and we will advise everyone to wash their hands regularly before and after using our facilities. On March 19, we closed our office to the public in order for us to clean the library and museum equipment. We also have developed new rules to guide our staff, volunteers and visitors as well as a contingency plan for our office.

Books for Libraries Project
Many libraries in municipalities still lack of books due to book price and printing cost is very expensive in Timor-Leste. The XGRR is always looking for support from overseas to acquire more books, usually from our partners and networks in Australia. This time, we received a large number of book donations from Fundação Déjà Lu and Marta Cancela de Amorim in Portugal. This collaboration happened with the help from Marta Contente, a Portuguese teacher volunteering her time to teach Portuguese language at our space. We have selected the books and kept some for our collections and a large number of books distributed to other libraries. During the month of February, we distributed books to the libraries in municipalities Biblioteka Eskola Maubisse in Ainaro, Biblioteka Don Bosco Maumali in Maliana, and Fundação das Irmãs de Nossa Senhora de Fátima, Memo in Maliana. Post Covid-19 period, we will continue the distribution to other libraries in our list.

International Mother Language Day
21 February 2020
In commemorating the International Mother Language Day, we hold a writing competition on popular stories for children in Mambae language. Mambae is a dialect with the biggest number of speakers in Timor-Leste. The stories collected from this competition will be included in the production of a book project with a 5 series of popular stories in Mambae language, funded by the Victoria State Government – Australia, Department of Environment, Land, Water, and Planning (DELWP).

Art Exhibition on Social Inclusion
20 February 2020

In celebrating the World Day of Social Justice, we hold an art exhibition on social inclusion from 23 – 27 February 2020. This event was organised by CODIVA and Hatutan Youth with the aim to raise public awareness on equal rights for all people regardless of their socio-economic background, ethnicity, religion, health status, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation. CODIVA and Hatutan Youth are strong advocates of social inclusion issues and equal rights for LGBT in Timor-Leste. 

Free Writing Workshop by Library For All (LFA) – Australia
February 13, 2020
Dr Lara Cain Gray from Library For All (LFA) – Australia conducted a free workshop at Xanana Gusmão Reading Room as part of their new project to launch a collection of children’s books in Timor-Leste. Participants of the workshop came from students of universities in Dili included XGRR staff and volunteers, with a total of 25 people (11 males, 14 females). The LFA with the aim to acquire 25 original stories written by local authors. The LFA is in the process of selecting good stories from the participants and this will be produced very soon. Dr Lara Cain Gray is a Specialist Librarian (Content Strategy & Publishing) at Library For All.

Commemorating the International Day of Women and Girls in Science
11 February 2020
Our theme for this event was “Hakbiit Feto & Labarik Feto sira ho Siensia & Teknolojia” (Empowering Women and Girls Through Science and Technology). We celebrate this special day through a science experiment with various activities such as producing sea water becomes salt, waste recycling, etc. These activities were led by the girls, students from the Department of Chemical at the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL). The event was participated by our customers, universities students and students from high school such as ESP 05 de Maio, ESP 12 de Novembro, and Escola Catolica Mater Misericordia – Gleno, Ermera. Total of participants was 45 people (15 males, 40 females).

Seminar on CoronaVirus Prevention
On February 7, 2020
We held a seminar with speaker Mr Antonio da Costa, National Director for Disease Control at the National Hospital Guido Valadares to inform the public about what is corona virus and how we can respond to it. This workshop was organised by our youth group called “Youth Community Care” and was attended by more than 100 people (37 males, 66 females). The participant requested to have more sessions to be held at XGRR.

Seminar on Breast Cancer
On February 4, 2020
We celebrated World Cancer Day at XGRR by holding a workshop to educate our young people, especially our customers, to have knowledge about breast cancer and the right way for treatment. The workshop was attended by almost 100 people (38 men, 56 women), they were students from universities and secondary schools in Dili and the wider community. The workshop was led by doctor Bonifacio de Jesus, a young doctor from the Bairopitte Clinic.