CARE in Timor Leste

We have been working in East Timor since 1994, giving emergency aid to people affected by the conflict, and helping to create positive, long-lasting changes to people’s lives across the country.

In Timor Leste we:

provide access to clean water and sanitation
helps run camps for displaced people
provide tents and other essential supplies

CARE in action:

Conflict
Since independence in 1999, the country has had a number of internal conflicts between different ethnic groups. The ongoing violence has at times caused up to seventy-five per cent of the population to flee from their homes and families.

We work with local partner organisations to help people who have fled their homes because of the violence to return back to their local communities. We also get basic supplies, such as food, blankets, and water, on a daily basis, to people living in temporary camps. More generally we also help people across the country to get the healthcare and good food that they need.

Lafaek
Every primary school child in Timor Leste receives Lafaek, a children’s magazine designed by CARE to teach them about their rights, health, the environment, peace and democracy.

A recent survey of local community members and parents, conducted by USAID and the Office of Transition Initiatives (OTI), showed that 75 per cent of children and their parents were more aware of and understood more clearly the subjects that Lafaek deals with since reading it. We know that it also gives children and their teachers a platform to voice their opinions and the tools they need to develop into confident and responsible citizens.

Lafaek is the country’s only bi-monthly magazine created specifically for children and printed in the local Tetum language. We distribute more than 260,000 copies to children, and 7,500 to teachers. We currently cover three different age brackets: Lafaek Educator for teachers; Lafaek Regular for older children; and Lafaek Junior for younger children.