Sierra James(f): The reason that we choose to work with kids and young people is because they’re the ones that are having a larger impact in their daily lives from the conflict and violence.

HOST: Hallo, pleasant viewers, and welcome to Good People, Good Works. Last week on our program we introduced the non-profit group Ba Futuru, [baa foo-too-roo] which means “for the future” in Tetum, [teh-tum] the national language of the Southeast Asian nation of Timor-Leste.

Established in 2004 by Sierra James, a native of Seattle, USA, and others, Ba Futuru is a distinguished non-governmental organization that protects children and young people and promotes peace in Timor-Leste. To date, more than 20,000 children, young adults, teachers, staff of other non-governmental organizations and community leaders have participated in the group’s programs and courses that constructively change lives and values. Today we’ll continue our visit with Ba Futuru staff to further understand how their programs help participants.

Sierra James (f): Currently, we have three main projects. One of the projects is called “The Youth Integration and Development Initiative,” which is our youth center here, which you will see today. The other project, which is out in the community, doing community peace building, is called the “Community Peace Building Support Projects.” And then the third project is focused more on doing community peace building all across the country, in areas that are also having issues, not as high-conflict issues as in Dili, the capital.

We train community leaders on resolving conflict using positive mechanisms. So, for example, if there’s a land dispute or other types of disputes going on, we train them on mediation, negotiation, also on different types of ways to resolve, different types of decision-making, different types of ways to resolve conflict positively, so that they can have a good future for their community.

Ba Futuru’s mission is to build peace and also to promote sustainable human development for Timor-Leste. And we do this by working with children and youth. And as part of that program, we actually give them skills and conflict resolution in human rights. And we teach them how to resolve problems in their everyday life without the use of violence.

In addition, we also work with people who affect the lives of children. We focus on teachers, we also focus on parents, and we also work with community leaders. And in this case we give them skills about not using violence with children. We start working with teachers and youths, teachers and community leaders to encourage people to use positive discipline mechanisms.

Juliana de Oliviera Marcal (f): The projects for the future of children, we call it “Strengthening Peace in the Lives of Children.” Through this project we have initiatives to stop the violence against the children, to increase awareness, understanding the orphans, as well as to train the teachers and the people who care about the children. how to make them understand about the rights of children. And we also provide positive training in this project, such as suitable education for parents to make them understand how to treat the children in positive ways.

I only want to say that the programs we give in Strengthening Peace in the Lives of Children are not merely for women but for men also. So we have equal education for women and men to learn about the good way to teach the children. Because we know that the children are very important in the family as well as in the society.

HOST: Ba Futuru gives youths creative outlets to express themselves, making it much more likely they will choose constructive activities that improve their self-esteem and confidence during their free time.

Sierra James(f): We started this youth center here; it’s called the Ba Futuru Center for Peace. We started this as a positive place for kids to come. The kids that were involved in the gangs, who are out in the streets, that were causing problems, they can stop that kind of activity, they can come here. That’s why we started the skate-boarding (program).

We also have arts and we have sports and all sorts of ways that they can process what they have been through. They can actually learn about conflict resolution and human rights. In the beginning, we were focused mostly on the people involved in conflicts; we also worked with the communities around this neighborhood.

Now that things are calm again, we go out to the most high-risk communities in Dili and we do outreach. And in that part of that outreach we try to identify the gang members, the people who involve themselves in violence regularly, and the people who need the most assistance, and then we invite them to come to the center. But we also do trainings there with them in the community, as part of a separate project.

So we have a community peace-building support-network project and in that project we actually go out into the high- risk communities. Most of the violence and the gangs are happening in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste. So that is where we focus most of our work, but we’ve worked also in 11 of the 13 districts across the country.

HOST: The people of Timor-Leste have a wonderful, colorful cultural heritage. They weave tais, or the handmade textiles of Timor-Leste and perform beautiful traditional music and dance. Ba Futuru incorporates the arts into its programs to enhance children’s pride in their community and to pass ancient customs on to the next generation.

Translator2(m): My name is Nona, I I am working at the Ba Futuru organization. My position is coordinator for children and youths.

Translator2(m): I like to work in the Ba Futuru center because here we have a lot of activities for children and youths.

Translator2(m): In this place, many children come from different areas. They come and learn here.

Translator2(m): Here in this organization we also have the activities about traditional music. They can learn our tradition.

HOST: For several years, Ba Futuru members have been using lively group discussions to train local young adults to become staff members as well. These initiatives give participants the confidence to contribute to their society, and due to the program’s excellent results, Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Social Solidarity, the United Nations Human Rights Unit and several international organizations regularly contract with Ba Futuru to hold training classes and share its professional knowledge, experience and methods in order to create a more peaceful world.

The progress toward peace is tangible in Timor-Leste. This is shown by the fact that on May 3, 2010, the National Parliament of Timor-Leste passed a widely praised law on domestic violence. Finally, let’s hear about one last important Ba Futuru initiative from Sierra James. Sierra”:

We also have a separate project which is just going to be started again. We did it last year for six months with support from the Office of the President, and the government of Timor-Leste. That is on the Island of Atauro, and that project is a bit different. That project focuses on increasing tourism for the communities, so they can get some more money from income generation activities.

So they do monthly festivals, they do dancing, and singing, and people go there to this small island, and they can do scuba-diving, snorkeling, hiking, and they can also experience the local culture, the local dancing. They can buy local products; there’s a very great women’s cooperative there that makes purses. Our project is also working on the island to promote that.

We also have a child protection component of that project, which is working with the community to build up a child protection network. We have already changed the child protection network here in Dili, as well as in the other city called Bakao. And in both of those cases, we worked with the police. We also worked with the government child protection officers on how to build a stronger child protection system for Timor-Leste. We will try to replicate that out on the Atauro Island.

HOST: Here are some final thoughts from Sierra James.

Sierra James (f): So, the message for children in Timor is that life can be very difficult sometimes, they have a lot of hard things going on. But what they can do is that they can imagine a positive future and they can start down a path to get there. And it’s just about taking the steps every day, and seeing where they want to go, and going. So they can do it.

The message for people all over the world, I think as I’m saying, young people, you have a lot of ability to change the world. So you need to actually take it into your own hands and create something positive. What you need to do is you need to think about where you want things to go, and you need to do the small things in your life to create a positive world.

HOST: All staff members of Ba Futuru, we thank you for your noble work of promoting human-rights awareness and striving to create a more peaceful atmosphere in your society, thus helping to create a brighter future for the children and youth of Timor-Leste.

For more details on Ba Futuru, please visit www.BaFuturu.org

OUTRO: Refined viewers, thank you for watching this week’s edition of Good People, Good Works. Coming up next is The World Around Us, after Noteworthy News. May God forever bless us in our efforts to build a more peaceful world.