The Encouragement Foundation

Deo De Costa wants a brighter future for East Timor.

He wants more opportunity for the children of his district, most of whom face a future of subsistence farming and child-rearing like their parents.

Without access to secondary education, the children of Lolotoe have very little chance of ever breaking the cycle, attaining an income or even reaching above the poverty line.

At the moment, children who are privileged enough to carry on with their schooling, must relocate to the district capital of Maliana in order to attend high school.

Some stay with relatives but most don’t have that opportunity and those that do are often obliged to work in exchange for the accommodation, which can interfere with their education.

Deo’s dream is to create another option, to build a hostel in Maliana where the children of Lolotoe can live while they attend high school.

Deo’s hostel will provide new and exceptional accommodation (by East Timor standards) for children from the seven remote villages in the Lolotoe district.

An initial intake of 40 students will be selected based on their academic achievement in primary school.

The top 20 boys and top 20 girls will be offered hostel accommodation, a factor that will no doubt be particularly appreciated by the girls as they are usually completely denied further education.

The children will be provided with food, uniforms and educational supplies and they will be cared for by an experienced, live-in, husband and wife team who will reside within the hostel complex as house parents.

It is hoped that when these children graduate from high school in six years, they will be empowered by this opportunity and will go on to achieve great things for themselves and their country.

We welcome you to follow Deo’s journey. To participate where possible and to share this site with others.