telecenter east timorIn August, 2007, the President and noble prize winner, East Timor- Nobel Laureate and President Jose Ramos Horta
visits SOLS 24/7 Timor Leste President Ramos Horta and learns of SOLS 24/7 holistic and practical youth training programs. ( The President is seen here talking with the International Director of SOLS 24/7 - Raj Ridvan Singh)

4th August 2007- For the first time ever, SOLS 24/7 Timor Leste is privileged to receive Nobel Peace Prize Winner and President Jose Ramos Horta as the organizations’ honorable guest.

The purpose of his informal visit was to view and learn of SOLS 24/7’s educational capacity building program for the underprivileged and out-of-school youths of East Timor.

After a brief introduction of the school’s English, employment and life-skills training program, President Ramos Horta expressed his opinion that Timor Leste has abundant untapped resources but citizens lack necessary education that
provides enough skills for the resources to be utilized. He would like to see that the lives of more youths are being enhanced through education and this is very much in line with SOLS 24/7’s vision of providing practical and applicable knowledge and skills for youths to secure job placements. International Director, Raj Ridvan Singh further shared SOLS 24/7’s future plans of opening institutes in Dili and developing rural economies by implementing and running micro-credit systems and providing necessary skills for youths to become self-employed.

Comfortable with mixing around with young Timorese, President Ramos Horta was youthful and casual himself. He spontaneously sat together with the students during the Saturday seminar to ask questions and listened to the views of what the students will do to change their future. Students were excited to be greeted by President Ramos Horta as he visited all the classes and later on to witness the student’s singing of the country’s national anthem and school anthem.

In 1996, President Ramos Horta shared the Nobel Peace Prize with fellow countrymen Bishop Carlos Belo for leading a nonviolent struggle against the Indonesian occupation. After being voted as President in June 2007, he vowed to honor his words during his political campaign, “I will work for the poor, with the entire country, to unite it and heal its wounds.”

SOLS 24/7 would like to support the President’s hopes for East Timor’s future by creating a bottom up change through education. SOLS 24/7 feels extremely honored by President Ramos Horta’s visit and the organization hopes that this would give future opportunities for SOLS 24/7 to scale up operations to reach out to more Timorese youths so that they would be able to attain quality and well-rounded education which will impact a multi-tiered positive change on an individual, community and national level

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