TWO Carmelite sisters from Timor Leste have spent the last three months in the Bega Valley in order to learn English.
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Sister Odete and Sister Juliana are part of a program where they spend three months in the Valley having English lessons in the morning and afternoon, seeing the countryside and fit in time to do things such as attend the Bega Anzac Day parade.
The program was started in 2008 by Bega Advocates for Timor Leste and St Patrick’s Church as well as other groups, and they have brought two sisters from Timor Leste to Bega each year.
There are many things about Bega that the sisters have enjoyed, such as the scenery, how there are many animals around and are especially interested in ones that are not in Timor Leste such as kangaroos and wombats.
They said the people here are very friendly and have found them to be very welcoming.
Sister Odete is from Dili, the capital of Timor Leste, and Sister Juliana lives three hours away from Dili in the central mountains in a place called Letefoho.
While they can each speak four different languages such as Spanish and Portuguese, they find English very hard to learn.
The sisters leave for home on Monday.