The Timor Leste Region is located in a sovereign country in Southeast Asia, namely Timor Leste, which shares a border with Indonesia and is situated between two major continents, Asia and Australia. Timor Leste is the smallest country in East and Southeast Asia, both geographically and in terms of population.
The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Our Lady Mother of Mercy (SCMM) set foot on Timor Leste soil (East Timor at that time) on November 11, 1989, in Ossú. The congregation received an offer from Bishop Carlos F. Ximenes Belo, SDB to dedicate themselves and begin their ministry in Timor Leste. Moved by concern, the SCMM sisters responded to the Church's call to serve children who had lost their parents and relatives due to turmoil and war. Two SCMM Sisters from the Indonesian Province were sent to begin the work of mercy. The two pioneers were Sr. Hermin Bu'ulölö and Sr. Lusia Telaumbanua.
Since then, the Congregation has taken root in Timor Leste with the same goal of devoting themselves to serving with sincere love, compassion, and hard work with a spirit of building the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of children with sincerity and patience, in order to uplift their dignity and bring hope to the children who have experienced trauma. Currently, the mission of the Sisters in Timor Leste is in the fields of social work, education, health, and pastoral work. The sisters accompany children in boarding schools and orphanages, teach in kindergartens and are involved in teaching in diocesan schools, serve in clinics, and are actively involved in parish pastoral work.
The SCMM mission in Timor Leste remains alive and growing because of its sincere service of love to others, especially those who are most in need of the sisters' service and presence. Even though times continue to change, our mission is to make the experience of compassion a path of hope for those we serve, especially the small, the weak, the poor, and those who are overlooked by those around them.
On February 2, 2016, the Timor Leste Region separated from the Indonesian Province with the status of an autonomous community under the supervision of the General Council. Now, Timor Leste has become a region recognized by the General Council eight years later, on March 20, 2024, with the Regional Team consisting of Sr. Eugenia Pereira, Sr. Joanita Freitas, Sr. Serafina da Costa Pereira, Sr. Natalia de Deus Maia, and Sr. Esmenia Sanches da Silva. They work as a team serving in the Timor Leste Region.
