Some images from 'Miguel Nia Jardin'

We thought we would share some images from the book with you. If you don't already have a copy, please consider buying one, as we cannot publish another book for the children of Timor-Leste unless we raise the funds to do so. We sell the books in Australia for AU$10.00 which includes postage. Postage is not included for international sales, I am sorry.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy, or feel you may be able to sell multiple copies for us, please email us at grasa DOT mesak AT gmail DOT com (replacing 'AT' with '@' and 'DOT' with '.').

My son and I planted corn seeds in the ground with the intention of drowning them and photographing their demise. But monsoonal rains did it for us with perfect timing!

Scanned line drawings with photo collages. Corel PhotoPaint was the program I used for manipulating and cutting out the photos. The pages were put together in Corel Draw which I think works quite well for this type of publication.

I wanted to get a sort of tumbling downward feel to this. The line drawings have a touch of coloured pencil. The tree is the old mango that grew in our garden in Darwin and the snake is courtesy of my sister-in-law's father.

The Joy of Reading

Recently a small group of men from the PCA (Presbyterian Church of Australia) went to Timor Leste. High up in the mountains outside Dili they found this young man who read 'Miguel Nia Jardin' fluently in both Tetun and Mambae. In fact, according to Rev Robert Benn, he read it 'like a BBC commentator would read!!' Rev Rob Duncanson took the photo.

This is what it's all about!

Here are some photos of the book distribution in Timor-Leste that we wanted to share with you...

Children in the Paulus congregation, Subdistrict Remeixio, District Aileu

Distributing books in Caisabe, Outskirts of Dili

Boys of the Samaria congregation, Subdistrict Remeixio, District Aileu

More children from the Samaria congregation

Busy reading, Samaria congregation

Book handover in Samaria - Rev Arlindo Marcal with Rev Mario de Jesus

Book #3 - Miguel Nia Jardin

My son Michael is 8 years old. He collects seeds and loves growing plants. Michael lives in the tropics where tropical plants thrive - but the geranium seeds sprouted, flourished a promise of green but then promptly withered and died. Michael was disappointed....but the seed of a story had been planted!

Miguel Nia Jardin is the story of a little boy who plants some corn seeds but a heavy monsoon rain washes his little crop away. Naturally he is disappointed, but his mother tells him a story. A wonderful story about a beautiful garden and a man called Adam and a woman called Eve. Miguel Nia Jardin tells the story of paradise lost, but the promise of paradise regained through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The gospel story is a story of comfort, a story for all people. No parent likes to see their child suffering loss, sorrow or pain  - but the Bible promises us in the Book of Revelation, that one day there will be no more tears. Miguel Nia Jardin concludes with that beautiful passage of hope.

Perhaps the most important aspect of this publication is the translations. Not only is it translated into Tetun, but Miguel Nia Jardin also includes Mambai text. After Tetun, which is the national language, Mambai is the most common language in Timor Leste. To gain a clearer understanding of the extend to which Mambai is spoken in Timor Leste, have a look here.  There is very little, if any, literature available in Mambai, but I pray that one day there will be a complete Bible translation available in that language.

The Tetun text of the book was translated by Rev Arlindo Marcal, who is the moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Timor Leste. The Mambai text was translated by Rev Carlos Marcal, of whom I have mentioned previously here.

The illustrations to the book are a combination of black and white line drawings and photographic collages. This was an exciting, rather novel approach for me and I want to thank the many people who made it possible, with modelling for photos or graciously sharing their own photos. As for my son Michael, not only did he inspire the story, but he was an excellent and expressive model for all my drawings.