A group of 32 Cuban professors arrived in East Timor to continue the mission of bringing education to the most isolated places of this Asian nation, which plans to wipe out illiteracy by 2012. This contingent replaces the one that worked for two years in that country, where tens of thousands of people have already learned how to read and write by way of the Yes I Can Cuban literacy teaching method, the Prensa Latina news agency reports. More than 50% of the population in East Timor is illiterate, so this educational task has the support of the nation's authorities and institutions, which guarantees the success of such humane social task.
The replacement of Cuban doctors who had been working there also arrived last week, the contribution of which to the improvement of health indicators in East Timor has been acknowledged by the country's government. The Cuban physicians have won the love and respect of the people of East Timor for their excellent service. These services began in April 2004, and have made it possible to perform thousands of surgeries, reduce infant mortality rate and train doctors-to-be, among other achievements.
