Dili, 12 May 2025 – During the commemoration of International Museum Day, Centro Chega! Collaborated with Universidade da Paz (UNPAZ) to conduct an educational activity on “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities” with the specific theme “Rooms for Education, Creativity Development, and Knowledge Enrichment in History and Science,” held at the Conference Room, Antigo Comarca Balide, Dili.
As part of the event, students participated in the Chega! Tour, which included a visit to the Chega! Museum. They explored various exhibitions to see the Dark Cells, watched films of Hatutan Memória that focus on the history of survivors, and facilitated discussions and reflections among the participants. A total of 41 students from the Departments of International Relations and Peace Studies, Faculty of Social Science and Humanity at UNPAZ, attended.
In his opening remarks, Hugo Maria Fernandes, the Executive Director of Centro Nacional Chega!I.P, highlighted the importance of the Chega! Reports and Chega! Museum serves as the site for preserving history and engaging in human rights, peacebuilding, reconciliation, and conflict resolution. Centro Chega! is a public institute dedicated to preserving the memory of the past. More than 50 thousand documents have been preserved at Chega! Archives, which are compiled for Chega! Reports.
Fernandes stated, “The students of the Peace Study Program, Science of Humanity are currently studying; you are requested to write monographs focused on history, human rights, reconciliation, and conflict resolution.” He emphasized that you (students) can read the sequences of events between 1974 -1999 to select and write your monographs. The Museum serves as the research site, where you can read people’s declarations to familiarize yourself with the previous events deeply. Ex. The exhibitions discuss periods of famine, as well as the experiences of women and children, reminding you that these ideas have been established. You can return to Centro Chega! to see the specific events for your research.
The museum is central to preserving, learning, researching, and gaining insights into the past, inspiring creative thinking. Moreover, in today’s world, with easy access to technology, students are encouraged to explore various applications for innovative presentations. Thus, you can have creative ideas in your mind that maybe this is a better presentation manner. In addition, the Museum also features a space designed to foster creative thinking about how to present the available collections. You will later visit the Archive Center, where these documents are compiled into Chega! Reports. It can lead us to think about how these documents are combined. Sometimes, we are exhausted from seeing very thick and huge reports. Therefore, we must think creatively to transform this into an exhibition.
Furthermore, the Chega! Museum serves to engage communities and preserve the histories of ordinary people. It stands apart from the Archive and Museum of Timorese Resistance (AMRT), which preserves the resistance memories regarding the Armed Resistance, Clandestine, and Diplomatic.
At the Chega! Museum, you do not see the witnesses of leaders or prominent leaders; instead, the focus is on the histories of ordinary people. Their histories often go unwritten in national history books. Therefore, this provides a balanced perspective, highlighting that museums should not preserve only the ideologies of leaders but also honor the experiences of communities.
The Executive Director emphasized, “When you visit Centro Chega!, you will read the histories of ordinary people, political prisoners, and the men, women, and children who were victims of human rights violations. These narratives are preserved here and cannot be found in other museums. This institution is dedicated to preserving, learning, and researching a profound understanding of our struggle for independence.”
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