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Guest Character Profiles > Manuela De Ferreira Claudia Buttazzoni

Manuela De Ferreira 1995

After moving from East Timor to Australia, Portuguese student Manuela De Ferreira found life much easier in her new home, and spent six months at a school in Wattle Bend learning English. She then transferred to Erinsborough High and on her first day, she was paired up with Libby Kennedy. Libby made her feel very welcome and spent a few days getting to know her as she settled into the school. A couple of days after they met, Manuela was at Libby's house, and Libby was showing her how she'd been chatting to some people in other countries on the internet. She asked Manuela if she'd like to chat to anyone in East Timor, but an upset Manuela turned down the request. She later explained to Libby that she had few friends left in Timor, as they'd either died or fled the country - her closest friend was Rosa Da Silva, whose father had been kidnapped by the military. She explained to Libby that she would feel guilty talking to Rosa online, when she was still stuck there, whilst Manuela had a new life in Australia to enjoy. The conversation made Libby realise that the problems in Timor, that she saw on the news, were very close to home and that a lot of innocent people’s lives were affected.

The following week, Libby bumped into Manuela again, at the beach. Libby had been having surfing lessons with her brother Mal and was surprised to learn that Manuela came to the beach every morning with her friends, and was a great surfer. Soon after, Libby was having lessons with professional surfer Sonny Hammond and Manuela quickly spotted that Sonny had taken a shine to Libby. The following week, Libby, Sonny and Manuela, along with Manuela's new boyfriend Matt had a video night together at the Kennedy house.

Episodes Featured
2480, 2482, 2489, 2494, 2498

Biography by Steve