The Rialeco Sanitation & Water Project is now Complete
Timor is one of Australia’s closest neighbours but also one of the most poverty-stricken nations in the world. 352,000 people in Timor have no access to safe water and approximately 663,000 have no access to adequate sanitation, resulting in the death of 70 children every year (“WaterAid”). Lack of adequate sanitation facilities at schools is known to be a major deterrent for girls attendance. To address this urgent need, TLV’s focus is on delivering community water and sanitation projects in remote Timor communities.
Abel Da Costa Concecao, Chair of TLV in Timor Leste says:
“Most Australians would not believe that to their north, an hour flight away, in Timor-Leste, people would have to struggle so hard just to get clean water to serve their needs. That is the reality many Timorese families are facing every day’.
“The remote village of Rialeco came to the attention of TLV when the TLV team in Timor was contacted by Elders in the District of Ainaro, where Rialeco is situated, informing us of the dire situation and urgent need for assistance to meet the supply of clean water . In response to this need, TLV have made this project our current priority and will be holding a number of fundraising projects in Perth over the coming months to support this project implementation.
“Rialeco, would benefit tremendously by this project. There are 64 families in Rialeco, which consist of 420 community members (310 adults and 110 children).Upon successful completion this project would source clean water to the entire 64 families and a school village.
“Many diseases, specially skin disease in children related to the use of water from the river would be gone, communities would not have to walk distances in hours to get clean water, school children can have water for their toilets, agricultural crops can be grown. This water project is a life-changing project that can benefit many people.”
The Rialeco community will be involved throughout the project’s design and implementation and will be provided with relevant training and support to maintain the new facilities into the future.
The TLV team is extremely excited about our new project and the impact it will have on the Rialeco community! But without the ‘Friends of TLV’ we could not continue as this initiative relies on the generous contributions of our supporters.
A grant from the Alumni Small Grant Rounds for Australia Awards Scholarship Alumni was awarded to Maria Rosales and Nelida Alves.
