Dear Presidents and Members of the Consortium,
I am writing to give you an Update on the Timor Rotary Consortium Project to which your Club was a donor back in (October 2020) and to seek your Club's renewal of support for the Project's next stage, for which we are applying for a Global Grant.
Since then, in and around the region of Baguia in eastern Timor Leste, 62 Galvanised 5,500 Litre Water Tanks have been installed and 7 three cubicle School Toilets have been constructed, principally by locals using skills imparted to them by Rotary Volunteer Teams. Because of these learned skills they were able to continue work on the Project during the 3 years of Covid isolation and are also able to repair and maintain the Water Tanks and Toilets themselves.
The Programme creates great international goodwill and supplies much needed clean water and sanitation to remote mountain villages where the great majority of locals live a subsistence life and where open defecation is practiced. Close working relationships have been developed with the staff of the Rotary Office in Dili who are both Rotarians, with suppliers in Dili and Baucau, with the local Sub-District Administrator, with community leaders and school directors, a local doctor who provides WASH Training to school children & parents and last but not least with Ms Léopoldine Guterres who is our principal in country coordinator and Principal of the Baguia Catholic High School.
"Mana Leo" is well known and respected throughout the region and is also a director of 8 mountain primary schools and was inducted last year as a member of the Melbourne Rotary Passport Club. Justine Paragreen (Rotary Camberwell) and Vijay Susarla (Rotary Caroline Springs) are travelling to Timor Leste at the end of August to select new sites for more Water Tanks and Toilets in the Baguia Region and the neighbouring districts of Manatuto and Viqueque.
A Global Grant application with a budget of AUD $100,000 has been prepared and as mentioned earlier we would welcome your Club's renewed participation both financially and by club members participating in visiting Rotary Teams.
In 2020-2021 several Rotary Clubs made donations of $10,000 and we hope this level of generosity will be repeated in 2023-2024. Over a dozen Rotary Clubs and 2 Inner Wheel Districts have made donations to this Project and we ask you please to pass on this information to your club's International Chair for consideration by their Committee.
The Rotary Club of Camberwell was one of those clubs and acts as the lead club for the Consortium. Donations may be made to the Project's Special Account in the name of the "2023 Timor Rotary Consortium" Bendigo Bank BSB 633-000 Account No. 2068 10897 or RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) Project No. 8-2020-21 where donations become Tax Deductible.
We are planning to organise a Zoom meeting for all Consortium Members on Thursday 17th Aug. 2023 at 7PM. We will send you a Zoom link shortly.
Please encourage your fellow Rotarians to attend the meeting as well, to get an insight on the project developments.
We will also be happy to answer any questions and/or to provide Guest Speakers.
With Kind Regards
Vijay Susarla John Walmsley
Project Manager Deputy Project Manager
M: 0410 619 323 M: 0412 516 445
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