Archive for May, 2021
27 May 2021
Day 51 of Spend it Well’s Flood Relief
It’s almost 2 months since the floods and Timor is struggling as people try to restore their lives with little or no money, surging Covid numbers, a lockdown and flood damaged farming land.
We’ve raised a total of A$187,658 since Easter Sunday and so far have spent A$172,965 directly on food and supplies.
Our team is seeing many people without money for food – even rice and our remaining A$14,700 of donor funds will be used to help as many as these people as possible.
Our huge last purchase of A$41,000 of supplies is still being distributed – with deliveries made so far to 140 families in Becora, Tasi Tolu and Kuluhun – approximately 700 people.
The photo below shows what 30,400 packets of noodles looks like. Each family receives a box which contains 40 packets of noodles. Another photo is of 9,855kg of rice. Each family receives a 15kg bag of rice together with their other food and supplies.
  
16 May 2021
Day 40 of Spend it Well’s East Timor Flood Relief
The Covid situation in Timor has deteriorated significantly, with over 230 cases diagnosed on each of Thursday and Friday and the capital Dili subject to a hard lockdown. This has impacted our flood relief work directly over the last couple of weeks as a small number of Sabeh’s volunteer workers have been diagnosed with Covid. Although most of Sabeh’s volunteers tested negative, as close contacts they all had to quarantine at home and Sabeh’s headquarters was subject to a deep clean.
40 days since the flood there are still many people without food and adequate shelter, so we did a huge purchase of US$28,132 of food and supplies yesterday for 253 students stranded in Dili and 424 families in Aileu, Laclubar, Bidau and Tasi Tolu. We have also purchased US$4,685 of medicine for Sabeh to use for people affected by the flooding. There are a massive amount of items in this purchase and it will take a lot of this week to sort, package and distribute them.
The marginalised students who live in the boarding houses in Dili are normally supported by their families in the districts. Some of those students have been able to return home, but many have not. These students, many of whom are female, lost their beds, books, clothes and cooking materials in the floods and are now staying in several boarding houses with no money or support. MAHON is a local non profit which supports youth and training and has been working to find ways to support these students. We have purchased food and supplies for MAHON to distribute to 253 of those students.
Items bought yesterday are:
750 mattresses
1,500 blankets
525kg of second hand clothing
18,950 kg of rice
750 packs of biscuits
840 bottles of cooking oil
28,000 packs of noodles
760 packs of coffee
768 tins of beef
750 x 1kg packs of flour
720 packs of sanitary pads
1,000 packs of salt
750 x 1kg packs of sugar
1,000 cans of sardines
10 May 2021
Maumeta School’s Roofing Materials Make it to Atuaro Island
There’s good news at Maumeta School on Atauro Island.
East Timor Roofing has manufactured and donated the roofing materials, trusses and water tank for the new building. With the Atauro ferry not running because of Covid restrictions though, we had no way of getting the materials there. But our builder, Ahmad of Quatro Colegas, arranged a boat and has not only shipped it all to Maumeta but has already installed it. This is no small feat when you see one of the loaded trucks below and the size of the water tank.
Huge thank you to East Timor Roofing (which was run by the Rotary Clubs of Doncaster, Melbourne and Lilydale for many years and is now run locally) and to the Rotary team in Melbourne who helped arrange this donation.
03 May 2021
Day 27 of Spend it Well’s East Timor Flood Relief
The food and supplies we delivered to Turiscai on Saturday, were distributed amongst the 257 families in the area yesterday. Many of these families walked more than 6 hours into Turiscai to collect them, stayed overnight and will now walk home carrying all their supplies. People from one very remote village walked for 10 hours to reach Turiscai.
01 May 2021
Day 26 of Spend it Well’s East Timor Flood Relief
Yesterday, Sabeh volunteers loaded up a convoy of trucks full of food, clothing, mattresses, blankets and other items bought by Spend it Well’s donors. These were delivered to 303 families (1,500 people) in Metinaro – an area 30km outside Dili.
After finishing late last night, the Sabeh and Spend it Well teams started early again today, loading up 3 more trucks with supplies for 275 families (about 1,300 people) in Turiscai, outside Dili. Under Covid rules, the convoy has had to stop at a halfway point, unload everything and reload it all into trucks from the village which then take it the rest of the way. This is a big job. They are making the transfer now.
There is a real concern about the nutrition levels of children displaced in this crisis and we are trying to find practical ways to help with the problem. Pro Ema is a local organisation which supports vocational education, personal development and career support for young Timorese women in three areas, one of which is hospitality. They have been making meals for children in evacuation camps and today we have given them 1,830 eggs to use in these meals.
    
|
