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Children from Biluli, Timor-Leste, celebrate the installation of clean water in their village (Jesuit Mission)

With the support of Jesuit Mission, a water project in Timor-Leste has transformed 15 rural villages by providing vulnerable people with access to clean and safe water.

To learn more about the project, Jesuit Mission is hosting a “Water the Gift of Life” webinar on Wednesday, November 9 at 6pm (AEDT).

During the 45-minute webinar, special guests Fr Júlio Sousa SJ, director of Jesuit Social Service Timor-Leste and his colleague Jose da Costa Pereira Soares, program manager assistant of the water project, will share about the implementation and impact of the project.

The water project helps bring life-changing new water systems to remote villages, which is vital in Timor-Leste, where one-third of people in rural villages do not have access to clean water.

“Over the last four years, this collaboration has ensured that over 5000 people from vulnerable communities now have access to clean and safe drinking water,” said Helen Forde, chief executive of Jesuit Mission.

The water project empowers communities to take ownership of the management of water in their villages and learn how to protect and conserve an ecosystem that supports the sustainability of water.

The burden of collecting water often falls to children, who must walk up to five hours each day, carrying heavy containers of water. Many children, therefore, miss out on receiving an education.

However, children living in these villages with recently piped water sources from Jesuit Mission and JSS, can now focus on their studies and build pathways out of poverty and injustice.

Register for Jesuit Mission’s Water the Gift of Life webinar, to be held 6pm, Wednesday, November 9: https://jesuitmission.org.au/webinar-water/

FULL STORY

Water the Gift of Life (By Zach Martorana, Jesuit Mission)