Justine Paragreen, a former member of the Camberwell RC and Vijay Susarla, the incoming 2025-26 President at the Camberwell RC, joined us to speak about the Timor Leste Rotary Consortium. Justine is well known to Canterbury RC members as she has participated in trips to the Philippines and been involved with FORaMEAL events.
The consortium, as the name implies, in made up of a number of rotary clubs that provide funds and hands-on assistance with water tanks and toilet facilities in Timor Leste.
The project, which is a great example of rotary assisting our nearly neighbours, commenced with a pilot project in 2017. Since then the project has received two global grants and three District grants to help finance the facilities.
Generally there have been two visits a year, with the exception of the Covid years, mainly in the Baucau area which is a very remote part of Timor Leste. Often there is no tank or water supply and sanitation is a significant issue.
Each project has involved consulting with the local residents and training them to use and maintain the equipment.
To-date, 92 water tanks and 12 toilet blocks have been established.
This is a significant achievement by the consortium.
Very kindly, Justine and Vijay presented Club Co-President Jill Woinarski and Doug Hawley with scarfs as a token of appreciation for the Club providing funds as a member of the Consortium.
