THE FAMINE: 2006

East Timor - 2006 Famine focus country

Funds raised through the 40 Hour Famine have been supporting projects in East Timor since 2006 when East Timor was the 40 Hour Famine feature country. Here are a couple of stories demonstrating just what it is that your efforts are helping to achieve.

October 2008 Update

In one community in East Timor, World Vision has introduced new farming methods, distributed a new variety of corn seed and is helping the community grow vegetables. The aim is to improve the children’s intake of carbohydrates, proteins and other nutrients. The community’s priority is to see their children healthy.

We tracked down EVALINA, the 2006 40 Hour Famine feature child. Shy, giggly Evalina has had her life transformed in the last two years.

New varieties of corn seed produce a higher yield for farmers.

“The new vegetable I like the most is the Chinese mustard,” she says.

Chinese mustard, bok choi, Chinese cabbage and carrots: these vegies are all new to the village where Evalina lives. The new crops are being planted and cared for by women’s groups that the community has formed. Evalina’s grandmother says: “We are really happy with the vegetables, it makes things better.”

Evalina’s house now has a water tap right beside it, which means Evalina doesn’t have to walk a long way every day to collect water for her family.

The area where Evalina lives is mountainous and the soil is barely fertile. Strong wind and rain destroys the crops. The staple crops of East Timor – corn and cassava – just won’t grow here.

The solution? Potatoes!

2,384 potato seeds have been planted by local farmers who worked together to terrace the mountain slope. “We hope that one day all the big towns in Timor are selling potatoes from our village!” they say.

So, potatoes and other vegetables have been planted. But there’s more your funds are doing: ongoing activities in the village include nutrition education and the construction of public toilets and water storage facilities.

World Vision’s work in this area of East Timor is changing the community – and energising it. Now everyone shares in the dream for tomorrow.

Focus Child: Evalina’s goats grow big, new hopes

Today Evalina can look forward to a brighter future. Thanks Famine fighters!

Nine-year-old Evalina broke into a broad smile when she received two goats from World Vision.

Though she’s only young, Evalina lives with, and cares for, her frail and elderly grandparents. Their house has four mud walls, a dirt floor and a grass thatch roof. When she’s not at school she helps by collecting water and firewood, cooking and washing, and working on her grandparents’ farm. Their household is one of the poorest in the village.

Now, thanks to the goats, she and her grandparents are able to earn some extra income by raising and selling their goats’ offspring. Goats breed quickly and are easy to sell at the market, and there is plentiful pastureland around their village.

This improved financial security means that Evalina has more time to focus on her studies. “I dream of becoming an academic at university,” she says happily.

May 2006 Update

Project News

During the last six months there have been many positive improvements in the World Vision project areas with the setting up of new health posts and training in new crop varieties. Two sub-districts have also expanded their operations by taking on new staff.

Several of the project staff participated in an intensive rice production course for five months, full time. Both sub-districts have large areas of rice production. The staff are now going out to the villages to pass on their knowledge.

A natural spring flows about two kilometres uphill from Evalina’s house. World Vision “capped” the spring and installed pipes into Tapo village which supply ten taps, including the one outside Evalina’s house.

290 on-farm demonstrations were completed, with 275 demonstrations teaching farmers about new corn and peanut varieties. The remaining demonstrations were on new rice and sweet potato varieties, and rice production practices. The new corn varieties have been popular with farmers for their resistance to wind, higher production, earlier maturing and good taste.

Ten additional health posts have been established and have trained 165 mothers. They are working on improving nutrition, and addressing malnutrition and stunting in children.

One of World Vision’s aims for these nutritional initiatives is to teach women to make the most of the ingredients available to them. Rice provides a lot of energy but it’s becoming less affordable. Cassava is also a good carbohydrate, and a balance of cassava, corn, beans and locally grown vegetables goes a long way towards solving nutrition problems.

Felizarda, a mother of three in Manukasa village, says that although life is difficult here she would never live anywhere else. “I like everything about this community. We are like a big family here, and as family we all need each other. I help my neighbours and they help me.”

“World Vision is very supportive in helping us to make life better here. My children are happier and have more energy now. I love it when they come running to greet me. That always makes me smile.”

East Timor: The Situation

The 2005 civil conflict in East Timor's capital, Dili, forced over 100,000 people to live in refugee camps. Some of the funds raised through 40 Hour Famine in 2006 and 2007 were spent on emergency relief efforts in East Timor such as food and shelter. Peace-building activities were implemented, with the aim of assisting young people to overcome unemployment and poverty.

World Vision also ran activities for children in camps to help them cope with the unstable situation in the city. Games, sport and craft sessions were very popular with children, who found it a challenge living in camps.

Most families in rural villages struggle to survive on one meagre meal a day as food supply runs low during the rainy season. As a result of the conflict in the capital, many people from the city fled to the villages, aggravating the food crisis.

Famine funds are helping World Vision:

• Teach communities new farming methods and provide farmers with modern tools and better seeds
• Develop goat, chicken and fish farming to give families new sources of food and income so that children can go to school instead of having to work in the fields
• Build water catchment systems to provide clean drinking water and help prevent flash flooding in the rainy season
• Run education programs so communities can learn to prevent common diseases like malaria.

The 40 Hour Famine is a community education and fundraising initiative of World Vision Australia.