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Empowering through sanitation

Bikaun (centre), Fr Julio Sousa SJ, Director of JSS (second right) and the JSS team.

Bikaun is a widow who lives with her children and grandchildren in a village in the Dili Municipality of Timor-Leste. Until recently, the family’s living conditions made it challenging to maintain good hygiene and sanitation.

“Previously we relied on my eldest sister’s toilet nearby, before that, we used open spaces in the woods or grass, which was very unhygenic,” Bikaun said.

Supported by people like you, our local partner Jesuit Social Service Timor-Leste (JSS), is helping to improve basic sanitation and access to water for families like Bikaun’s.

The project constructed a new toilet for Bikaun’s family and they are accessing the new community water station.

For Bikaun the change has been transformative, enabling her and her family to live healthier lives with greater dignity.

“I am very happy and thankful to JSS,” she says.

As a result children are now using proper sanitation facilities, which has led to a decrease in diseases related to poor waste management.

Find out more about our water projects and other health and basic rights projects.


Reflections Summer #634

This month’s eNews stories are part of our Reflections Summer publication #634.

Click here to read the latest edition of Reflections to see how your compassion is empowering lives around the world.

  • A family of faith
  • The end of water scarcity in Timor-Leste
  • Inspiring compassionate leaders in Myanmar
  • Nurturing the land in Cambodia
  • Inclusion through early intervention in India
  • Recoding the future of camp-bound refugees in Malawi
  • Faith moves mountains in South East Asia – Typhoon Yagi Emergency
  • Sheltering hope in Lebanon

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