Timor-Leste needs our help!

The Easter Sunday floods caused devastation across Timor-Leste affecting communities everywhere. Much of the country’s infrastructure and agriculture have been impacted, as well as many of the Permatil-led environmental regenerative programs.

Your donation will be used in the recovery to help support communities across Timor-Leste, through the restoration of school gardens, water conservation, and other rehabilitation projects severely impacted by the floods.

By making a donation to the Permatil Global flood recovery fund, you can help us to make permaculture tools and knowledge accessible to everyone across Timor-Leste, working with people to re-establish their food systems, strengthen food sovereignty, facilitate environmental regeneration, mitigate climate change and build resilient and sustainable communities everywhere.

Donate to the WithOneSeed sub fund at ACF – In the comment box please type ‘Food relief’.

WithOneSeed community forestry program has been working with subsistence farmers in a beautiful, remote region of Timor-Leste called Baguia for many years, as have Permatil. Below is a story from Baguia – one of the many stories to come out of the tragic floods. Please consider donating to directly help this community receive emergency supplies in this urgent situation.

Dili, 06 Apr 2021 (Lusa) – A teacher who was transporting food to a community isolated by bad weather in the area of Baguia, south of Baucau, died on Monday due to the collapse of a bridge, a local source told Lusa.

‘The population is without food and with many problems and one of our teachers went to Baucau to get food,’ Leopoldina Guterres, president of the Ho Musan Ida Foundation in Baguia, told Lusa in a phone call.

‘He was crossing a small bridge here in Samalari that collapsed and he was dragged in the car,’ she said, explaining that the victim is a teacher from the EBF Afaguia School that belongs to São José EBC in Baguia, south of Baucau, the second Timorese city.

Leopoldina Guterres – who last year received the Human Rights Award given by the President of the Republic – told Lusa that the situation in the Baguia region is ‘very complicated’ and that so far there has been no contact from the authorities.

‘The population was already having a very hard time due to the confinement, with food shortages. There were food problems and basic needs were missing for many of the inhabitants,’ she said.

Baucau is one of the municipalities that is under compulsory confinement due to COVID-19.

‘The situation was already very dramatic, but it only got more complicated because of the rain. We’ve had heavy rain and wind for seven days. The water has flooded the crop fields, destroying much of the produce and people are not even able to collect firewood for cooking,’ she said.

‘People are having to go to the forest to look for what they can find to eat,’ she said.

Leopoldina Guterres stressed that many houses in the region were flooded and the material damage is great, explaining that the situation is even more complicated for the most isolated populations in the region.

‘The roads are in very bad condition and there are difficulties in moving to many places. Life around here is already very difficult, normally, but now it is very serious,’ she said.

The bad weather that hit Timor-Leste last week caused at least 28 deaths, including that of the teacher from Baguia, with eight people still reported missing, according to a provisional government statement.

The floods have left thousands homeless in several parts of the country, with significant damage to infrastructure.

Donate to the Veterans Care Association Inc

Michael Stone and Gary Stone are organising this fundraiser to benefit Veterans Care Association Inc. They are raising money to purchase food, basic supplies and temporary shelter for those affected by the devastating floods and landslides in Timor-Leste that started in the early morning of Easter Sunday, 4 April 2021.

Cash will be distributed through Veterans Care Association directly to Australia/Timor-Leste Veterans Friendship Association, controlled by our most trusted friends amongst the most senior Timor-Leste veterans. They have successfully completed many projects together with our brothers and sisters from the Timorese veteran community – so they can act fast and have the trust, relationships and support of local authorities and organisations providing support, such as church missions.

Donate to The Friends of Aileu

The Friends of Aileu, based in the Moreland and Hume City Council area of Melbourne, are raising funds to support local emergency relief and recovery efforts in the Timor-Leste municipality of Aileu following the intense storm, widespread flooding and numerous landslides experienced over the Easter period.

Many houses were destroyed or severely damaged. Many animals were swept away, as were large areas of rice fields and vegetable gardens. Almost all roads connecting Aileu to Dili and the outlying areas to Aileu are closed by numerous landslips. Power, water, mobile and internet services have been interrupted and are so far only partially restored.

Working with local friendship contacts, the Aileu Friendship Commission and the Aileu Municipal Youth Centre, the Friends of Aileu is supporting the efforts of the Aileu Municipal Administration to:

• provide immediate relief (food, household necessities and basic construction materials) for the many severely affected households
• gain a full appreciation of the nature and extent of damage to private and public assets
• coordinate relief and recovery efforts with Timor-Leste Government departments and service providers, NGOs, community-based organisations, and most importantly the village and sub-village councils
• begin planning for the protracted recovery and reconstruction effort that will be required over the coming months and in the years ahead.

Thanks for your interest and support.

Donate to the Timor-Leste Red Cross

Since 2000, Timor-Leste Red Cross or Cruz Vermelha de Timor-Leste (CVTL), has been working with vulnerable communities across the country to improve their quality of life. CVTL has helped more than 500,000 people through its programs across the 13 districts of Timor-Leste. They are currently providing emergency relief for Timorese families affected by the devastating floods.