The MiVAC Board agreed to examine the feasibility of providing WASH assistance to the village of Balibo in Timor-Leste. Balibo is well known due to the Balibo Five, a group of journalists for Australian commercial television networks who were murdered in the period leading up to the Indonesian invasion of East Timor on 16 October 1975.
MiVAC completed a reconnaissance survey in April 2024, and following that, Brian Boon completed designs for the “dirty water” tank stands, the “shelter house” which houses the electric pumps and the SkyHydrant filtration system, as well as pipe and tank requirements.
He then also completed the list of materials required for water supply systems for the Leohitu school and the Balibo Community Learning Centre (CLC).
Material prices and availability were then sought from the main supplier in Dili, but this became a frustrating exercise, due to confusion in parts descriptions, and availability, as well as time spent waiting responses from the supplier. Eventually we did agree on the materials offered, and Balibo House trust (BHT) paid the initial deposit.
Brian travelled to Dili on 21 July 2025, and spent the first 4 days sorting out the materials and getting them trucked up to Balibo (on two separate trucks).
John Flood and his two nephews, Peter & Allan, arrived on 25 July, and we checked out various suppliers around Dili, as well as the port facility, and the Resistance Museum (very sad history).
Then off to Balibo to get the work underway at Leohitu.
John and his team presented BHT with a new welder and helmet, plus a stack of welding rods. They also donated a range of clothes, books and pencils etc. The CLC staff were very pleased to receive these, and will make sure needy children get them.
Peter is a welder, and took charge of getting the tank stand built, while the rest of us worked on getting the water from a spring some 600 metres away.
John, Peter and Allan – thank you all very much for your contributions and support.
We provided clean water to the school’s drinking water troughs, and also connected the school’s toilets and handbasins to running water, as well as other minor jobs.
We then moved to the Balibo CLC and completed similar work there.
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Our MiVAC Board is currently considering what projects we might support in 2026. We will advise these once we have made the decisions, in conjunction with the Balibo House Trust.