North Shore Living speaks with local Rotarian Luke Keighery about the organisation’s vital work providing clean water to remote Timorese villages.
Northbridge Rotary’s Luke Keighery reckons he’s travelled to Timor-Leste an astonishing 25 to 30 times.
What started with the North Shore local leading volunteer school groups to the developing country has seen him forge lifelong connections with remote Timorese communities.
“The people are so kind and generous. They would literally give the shirt off their back to you, even though you’ve got all the shirts you’d ever need in life,” Luke says.
“Despite the poverty, lack of food and accommodation, they’re wonderfully happy and hospitable people.”
Nowadays, Luke is a major part of Rotary’s volunteer efforts in the region, helping to coordinate projects that improve health, sanitation, and education in the neighbouring nation.
The latest has seen Northbridge Rotary fund a water supply system to the isolated village of Ermera, pumping fresh, life-giving water several kilometres downhill from a mountain spring to the local school, church, and community marketplace.
“The village of Ermera would run out of water, which is fairly typical of a lot of the villages in Timor, because half the population lives in mountain villages and the seasons are either wet or dry. So, if they’ve had a long dry season, they can easily run out of water altogether,” Luke explains.
“The other issue they have is that, quite often, the source of that water is far removed from where the village is. So, usually young women have to walk long distances up mountains with their little plastic buckets and bring back the water for the family.”
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Rotary sought to address this issue by purchasing dam materials, poly-piping, and several large plastic water tanks to create a freshwater system for the village. The organisation also engaged numerous local volunteers to set up the infrastructure.
However, as the global pandemic took hold, the project seemed to face challenge after challenge.
“COVID hitting meant the people who were working on the project, like the local project manager, couldn’t travel out of Dili because everyone was in lockdown for months and months,” Luke recalls.
“He couldn’t travel up there to take control of the project, and it sort of wandered a bit aimlessly. That’s why it’s taken us so long to get this far.”
When lockdowns did subside, gaining access to the remote township also proved difficult due to the country’s rough terrain and tropical climate.
“The biggest issue is the terrain of the place and the heavy rainfall, which just washes straight down these steep mountains and brings everything in its path. So, roads are built and then they’re broken during the next rainy season,” Luke says.
“There was a big school in Ermera, which when I first went seven or eight years ago was fairly new – maybe two or three years old. Now, it’s been bulldozed, and they’ve had to build another school because the water would come down and wash away parts of the school, making it fall inwards.”
Despite these obstacles, in July this year Luke was finally able to travel over to Timor-Leste with Northbridge Rotary to see the game-changing water system in action.
“As a Rotarian involved in a project like that, I was very proud to see the flow of water closer to where people are living,” he says.
While the community still must decide on the final location of the marketplace water source, Luke says it is time for Rotary to move on to the next venture – a large scale school and community project in Vanuatu.
When North Shore Living spoke to Luke, he was already planning to join representatives of other Rotary Clubs to assess the scope of the new project by funding his own way over to the South Pacific nation.
“I think I’m doing some good,” he puts, humbly. “I hope I am.”
To donate, visit northbridgerotary.org. Those interested in joining the club should email secretary@northbridgerotary.com.au.