Water: check. Food: check. Next step: toilets!

Nitutoli is a small community in rural West Timor, Indonesia. We first started working with Nitutoli in mid-2017. Before then, the community’s only water source had been an unprotected spring about a mile from the village. It only produced a minimal amount of water; people would line up for an hour or two in order to get water, and it was only enough for drinking and cooking. It wasn’t enough for bathing or gardening. 

CWS team members were able to leverage $700 from a government-supported village budget in order to address this challenge. With technical advice from CWS, the community members used this budget to protect two springs. Now they have a lot more water–enough for bathing and gardening. These gardens are going a long way towards fighting hunger and poverty as families add homegrown, fresh produce to their diets. 

In the struggle to overcome hunger and poverty, access to nutritious food and plentiful water are key. But there’s another aspect, too, that underpins the health and prosperity of the village: sanitation.

Having better water access, along with encouragement from CWS, inspired families to improve their sanitation. Families have started building sanitary toilets to use; already nine of the 19 families we work with have made the switch. This is due, at least in part, to the community information sessions that our team has held alongside health volunteers. Families have a better understanding of the health and household environment value of sanitary toilets. 

Our team is so proud, once again, to see how an engaged community can mobilize to change their lives.