Hi Authors! With the success of our project implementation in Biau Village back in early 2021, Solar Chapter is here to bring some heartwarming updates. Biau is located in Timor Island, near the border of Timor Leste. A village where most do not have the privilege to pursue secondary education with an average household income of around Rp. 187.000 a month (approximately 12.5 USD). Thanks to your help, we were able to fund the installation of water pumps and solar panels with a grand total of approximately 413 million rupiahs. And since then, the livelihood of the villagers in Biau has tremendously improved.
As many as 44 public water faucets have been installed all around the village at access points less than 3 minutes away from villagers' houses. Pumping 63,000 litres of water a day including to the local church, schools and the village's public health center, all the 782 villagers in Biau now have direct access to clean water! The villagers now are able to shower twice a day instead of only once a day prior to this project. Not long after implementation, we asked some of the people from Biau for their thoughts and feedback on the outcome of the project. Here's what some of them said:
Pak Agustinus Manek gardening in his backyard
Based on the testimonials, we also saw a remarkable change in their quality of lives. Better health quality, hygiene, productivity and school participation now can be observed. The people of Biau has also expressed that their day-to-day productivity increased as well as a large drop in spending for water which in turn boosted their income. Everyone in the Solar Chapter team were overjoyed when we found out that the villagers' household income has surged by 113% from Rp. 187,000 a month in average to a staggering amount of Rp. 397,000 a month! They made more money since they are able to grow vegetables, fruits, and farm fish on their backyard and sell these commodities.
Moreover, the evaluation of water management carried out by the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project or PAMSIMAS was recently conducted in the province of East Nusa Tenggara. From the results of the evaluation, Biau Village was ranked second for its water management. Biau Village can also implement sprinkler irrigation technology to irrigate the vegetable products grown in the village.
Seeing how much water can change the well being of so many others, encourages us to keep on going. Without your incessant help, Biau would still be lacking basic needs. Thanks for always supporting our cause. Let's continue to change more lives together!
