Fostering friendship, support and cross-cultural exchange

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      • WASH in Ossu – Background
      • Planning for WASH
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WASH in Ossu – Background

Statistics and image: WaterAid

Friends of Ossu, Timor-Leste

Friends of Ossu is an all-volunteer community group based in the City of Willoughby, 8 kilometres north of the Sydney CBD. Friends of Ossu was formed 10 years ago to foster friendship, support and cross-cultural exchange at a grassroots level with the people of Ossu, Timor-Leste. It is one of nearly 40 Timorese friendship groups around Australia.

Timor-Leste is one of our closest neighbours; it is less than 500km from Australia and a 1-hour flight from Darwin. Ossu is a remote mountain village of 6,000 people approximately 150km from the capital of Dili – a 6-hour drive on poor roads.

WASH

Safe and high-quality water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) are fundamental to preventing and controlling infection and living healthy happy lives. We take it for granted, but every day in the developing world people suffer due to the absence of adequate water, sanitation and hygiene.

Access to clean water is difficult. Women and children spend several hours fetching water daily. Unhealthy behaviours such as lack of hand washing, unhygienic preparation of food, and unsafe water storage are blocking aspirations to advance out of poverty to a better healthier lifestyle.

Our WASH Project was initiated and is sponsored and funded by Friends of Ossu. It is critical to achieving a substantial improvement to the quality and longevity of the lives of people in Ossu and they are enthusiastic about the project. Meeting with Friends of Ossu representatives in early 2017, the District and Sub-District Administrators (Ministry of State) and Ossu community leaders in health and education unanimously approved the project.

For this project, Friends of Ossu are in alliance with WaterAid Australia whose mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene. This is a comprehensive WASH project with all designs, inspections and acquittals carried out by WaterAid.

At a cost of US$39,500, work on Stage 1 (blue line below) began recently with money raised by Friends of Ossu. Stage 2 will commence in early 2018 subject to the availability of funds. The budgeted cost of Stages 2 & 3 is US$150,000.

Read a full project assessment conducted by WaterAid, along with details of the work involved in stages 1, 2 & 3, here.

Ossu WASH – Background

Who are the Friends of Ossu?

What is the WASH Project?

Read More

Follow The Journey

greatersydneylandcare

Greater Sydney Landcare
You never know what you might find on one of our p You never know what you might find on one of our planting days. This beautiful Spotted Pardalote was photographed by one of our lucky team members, Matt. 

The Spotted Pardalotte is one of Australia’s smallest birds but that doesn't stop it from thinking big. They create impressive burrows in the banks of rivers, gardens and mounds for their nests.

What’s the best experience you’ve had on one of our planting days? Haven’t been to a planting day yet? Come along to our next one: https://bit.ly/3yTdndv 

@landcare_nsw has partnered with Greater Sydney Landcare Network to plant 100,000 trees as part of the Greening our City NSW Premier’s Priority to increase tree canopy and green cover across Greater Sydney. Supported by @nswenviromedia 

#creatingcanopiesingreatersydney #premierspriority #creatingcanopies #greeningourcity #landcarensw
Some happy snaps from a recent planting day with l Some happy snaps from a recent planting day with local volunteers and some team members from @atlassian. We planted 400 trees within a terrific urban green island – Central Gardens, Merrylands. 

These new plantings will improve habitat for local birds and wildlife as well as keep the area cooler in summer.

To get involved in future events, sign up in our bio link.

@landcare_nsw  has partnered with Greater Sydney Landcare Network to plant 100,000 trees as part of the Greening our City NSW Premier’s Priority to increase tree canopy and green cover across Greater Sydney. Supported by @nswenviromedia 

#creatingcanopiesingreatersydney #premierspriority #creatingcanopies #greeningourcity #landcarensw
🎶 Singing up country with Kirens Creek Landcar 🎶 Singing  up country with Kirens Creek Landcare Group
@nadeenadixonart
@bush_to_bowl 
🖤💛♥️
We’re getting close to our Creating Canopies tar We’re getting close to our Creating Canopies target of planting 100,000 trees in Greater Sydney by October this year. Are you a landholder who can help us get there?

The perks? A greener outlook for your community, habitat for wildlife, and our team of experts who will be there to support you from the first step. Register your interest today and watch your native plants grow tall.

Find out more: https://buff.ly/3Ptq1pl

@landcare_nsw has partnered with Greater Sydney Landcare Network to plant 100,000 trees as part of the Greening our City NSW Premier’s Priority to increase tree canopy and green cover across Greater Sydney. Supported by @NSWDPE

#creatingcanopiesingreatersydney #premierspriority #creatingcanopies  #greeningourcity #landcarensw
Yarning on country 🖤💛♥️ Knowing the pa Yarning on country
 🖤💛♥️ 
Knowing the past working together for the future for  healthy country, healthy people 🌱 @landcare_nsw  @hawkesburynepeanlandcare @greatersydney_lls
Happy National Volunteer Week! One of our big pro Happy National Volunteer Week!

One of our big projects that wouldn’t be possible without our amazing volunteers, is Creating Canopies.

Our aim is to help cool our communities by planting 100,000 trees across Greater Sydney. Tree canopies also create habitat for wildlife, increase biodiversity, and invite people back into nature.

We celebrate you, our wonderful volunteers who lend your time, energy, laughter and a little elbow grease to get these plants in the ground. 

Check out how you can get involved and lend a hand: https://greatersydneylandcare.org/volunteer-for-creating.../

Landcare NSW has partnered with Greater Sydney Landcare Network to deliver the planting of 100,000 trees as part of the NSW Premier's Priority of increasing tree canopy and green cover across Greater Sydney. Supported by @nswdpe

#creatingcanopies #creatingcanopiesingreatersydney #landcarensw #greatersydneylandcarenetwork #greeningourcity #premierspriority #NationalVolunteerWeek
250 plants 🌱 13 species A River bank restorati 250 plants 🌱 13 species 
A River bank restoration project for the Regent Honeyeater and Swift Parrot 🦜 

Thank you to all involved who came out to camp this earth day and lend a helping hand 🏕💪🏻🌎

#caperteevalleylandcare #greatersydneylandcare 
#centraltablelandslls
A horse of gorse. We just had another cracker week A horse of gorse. We just had another cracker weekend away with an awesome crew down in the Southern Highlands!

On Saturday we smashed a lot of gorse, another horrible weed, under close supervision of the local horses and were treated to some delicious food @suttonforestinn. On Sunday we had a fantastic breakfast @theveggienook and explored Mt Gibraltar with Geoff Allen from the local Landcare Bushcare group and learnt about the local environment.

Stay tuned for more Get Your Hands Dirty events!
Thanks to all who joined and to @auspost 

#landcare #conservation #weeding #mtgibraltar
We had some special guests at our Creating Canopie We had some special guests at our Creating Canopies Christmas Party on the weekend! Thanks everyone for joining, we had a lovely day

Massive thanks to Tom Covell from @toms_hooked_on_nature for doing such an awesome nature exploration with us! It really helps to appreciate why we need to plant more trees and make more habitat
A real thorn in the side! Gleditsia is a really n A real thorn in the side!

Gleditsia is a really nasty and invasive weed and we treated over 100 of them in the Capertee Valley on Saturday with Central Tablelands Local Land Services and Capertee Valley Landcare.

It was a super team and a super effort! It's so important to remove weeds like Gleditsia to prevent it from spreading into the Wollemi Wilderness area and also to restore habitat for the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater. There's only a few hundred of them left.

After all our hard work, we went up the road and had some delicious treats at From the Paddock Farm Market

Massive thanks to everyone who joined! Stay tuned for more events like this...

@centraltablelandslls @cvlandcare @fromthepaddockmarket

#landcare #conservation #weeding #regenthoneyeater #caperteevalley
Greater Sydney Landcare Forum, Annual General Meet Greater Sydney Landcare Forum, Annual General Meeting &Xmas Party! All invited - Sunday 28th Nov, 2021 - online or in person

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/greater-sydney-landcare-forum-annual-general-meeting-xmas-party-tickets-204242844847
JUMP IN QUICK! We only have a few spots left for 2 JUMP IN QUICK! We only have a few spots left for 20-21 November! 

Join us for a post lockdown adventure into a remote area of the Blue Mountains. It'll be a fantastic weekend of learning about the bush, getting our hands dirty removing weeds to help protect it and exploring the world heritage area that's home to several species of critically endangered birds, all in the incredible setting of the Capertee Valley, the second biggest canyon in the world!

So if you've always been keen to make a difference but weren't sure where to start, or just want a weekend in the bush with some like-minded people for a great adventure, now's your chance to get involved!

Link to register is in the bio

@cvlandcare @centraltablelandslls 
#landcare #conservation #caperteevalley #bluemountains
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WILLOUGHBY FRIENDS OF OSSU INC.

ABN: 47304274883

Postal Address: PO Box 213
Northbridge, 2063
New South Wales
Australia

Contact the Friends of Ossu

Within Australia
Ph: +61 0410 545 585
Ph: +61 0403 055 397

Email: info@friendsofossu.org.au

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