On the 21^st March this year we received advice from RAWCS (Rotary Australia World Community Service) that all travel by RAWCS Project Volunteer Teams remains suspended until further notice, presumably because they are not able to obtain international Travel Insurance due to Covid 19.

Since it is RACWS that provides Accident and Sickness insurance for Volunteers travelling to work on Rotary projects overseas we are unable to say when we might next be able to visit Timor Leste.

On a slightly brighter note we are able to report that the East Timor Roofing Co has finally received its long awaited delivery of steel from BlueScope Steel in Australia and that they have been able to complete manufacture and delivery of the ten (10) 5,500Ltr galvanised Water Tanks that comprised Stage 2 of our project

We understand that these have all been installed on Tank Stands by locals and we enclose some photos and videos of villagers carrying one of thse 5,500 Ltr Water Tanks up to a remote location.

Progress has been slow on the Stage 3 construction of the three School Toilets and we are not certain when these will be completed. 

Finances

No further payments have been made since our last Report on the 17^th December and funds on hand presently stand as follows:-

• Bendigo Bank Special Project Account               $15,286.15  (includes Bank Interest of $2.53)
• RAWCS Project Account Number 8 2020-21     $24,012.59  ($24,690 less RAWCS charges of $677.41)

We do however have payments to make in respect Stage 3 and are awaiting Invoices and Receipts from our in country co-ordinator and Rotary Passport Club Member, Ms Leopoldina Gutteres, in regard to these but we are confident that we are within budget financially.

As mentioned previously, we also have a Rotary District 9800 (Victoria) Internationaal Grant of $6,000 to be claimed against future expenditure taking total funds available for the Project to AUD $45,298.74. 

General

We are obviously disappointed at the impact that Covid 19 has had on the Project and the delays that have been caused by shortage of matreials and travel restrictions inside Timor Leste but we are confident that good progress can be made again once these difficulties are overcome.

It is unlikely that we will be able to advance the project much further without another Rotary Team visit and whilst we don't know when this will occur, we would still appreciate expressions of interest form anyone who would like to participate in a Team Visit.