Cold Adelaide to hot Dili. Appreciation to rewarding. We departed Adelaide mid afternoon, arrived safely in Darwin where we stayed overnight in accommodation which was very cramped.  We headed off to Dili bright and early the next morning catching up with Jenny, Sarah and Jess who had slept at the airport overnight. We were greeted at the Dili airport by Eli (YWAM) and transported to our accommodation at the YWAM base in Dili.  Brian and I had been assigned the ‘penthouse’ as it is affectionately known. The YWAM team made us feel very welcome and waited on us hand and foot and the meals were superb.

 

After only a few hours in Dili, we decided to make a quick trip to Bahareduk to check out the size of pipe required.  This is a 6 hour round trip over only 93km.  The roads are very average but there is plenty of road work happening. The first couple of days were spent in Dili sourcing all the necessary PCV piping and fittings to assist with the project of fixing the supply of water to and throughout the village. While in Dili, Brian and I also walked up the steps to say hello to Jesus and to enjoy the wonderful views and explored The Resistance Museum and some other local attractions.

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We arrived at the village on Monday. Brian and myself in the front and the DTS (Discipleship Training School students) riding in the back of one vehicle along with 300metres of PCV piping. Jenny, Sarah and Jess together with some of the YWAM staff in another vehicle. We received a warm welcome at the village from children and friends from previous trips. Wednesday morning we started our project and will the help of the local people carried the 3 x 100 metre rolls of pipe up the mountain to the water source.  They made it look so easy. All installed in a day and what a day.  We slept very well and did not hear any rats or the loud singing from a party, only the rosters the next morning.

 

Over the next few days we installed taps and hoses throughout the village, finished rat proofing the YWAM base and made bricks and many other jobs including another trip to Dili to pick up hardware and grocery supplies and another day a trip to Manatuto to collect ice (only a 3 hour return trip). We enjoyed a trip to Cribas one morning to see the local markets and returned with a car full and overflowing with people and animals! Our day off was a walk to the waterfall which was very rewarding and although a long walk (3 and a half hours return) it was very  enjoyable. The trip for me was an eye opener and gave me a sense of pride to be able to achieve what we did Thanks to Brian, Jenny, Sarah, Jess and the  YWAM team for the experience.