As part of the Protecting Urban Refugees through Empowerment (PURE) project, CWS supports young refugees as they transition to adulthood and, as a result, leave group homes when they turn 18. PURE, as its full name implies, supports these youth to be empowered for independence with vocational and language training, plus info-sessions and skill-building sessions, […]

Adela Missa, a 26-year-old housewife and mother of one, lives in a small village in West Timor in far southeast Indonesia. About five years ago, Adela decided to contribute to her family’s income by weaving shawls and blankets to sell. Unfortunately, she was not as successful as she hoped. This was mostly because she did […]

Surianti Makamban is a hard-working woman in a rural mountain village in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. In the past, Surianti and her family relied on small rice and cocoa fields’ produce to support themselves. But their harvests were never enough to meet their basic needs. Ibu Sari, a community leader in the village, noticed how Surianti’s […]

CWS has supported water access for families in Nitutoli, a small community in rural West Timor, since mid-2017. Before this, the only water source was an unprotected spring about one mile from the village that provided minimal water. People lined up one or two hours in to get water; and, in fact. it was just […]

Nearly 25 million people in Indonesia don’t use toilets. They defecate instead in fields and forests, streams and rivers, ditches and canals, and even streets. Open defecation is not only an affront to dignity, it also poses health risks. Since the September 2018 earthquake in Palu, Central Sulawesi, many families there are now part of […]

Delti watched as her house crumbled to the ground on September 28th in 2018 as a 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit Palu, Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. While running to find safety, all Delti thought about was how her life would change completely – if she even survived the disaster. Delti was one of about 212,000 people displaced […]

Roble (not his real name) was born in a small town about 25 kilometers from Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu. Roble’s family was part of a minority clan and, in a country where clan is more esteemed than nationality, Roble’s clan faced discrimination … and worse. For example, one day men from the area’s majority clan attacked […]

Andi Tuo is a volunteer Community Health Promoter in Palu, Central Sulawesi, where an earthquake, tsunami and land liquefaction devastated her town and dozens of surrounding villages last year. In mid-August, Andi and her colleagues joined a CWS-led skills training to support their work in a community-led total sanitation (CLTS) initiative led by Indonesia’s Ministry […]

Christina ‘Intan’ Nitbani, is a 14-year-old student in a small rural village in West Timor, Indonesia. She is the youngest of three children and an only daughter. Intan, like most girls her age, and even much older, are not well informed about their basic biology and health. “Sex and reproduction are taboo topics here”, said […]

Because of its valley location, Rano, which is in South Sulawesi, Indonesia has temperatures that are hotter than other Tanja Toraja villages. This location means families there experience harsher drought most of the year when it doesn’t rain in the area. Harsher still are landslides that come along with the rains. In late 2016, deadly […]

Mustafa (not his real name) was born the oldest of 6 children in a remote village in a Hazara ethnic village in Afghanistan. Because Hazara people are largely Shia Muslims and a minority in Afghanistan, they are under constant threat from those who identify as Taliban and follow Sunni Islam. One day some years ago, […]

The Oe’ayo farmer group started almost by accident when a plot of land donated to a church youth group by Welmince Kase and her husband was left fallow. So, after a year of the youth’s inactivity, Welmince decided on another idea for her land. Knowing that she would have help from CWS, she invited nine […]

A year ago, a horrific series of disasters struck Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The earthquake, tsunamis and liquefaction killed more than 5,300 people and wiped out communities. CWS have been on the ground in Central Sulawesi for the past year helping to address critical water, sanitation, hygiene and shelter needs. This video gives a glimpse at […]

Mohammad (not his real name) is a 16-year-old asylum seeker from Afghanistan. He has lived a safe, healthy and happy life in a CWS-managed group home in Jakarta for four years, and for almost two years, regardless of his disability, Mohammad has become more active and stronger in body and spirit. Last summer Mohammad was […]

As one CWS approach to sustainable economic development for women in West Timor, Berdaya, which means empowerment in Indonesian, supports women in a few ways, including support to organize and lead their own savings and loans groups. Woman, in turn, support each other as they start and grow small businesses, make profits, save … and […]

Deni Seteria Saufeto is a jack-of-all-trades in her West Timor village. Besides taking care of her children and home, Mama Deni earns money weaving textiles as her mother taught her. For years, she had successfully sold shawls and blankets to family or friends. But, many other women in her village also weave, so competition for […]

Like many people in the world, Diana used to take water for granted. Now, after the complex natural disaster changed her life last year, she understands how valuable and rare safe water can be. Diana lived in a coastal village near Palu in Central Sulawesi. But when an earthquake and resulting tsunami washed her home […]

Adapting to life after a natural disaster is a struggle. For people like Sarini the struggle isn’t just coping with the huge loss of her house and livelihood. It’s also the struggle to meet basic needs day in and day out. Immediately after last September’s earthquake, tsunami and land liquefaction disaster in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia, […]

Reni Sattu and her family live in a rural village about 25 miles from the nearest town. Among other services she has no access to, safe banking is one. And, as she learned when she approached a bank in a bigger city, she could not borrow money from them anyway because her husband’s income barely […]

In October 2016, a landslide destroyed houses and farmland in Lembang Rano, which is a small, mountainous village in southern Tana Toraja, Indonesia. CWS was already working with communities there, and so partnered with the district Disaster Management Agency to strengthen its disaster response. Then, after the community’s recovery from the disaster, CWS staff and […]