Meet Jenadia – a sponsor child in Timor-Leste
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Key Challenges for children in Timor-Leste
- Timor-Leste has one of the highest rates of malnutrition in the world; 40 percent of the population is malnourished.
- More than 5 percent of all children die before the age of 5.
- 1 in 4 people do not have access to clean drinking water.
- 19 percent of girls are married before they turn 18; 24 percent have a child by the time they turn 20.

How your support is helping children like Novelia
Each morning, eight-year-old Novelia’s family traveled down the hill from their home to fetch water for the day. An arduous and time-consuming task, it was also dangerous. The stream below was not clean, and the water wasn’t safe to drink. Novelia and her siblings all suffered from waterborne diseases over the years.
But now, with the support of donors like you, Novelia and other families in rural Timor-Leste have access to safe and reliable drinking water, piped to a tap close to their home.
“I am glad that now I have water near my house,” Novelia said. “I can spend more time studying and playing with my friends.”