Your gift goes six times further thanks to Australian Aid! Here's how.
Each donation made to this appeal will be combined with funding from the Australian Government. We have committed to raising at least $1 for every $5 we can receive, making your gift have up to six times the impact. Find out more*
Your tax-deductible gift resources that vital work, helping break the cycle of poverty and hunger - for good.
In places like Sumba, eastern Indonesia, rural families sit at the sharp end of forces far beyond their control. When global fuel prices rise, getting goods to market costs more. When fertiliser prices spike, a small farming plot can become unviable within weeks. When commodity prices shift, daily meals become uncertain. As the climate crisis deepens, rains grow less predictable. Subsistence farming communities absorb these shocks with no buffer, no savings, no insurance, no safety net.
“My biggest wish is just to work hard in the garden so there is something to sell and have enough money for our family.” ~ Marcelina
Marcelina lives in rural Sumba with her husband and four children.
Every morning she loads jerry cans onto a motorbike and rides 15km through dirt roads just to collect enough water to cook and wash.
Last year, she used her small savings to plant corn. The rains stopped too soon. The crop failed. With school fees due and no harvest income, she had to borrow from the local cooperative — paying it back every week, with interest.
“My hope is for my child to go to school and for there to be enough to eat.” ~ Semis
Semis lives in a small village in rural Sumba with her husband, a subsistence rice farmer, and their daughter.
She works hard.
She pounds rice by hand for family meals because there is no mill nearby and no other way to do it. She runs a small kiosk from her two-room home. She helps her husband in the fields. She cooks the meals, and runs the household.
She’s also one of the 219 million people in our region living on less than $3 AUD per day.
And yet, Semis’s hopes are as humble as her life.
Not wealth. Not security in the way we understand it. Just enough to eat, and a future for her daughter that she herself never had.
“I run a demonstration farm. I have watched bare hillsides become forests and food gardens again.” ~ Petrus
Petrus is 60 years old, and he has been farming Sumba’s soil for most of his life. He’s a member of the Sumba Christian Church, our partner, and what he has spent his life doing is quietly extraordinary.
He runs a demonstration farm: a place where families come to see what their land could actually become. He distributes seedlings. He mentors families in long-term thinking. He has helped communities reforest land once considered permanently barren.
“Change doesn’t always come from many people,” he says. “One person learns, and then brings two more. Knowledge spreads like that.”
Will you help break the cycle of poverty and hunger for people like Marcelina and Semis?
And help resource leaders like Petrus to make change in their communities?
Your impact
Your gift helps end the cycle of poverty and hunger.
$35 feeds a malnourished child under five, providing three months of nutritional supplements.
$75 helps give a family clean water closer to home, supplying water collection and storage equipment.
$150 gives a family a different future, enabling them to set up their own kitchen garden and learn how to turn scarcity into abundance!
$500 supports ten vulnerable families with health checks, vitamins and clean water access.
$1,000 supports an entire village caught in the cycle of poverty and hunger with three months of food security and health checks, agricultural support and water access improvements.
With your support, more families can get the help they need to live lives of abundance and hope. Every gift, large or small, helps us reach our funding goal. Please give generously.
Call 1800 998 122
(Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm AEST)
Send a cheque or money order to:
UnitingWorld
PO Box A2266
Sydney NSW 1235
Direct deposit / bank transfer
(click for details)
For direct banking, please arrange to deposit your donation into the following UnitingWorld Account:
Bank: Westpac – King St, Sydney NSW
Account Name: UCA Assembly Limited UnitingWorld Donations
Account Number: 182657
BSB: 032-014
Reference: "Sumba"
IMPORTANT: On completion of your deposit, please forward an email to: info@unitingworld.org.au with the following details: the amount you deposited, to where you wish the funds be directed (In this case: "Sumba 2026", to whom the receipt is to be made out to and the relevant contact details (address and phone number).
Thank you!
*Why your gift makes a bigger impact
UnitingWorld is a valued partner of the Australian Government, receiving flexible funding under the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and other programs each year to implement development and poverty alleviation programs overseas.
Every donation you make to this appeal will be combined with funding from the Australian Government to reach more people across Africa, Asia and the Pacific. We have committed to contribute $1 for every $5 we receive from the Australian Government. Your donation will allow us to extend our programs.
Your tax-deductible donation will transform the lives of some of the world’s poorest people. Please give generously.
Which projects are supported by the Australian Government?
These are some of the projects that will be supported by this appeal and all donations will be combined with funding from the Australian Government and applied where most needed.
Privacy and transparency
UnitingWorld is the international aid and partnerships agency of the Uniting Church in Australia.
All gifts of $2 or more are tax-deductible. Your personal information will only be used for the purpose for which it was collected and will not be disclosed to any person, body or agency except where required by law. Click here to read our full Privacy Policy. We hope to raise $500,000 through this appeal to fund our government-supported projects. In the event that funds raised exceed the amount needed for a certain project, funds will be used for other government-supported UnitingWorld projects.
UnitingWorld is accredited by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), responsible for managing Australia’s aid program. To maintain accreditation, UnitingWorld's systems, policies and processes are rigorously reviewed by the Australian Government.
UnitingWorld is also a member of the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), which holds us accountable to the highest standards of governance, financial transparency and effectiveness in our work.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) and other programs.
