UC Chile Leads Project That Brings Clean Water to Community in Indonesia
After eight months of joint work between UC Chile, partner institutions and the community itself, the Drinking Water System in Wansar Community project brought drinking water for the first time to the 174 people who live in this remote mountainous village in Indonesia’s Maluku Islands.
photo_camera Thanks to the project, the community of Wansar celebrates having clean and easily accessible water sources. (Photo credit: UC Chile team in Wansar)
Wansar is a community located in the mountainous area of Buru island in Indonesia. Its nearly 170 inhabitants have historically faced challenges such as difficult roads, heavy rainfall, and long distances to the rest of the island, conditions that made access to safe water sources difficult.
Ángelo Brochon, UC Chile alumnus, recalls Wansar as a place deeply shaped by tradition and spirituality, where he formed close friendships and received profound gratitude from its inhabitants.
In 2024, a call from Pohon Sagoe Foundation reached UC Chile’s School of Construction through the Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, initiating a collaboration that joined UC Chile with Indonesian and Chilean organizations, in addition to support from the International Foundation SELAVIP.
The first part of this project took place between January and March of 2025. During this stage, UC Chile School of Construction professor Freddy Yáñez traveled to Wansar along with undergraduate student Nicolás Aguilera and master’s student Braulio Rodríguez.
Clean and Easily Accessible Water
On August 17 of this year, coinciding with Indonesia’s national holidays, while children played and families gathered in front of their homes, clean water began to flow for the first time in Wansar.
Ángelo Brochon, who graduated from UC Chile’s School of Construction in 2023, led the project’s final stage after arriving on the island in early June. His mission was clear: to ensure that Wansar had access to drinking water.
During the three months he spent in the field, he worked with volunteers from Pohon Sagoe Maluku and inhabitants of the village, facing a variety of challenges that required adaptability, innovation, and collaborative work.
The intense rainy season marked the entire process. Much of the work took place under constant rainfall, crossing swollen rivers, muddy trails, and blocked roads that complicated the transport of materials.
The language barrier was also a determining factor. Instructions had to be conveyed in several languages—including English, Indonesian Bahasa, and Buru—which meant that coordination on the field required time and patience. “It took us a lot of time to understand people from the community. When they told us where the facilities should go and the reasons why, we had a hard time understanding,” explained Ángelo Brochon.
Once these obstacles were overcome, the team moved forward with installing pipes, making repairs, and implementing community and household water tanks.
The Drinking Water System
The system is supplied by water collected from a spring and channeled into a small reservoir. From there, a 600-meter pipe network transports water to the community’s main 10,000-liter tank, from where it is distributed to storage tanks installed outside individual homes.
Today, Wansar has:
- 30 household tanks
- 1 tank serving the school
- An underground pipe network
- 3 newly built and 3 restored bathrooms
- 2 washing areas for clothing and utensils
A Valuable Experience
Ángelo Brochon mentions that, before travelling to Indonesia, he had left his job in search of new challenges related to the social aspect of construction. The call from his former professor, Freddy Yáñez, came at just the right time: the students who had participated in the project’s first stage, Nicolás and Braulio, had returned to Chile and someone was needed to complete the final stage.
Without hesitation, Ángelo grabbed his backpack and embarked on what he describes as “one of the most valuable experiences of my professional career.” During his stay, he shared with volunteers and people from Wansar, who welcomed him with affection, adding a great human dimension to the experience.
“Another positive aspect was the love, affection, and gratitude that the children and families had for what we were doing. It reached a point where everyone would start crying when we arrived, during the work, and even after we left,” he mentions.
Ángelo emphasized that the project required leadership, planning, and creativity in the face of logistical challenges. “No other project is comparable in terms of the technical and human requirements we had there. (…) All progress depended on willpower, good leadership, clear ideas, and the ability to generate a good planning, given that we faced great logistical problems,” he relates.
During his stay in Wansar, Ángelo valued this experience as unique, where he experienced enormous professional and personal growth, which would not have been possible without exposing to a different culture, building ties with the community, and leading the completion of the project.
He concludes: “I hope connections continue to be made, not only with Indonesia, but with the rest of the world: with Africa, Europe, North America, and Oceania.”
A New Project Begins in Herlau Pauni
The collaboration between UC Chile and Indonesia continues to grow. Following the projects carried out in the Maluku Island, thanks to the Pallqa Program and the Drinking Water System in Wansar Community project, a new challenge will take place in the community of Herlau Pauni, in Seram Island, also in Indonesia.
The community consists of about 25 families, and its main source of income is the production of coconut derivatives. Herlau Pauni faces a significant housing challenge, with each home inhabited by 12 to 15 people.
Ángelo Brochon and the Pohon Sagoe Foundation, with the support of Professor Freddy Yáñez, are working in a housing construction and reconstruction initiative, awarded to the SELAVIP fund for 2026.
This project aims to promote local autonomy by providing tools and support so that the community and Pohon Sagoe can lead its implementation.
In 2026, Professor Freddy Yáñez will return to Indonesia to evaluate the performance of the drinking water system in Wansar, accompany the start of the new project in Herlau Pauni, and strengthen ties with institutions in the country.
