School is open!
An agricultural company decided to expand its plantation; in order to acquire the necessary land, they herded the people living on the land off to a new village. This village is isolated and the villagers found themselves left without schools and health facilities. This is S village, the Dayak village which Elka, Pastor Sani’s wife, happened upon while hiking with a group of school children in search of trees bearing ripe fruit. She was immediately greeted by the village chief wh
o asked her to bring a school to the village for the children. Elka brought a high school graduate to live with them for a year and introduced them to Mustard Seed. A trained teacher, Vita, spent a year opening a school in the village’s only community building. Pastor Jim and his wife, Nita, have taken up the leadership role over these past two years.
The village donated some of its land to construct a one room school, which even has toilets, a first for this village! Attached to the school is an apartment for the teacher’s living quarters. The villagers traditionally were animists which is a religion unrecognized by the government. After considering their choices, the villagers registered themselves as Christian. Today, three adults and ten teens join in the Sunday worship service and parents are more receptive to the idea of sending their children to this school. In fact, neighboring villages are also sending their children to the school!
