Tribals at the mountains

The afternoon was the most challenging journey on the mission trip. We set out to visit the three tuition centres up in the Niyam Giri Mountain.

First was the Utesi village. A simple tribal village mostly mud houses but the environment is clean. There are about twenty homes and about 30 children are receiving tuition. 3 children form this village are now in the Shadrach Home and they are progressing very well. Gaddiel shared a story with the children, who listened very attentively. We distributed sweets to the kids and parents.

Pst Sanada and his wife Rita had been working very hard in this village. Together with daughter Nancy, they are staying in a small room. It was very difficult to get into the house as the door was low and narrow. As we prayed for this family, tears were just rolling down my cheeks as I witnessed the sacrifice and the passion of these young couples 🥲. Very minimum facilities and yet serving the Lord and the village faithfully. Their daughter Nancy, three years old, speaks the language of the villagers. Theirs is different from the Oria language. The tuition programs are helping the children to get some basic education.

Then we went further up to visit the second village, Gondli. A slightly bigger village with tribal folks. Pst Ananta and his wife Sukanti are working in this village. There is some opposition from this village people but our church planters are faithfully going there to share the gospel. About 20 children come for the tuition class.

The trip to the third village Sagdi, was the most challenging. Now we had to track up the mountain as there were no roads to this village. The trails were steep, slippery and the elevation was testing our endurance. It was almost 3000 ft up and we took an hour to reach. But the view was breath-taking. God’s creation is simply stupendous. We were told that there were wild animals here. Thank God we did not meet any. I was more worried for Jeya but she managed well, “better than the young men” 🤣. The village was small with sparsely scattered mud houses. Pst Sunil and his wife Sukumari are working in this village. They have no children yet.

We only saw women and one or two men. Bishop Anjan told that recently about 14 men died after consuming contaminated illegal alcohol. Their abuses had left 14 widows in the village with kids to look after. It was a very pathetic sight. It broke my heart. There about twenty kids who attend our tuition  centre. The work here is progressing slowly, amidst the sorrow.

It’s not easy for the church planters to stay in these villages where living condition are very primitive and “no hygiene” at all. There are many villages in these mountains who have never heard the good news. There is so much work that needs to be done