From the Field Friday: East Indonesia

Today's country director letter is different than any posted so far for one reason. The director that runs the show in East Indonesia is a woman! That may not seem so odd, by our standards here in the first world, but in a developing nation, especially an Asian country, woman are often not seen as leaders or as intelligent as men. Having a woman in charge of the business of so many projects is an accomplishment, for sure!

I have one precious girl in East Indonesia; Prity!

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Dear Kayla, 

I am Georry Nefiantuty, country director of Compassion East Indonesia. I am originally from Badung, West Java, in the Western part of Indonesia. I started working with Compassion Bandung in 2001, and four years later, I was appointed to start the new office in East Indonesia. I feel blessed to have experiences in these two offices so I can understand all of Indonesia from end to end. 

Georry Nefiantuty

Compassion East Indonesia now has more than 240 church partners. Together we are serving about 55,000 sponsored children, more than 1400 mothers and babies in the survival program, and about 45 Leadership Development Program students. We can minister to these many children because of faithful sponsors like you. I would like to thank you for your love, continuous prayers, and support for Prity. Your child can experience the love of Jesus Christ. 

A Group of Happy Papuan Children 

East Indonesia is huge and most of the areas are remote. We thank God that our current government is giving special attention to East Indonesia's infrastructure development, so access to remote areas is becoming more and more open now. In the past, public facilities to remote areas were very rare and very expensive. Most of the transportation from island to island and also within the island is by plane, because each island mostly still has vast, protected forest. East Indonesia is also famous for its many tourist destinations. 

Impoverished Homes in East Indonesia

Sponsored children are protected and know where to go for help in difficult situations. They have appropriate medical treatment when they are sick. One girl in Kalimantan Island survived leukemia. Now she is healthy and active in the child development center. 

Children who are victims of abuse get medical and psychological treatment. Their cases are legally processed too; some of the perpetrators are in jail now. Every center has a trained child-protection champion who helps educate center staff, parents, and children on child protection and follows up on child-protection issues. 

Children Taking a Class in Their Project 

In this healthy environment, the children can have dreams and reach them. For example, one of the LDP students passed the final exam and will graduate soon from university. In 2017, 12 more LDP students will graduate. 

An Older Boy Working Hard

There are always challenges in ministering to children in poverty. Many of our children come from broken homes and they face bad influences from peers and electronic media. Our centers struggle to hire long-term, capable staff because, in the remote areas especially, people education. It takes longer to train the staff. Once they become trained, the local government often hires them away to become civil servants. 

We humbly ask for your prayer support for those challenges, so we will have wisdom in solving these issues. Please pray that the parents of  our children will know Jesus and draw closer to Him, and they will be able to support their children's participation in the centers. Would you pray for our church partners, especially for the pastors, center committees, staff, and tutors? May God give them passion, strength, wisdom, health, peace, and joy in serving our children. It always touches me when I hear that a staff member accompanied a sick child to the hospital, even in the middle of the night. 

A Young Boy Walking to School 

Thank you for your faithfulness in sponsoring Prity and walking with your child on the journey to fulfill God's plan. You are in our prayers as well. May God bless you, your family, and the work you do. 

Regards, 

Georry Nefiantuty

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If you would like to sponsor a child from East Indonesia, may I suggest sponsoring this sweet boy, Jhosiah. He is 8 years old and has been waiting for a sponsor for 234 days! He could really use your love and encouragement. Click here to visit his page and learn more about him.