A Young Girl Shares Her Rice Harvest
On March 14, 2023, Junaidi*, a Haggai leader living on the extremely poor island of Nias in Indonesia, was hosting a group of children and youth for rice paddy harvest day. As tradition required, he placed a freshly harvested rice plant into the hands of a child named Diah* who had come to live, learn, and work with other underprivileged children at Junaidi’s organization that teaches life skills and provides housing and education to children and youth in the surrounding villages. Diah had helped plant and harvest the paddy herself, and Junaidi asked her to pray, thanking her Father in Heaven for the food He had given them. Then, Junaidi sent the child to a nearby village to share the harvest, as was customary.
But on this day, something special happened. Instead of a nearby village, Diah wandered far away. She paused by a simple hut on the edge of the woods, watching a mother with three hungry kids out front, the kids fighting for a bite of one lone banana on the table. Diah ran all the way back to Junaidi and the group at the rice fields and told them what she had seen, and that she wanted to help them. Junaidi showed Diah some leftover sacks of rice and without thinking twice, Diah took that sack of rice from her own harvest back to the family in the hut.
“This was a kid that more than 10 years ago was one of the kids I took from a very poor family, without an education, and with no future that has become someone transformed by the Gospel to do good works and make a significant impact on her community,” Junaidi said.
Diah is one of many children from the same background. In the early 2000s, Nias Island suffered record-breaking, back-to-back tsunamis that changed the country dramatically. Many died, more were left homeless, and much of the country’s geography was altered dramatically. Today, it’s one of the poorest areas of Indonesia, but home to a rapidly growing population —one that surpassed 900,000 people just last year.
As a result, it’s a culture now oversaturated by international aid programs that people are accustomed to being helped. They “want the fish, but don’t want to use the hook,” Junaidi said. Because many NGO programs operate with a top-down concept to provide fast relief, the people are ill-prepared to provide for themselves when that NGO leaves.
Junaidi works to counteract that. Starting with children, he offers the hook, teaches them to fish for themselves, and helps them build a better future. Through Abdi Pusaka, he enrolls them in school, teaches them farming skills like planting and harvesting rice, raising chickens, goats, etc., and empowers them to start making their own living and generate income for themselves. He leads the children and youth in Bible studies and prayer sessions, takes them to church, and teaches them about helping the vulnerable people in their villages. From this launchpad, he also hosts seminars to equip area church leaders to better serve their communities.
“This is just what we do in our land — we’re raising kids together and restoring the damage to become sufficient again,” Junaidi said. “This is discipling poor and neglected kids on a remote island to be future leaders and missionaries. This is the future of our island.”
Junaidi has seen students like Diah become leaders and he’s watched many young people learn to plant and harvest their own foods. What’s greater is that he’s been able to witness those same children — children who grew up in poverty — giving their food to the poor and sharing it with local orphanages. They recognize the bounty that comes with empowerment and with loving each other, and they’re using it to build up their community.
They’re reshaping their future… starting with the hook.
*Names changed for protection of privacy.
Written by Jennifer Colosimo
A Young Girl Shares Her Rice Harvest
On March 14, 2023, Junaidi*, a Haggai leader living on the extremely poor island of Nias in Indonesia, was hosting a group of children and youth for rice paddy harvest day. As tradition required, he placed a freshly harvested rice plant into the hands of a child named Diah* who had come to live, learn, and work with other underprivileged children at Junaidi’s organization that teaches life skills and provides housing and education to children and youth in the surrounding villages. Diah had helped plant and harvest the paddy herself, and Junaidi asked her to pray, thanking her Father in Heaven for the food He had given them. Then, Junaidi sent the child to a nearby village to share the harvest, as was customary.
But on this day, something special happened. Instead of a nearby village, Diah wandered far away. She paused by a simple hut on the edge of the woods, watching a mother with three hungry kids out front, the kids fighting for a bite of one lone banana on the table. Diah ran all the way back to Junaidi and the group at the rice fields and told them what she had seen, and that she wanted to help them. Junaidi showed Diah some leftover sacks of rice and without thinking twice, Diah took that sack of rice from her own harvest back to the family in the hut.
“This was a kid that more than 10 years ago was one of the kids I took from a very poor family, without an education, and with no future that has become someone transformed by the Gospel to do good works and make a significant impact on her community,” Junaidi said.
Diah is one of many children from the same background. In the early 2000s, Nias Island suffered record-breaking, back-to-back tsunamis that changed the country dramatically. Many died, more were left homeless, and much of the country’s geography was altered dramatically. Today, it’s one of the poorest areas of Indonesia, but home to a rapidly growing population —one that surpassed 900,000 people just last year.
As a result, it’s a culture now oversaturated by international aid programs that people are accustomed to being helped. They “want the fish, but don’t want to use the hook,” Junaidi said. Because many NGO programs operate with a top-down concept to provide fast relief, the people are ill-prepared to provide for themselves when that NGO leaves.
Junaidi works to counteract that. Starting with children, he offers the hook, teaches them to fish for themselves, and helps them build a better future. Through Abdi Pusaka, he enrolls them in school, teaches them farming skills like planting and harvesting rice, raising chickens, goats, etc., and empowers them to start making their own living and generate income for themselves. He leads the children and youth in Bible studies and prayer sessions, takes them to church, and teaches them about helping the vulnerable people in their villages. From this launchpad, he also hosts seminars to equip area church leaders to better serve their communities.
“This is just what we do in our land — we’re raising kids together and restoring the damage to become sufficient again,” Junaidi said. “This is discipling poor and neglected kids on a remote island to be future leaders and missionaries. This is the future of our island.”
Junaidi has seen students like Diah become leaders and he’s watched many young people learn to plant and harvest their own foods. What’s greater is that he’s been able to witness those same children — children who grew up in poverty — giving their food to the poor and sharing it with local orphanages. They recognize the bounty that comes with empowerment and with loving each other, and they’re using it to build up their community.
They’re reshaping their future… starting with the hook.
*Names changed for protection of privacy.
Written by Jennifer Colosimo
A Young Girl Shares Her Rice Harvest
On March 14, 2023, Junaidi*, a Haggai leader living on the extremely poor island of Nias in Indonesia, was hosting a group of children and youth for rice paddy harvest day. As tradition required, he placed a freshly harvested rice plant into the hands of a child named Diah* who had come to live, learn, and work with other underprivileged children at Junaidi’s organization that teaches life skills and provides housing and education to children and youth in the surrounding villages. Diah had helped plant and harvest the paddy herself, and Junaidi asked her to pray, thanking her Father in Heaven for the food He had given them. Then, Junaidi sent the child to a nearby village to share the harvest, as was customary.
But on this day, something special happened. Instead of a nearby village, Diah wandered far away. She paused by a simple hut on the edge of the woods, watching a mother with three hungry kids out front, the kids fighting for a bite of one lone banana on the table. Diah ran all the way back to Junaidi and the group at the rice fields and told them what she had seen, and that she wanted to help them. Junaidi showed Diah some leftover sacks of rice and without thinking twice, Diah took that sack of rice from her own harvest back to the family in the hut.
“This was a kid that more than 10 years ago was one of the kids I took from a very poor family, without an education, and with no future that has become someone transformed by the Gospel to do good works and make a significant impact on her community,” Junaidi said.
Diah is one of many children from the same background. In the early 2000s, Nias Island suffered record-breaking, back-to-back tsunamis that changed the country dramatically. Many died, more were left homeless, and much of the country’s geography was altered dramatically. Today, it’s one of the poorest areas of Indonesia, but home to a rapidly growing population —one that surpassed 900,000 people just last year.
As a result, it’s a culture now oversaturated by international aid programs that people are accustomed to being helped. They “want the fish, but don’t want to use the hook,” Junaidi said. Because many NGO programs operate with a top-down concept to provide fast relief, the people are ill-prepared to provide for themselves when that NGO leaves.
Junaidi works to counteract that. Starting with children, he offers the hook, teaches them to fish for themselves, and helps them build a better future. Through Abdi Pusaka, he enrolls them in school, teaches them farming skills like planting and harvesting rice, raising chickens, goats, etc., and empowers them to start making their own living and generate income for themselves. He leads the children and youth in Bible studies and prayer sessions, takes them to church, and teaches them about helping the vulnerable people in their villages. From this launchpad, he also hosts seminars to equip area church leaders to better serve their communities.
“This is just what we do in our land — we’re raising kids together and restoring the damage to become sufficient again,” Junaidi said. “This is discipling poor and neglected kids on a remote island to be future leaders and missionaries. This is the future of our island.”
Junaidi has seen students like Diah become leaders and he’s watched many young people learn to plant and harvest their own foods. What’s greater is that he’s been able to witness those same children — children who grew up in poverty — giving their food to the poor and sharing it with local orphanages. They recognize the bounty that comes with empowerment and with loving each other, and they’re using it to build up their community.
They’re reshaping their future… starting with the hook.
*Names changed for protection of privacy.
Written by Jennifer Colosimo
