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After leaving Kalimantan we flew back to Malang in West Java, where the Richardsons live.
On the 2hr drive to Malang from the Surabaya airport, we passed where the mud volcano has been spewing mud for the past year. Villages have been covered. When you hit that area all the people from the village swarm the cars trying to sell things, including guides through the mud - shortcuts so that you don't have to sit in the traffic that's caused because of the situation.
Paul Richardson had been the principal of an international school (mostly children of expatriates) here. When the international school had to move to a larger location he felt God's call to stay behind and create a school for the children he drove by everyday, who had no chance of going to school. He began the process to establish Charis.
Part of the vision that Paul has is to build schools like this all over the country. They currently have around 25 'projects' underway that include schools and children's homes.
The view from the top of that white building...it's really nice. They're thinking about plans for a university perhaps in the future, and that land in the back with a lake in the middle would be nice.
There is a lot still under construction. This land was purchased for a permanent teacher-training centre to be built.
Charis is being developed as the 'model' to replicate across the country. They serve kids from kindergarten up to senior high. They train the teachers who are local people. At Charis the language of instruction is Indonesian, but they also have 'English Hour' every week where classes are in English for 1-2 hours.
I happened to be there at a time when a team from Philadelphia had come to conduct a teacher-training conference. This conference was opened up to local government-school teachers; offered free of charge.
The response that they get from the local community is great. They get numerous calls and requests from all over to conduct training for teachers.
It is a Christian school, meaning that everything is based on biblical principles. All the teachers are Christian but the students come from different backgrounds. Indonesia is the largest Moslem nation. Although we went to church on Sundays quite easily, it is still risky. In another part of the country a group of about 50, from the Indonesian arm of Campus for Christ, were arrested. It was apparently just a string of unfortunate mistakes. The story I heard was that during a skit showing how not to behave, they had someone stamping on a copy of the Koran...? It was videotaped and the tape was accidently left in the recorder. Someone saw the tape and it went from there...
Another group we heard about are being held in prison. The people in their community are calling for the death sentence, even though the supposed maximum penalty they can be dealt is 5 years.
Polehan
Another visit I was able to make while in Malang was to the poor area - Polehan. It is known as the 'black' neighborhood because of the poverty and crime associated with it. People from Polehan cannot get loans from banks; many of the people collect garbage or perhaps drive a 'becak' - a rickshaw-bike for a living.
Charis supports an after-school program there. It is a relatively young project, off to a good start but they are working on refining the vision for the centre. At the moment their focus and skills lie in education, but in this environment there are so many additional needs it's difficult to know where to draw the line.
We visited some of the families there. It was the first time I really met people who were living in such poverty. It was the kind of situation where you can't help wincing inside a little when you shake hands because you can feel how dirty everything is. But at the same time, in each home we visited we were welcomed so warmly with smiles.
This family is one of only two Christian families. We sat for a while as this mother shared some of the things that have been bothering her. She has 5 kids and the oldest is just starting 1st grade - she's afraid she doesn't have the money to keep sending her (all schools require tuition). The whole family also sleeps in that room beside the door - maybe 5x6 feet - because she's afraid the roof will collapse at any moment from the old rotting wood. You could see she was so appreciative to have us, but at the same time embaressed. She kept saying to Wennie 'I wish you had told me you were coming...'
Other Random Pictures ...
The Richardson's cat, Peanut. There are lots of stray cats in Malang. I'm used to cats being pretty quiet, but these cats are really loud. The first night I heard it 'meow' I had no idea what it was...the next day I realized it had been the cat...they're very loud...
A couple of the girls who work with Mustard Seed in Malang started to get to know some of their neighbors. One Sunday we joined a small group of them to play volleyball. I thought we were going to find some random open space somewhere, but after walking through some back alleys we ended up at this makeshift gym. Brick on the lower half, then the top was finished with woven panels and flags on the inside.
It was the most painful volleyball I had ever played with. I was ready to stop after the first few hits, but I guess these women are used to it...I felt like such a wimp when we finally told them we had to stop...
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