Imagine being born into a family on the island of Sumba, in Indonesia. The fact that you are a part of a nation of 232 million people with 250 languages which has the highest number of Muslim people in the world has little impact on you because your island has 600,000 people and is dominated by animism. Your family, along with most others on the island worships its ancestors and lives in dread of offending them in some way. Fighting between clans and even families within a clan is common. Working for a living, especially manual labor, is viewed as belittling.

If you have any defect then you face the grim prospect of being left out to die of exposure to the elements with other members of your community walking by you without so much as a 2^nd glance.    If you are the child of a 2^nd or 3^rd wife, since polygamy is common, your value is low, especially if you are a girl, and your very survival hangs by a thread.   But, wait ...., if you were born in a certain area of Sumba, then someone does care. Your parents are approached by members of an abandoned children home who offer to take you in. Even then, your parents may still prefer that you die rather than give you to this project.

By God’s grace, if you have run the gauntlet and been taken into the home, the lights quite literally come on in what is really a pretty dark world. Now you have joined a family of 75 children (your new siblings!) with 17 staff. Your meals are healthy and nutritious and you are taught to do your part of the chores – cleaning, gardening, mending. You attend church together with your family and hear about a holy God Who hates sin but who sent His Son to die for sinners. You learn that this is the God who chose you over many others to come to the children's home. When you reach school age you become one of 45 children attending a Christian School which is part of the orphan project. Your school has 7 classrooms and has been recognized as one of the best on the island. Here you receive a Bible based education which teaches you about God’s wonderful creation as well as the blessed Truths of His Word. Some day you hope to join some of the recent graduates who have gone on to teacher’s college so that they can be recognized as fully accredited teachers and return to teach at the school. Meanwhile you thank God for His gracious provisions, for Bill & Marion Sommer, for the staff and teachers and for the mysterious people from North America who have helped pay for your home and your education.

If you would like to contribute to this project, please click Canada or USA to make a donation by credit card - don't forget to indicate "Indonesia Sumba - Children's Home".  Please note that Word & Deed pays a transcation fee of 3.9% of each donation received via Canada Helps and 4.5% via JustGive.org (USA).  You can also send in a donation with a check, write the check to "Word & Deed" and click here for the office mailing addresses.