About Indonesia

Bill and Marion Sommer originally traveled to the arid region of Sumba to build a well and to construct some public restrooms. While there, they were faced with the needs of the children of that area. They took several into their small bamboo home. Soon, a children’s home was begun (Pengharapan - Hope).  They continued to receive children who were being abandoned and left to die by the local people and in 2006 they built an addition on to the existing home. There are now 75 children living in the home.

Pengharapan (Hope) Children’s Home in TanaMbanas ($50,000 / year)
The objectives of the Pengharapan Children’s Home are as follows:

1. Provide a home for children who are abandoned to die (75 children currently/17 staff)
2. Provide daily meals for orphans
3. The children will receive daily Bible instruction and attend worship services each Sunday.
4. School age children will go to school
5. All children will be involved in helping at the home and in the community
6. Seek local community and church involvement and support for the home
7. Seek options to reduce the foreign portion of the cost of the home and possible local family care for abandoned children.

Rehoboth School

Budget: $36,000 / Needed: $36,000

The public schools system in TanaMbanas, Indonesia is very poor. Although there are many teachers, they are often absent. When they do arrive, the children are often employed in manual labour (working in their teacher’s garden, hauling water, etc.). Rehoboth School is intended to provide a Christian education for the children living at Pengharapan Children’s Home. It is our hope and prayer that these children will be brought up in the fear of the Lord and that they will shine as lights within their community, transforming the syncretistic and animistic religious culture of Sumba, Indonesia.