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Dayak Tribe - Kalimatan Barat
Kalimantan is Indonesia’s largest island in the archipelago of over 17,000, and within this vast island there is a large tribal people group called Dayak. Not so long ago they have been known for war fighting and cannibalism. It is among this marginalized and poverty hit people group that we began our work in South East Asia. Since 2005 we have been developing programs for children aiming to address their spiritual, economic, physical, social and emotional needs. So far we have achieved greater than expected results among the Dayaks. Not only have we built churches, schools, first aid points and micro-enterprises but we have also developed programs for the young ones.   
Education
There are fifteen villages in the area of our work and most of them have never had schools leaving the locals without education. Some children walk up to four kilometers each way (hungry, in extreme heat and humidity) for education. In the past four years we have assisted this need in opening four schools, three primary and one secondary in these villages. Over 200 children benefit from this education. Not only are they educated on daily basis but they also receive nutritional alimentation (milk and bread / rice) so that they can concentrate while they learn. Two of these schools are currently under construction while the classes are held in the local church building. The children also benefit from Christian education and values and have kids church programs. Their singing is unreal and the impact of the Gospel on the children bear fruit in the families. Many parents have began church attendance and are becoming faithful. The transformation within the community is evident as fathers begin to care for the families and work the land.
  
Health Care
One of the major problems of this area is the lack of medical care. There are no roads to these villages, there is no electricity or clean water source, and there is no local government to represent them or provide the basic infrastructure. Many children die every year of malnutrition and malaria, while others get infected with skin disease and often end up contracting malaria and die. One of our main focus was to address this evident need and as such we have began working on a clinic that can service much of this forgotten jungle area. We have permanent nurses working at the clinic and visiting doctors on weekly basis. The clinic is housed on temporary basis in one of the church buildings while we are building a purpose built centre at a cost of AUD$10,000. The cost of running the clinic will only be AUD$1,000 per month.
Hope for the Future
We have approached the work in Kalimantan Barat holistically. As such we have developed enterprise projects that aim to educate the locals in self-support and promote local enterprise. We partnered with them in pig farms, fish farms, palm farms, chicken farms, aiming to generate a small income to support the children’s programs. Our aim is to eventually make the projects self-sustainable. These children are the first in their community that learn to read and write and the future is bright for them.
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