Indonesia Refugee Update--January 2003

• How Safe Is It For The Refugees Of East Indonesia?--this is an update of the current security situation for the refugees.
• Three Towers--In one day I spent time with three amazing people. These are the true heroes of the faith. Johannas was nearly killed but did not deny his faith in Christ. Dion Patiasina is the a single mother whose husband was a martyred pastor. Telda is a young woman who has given herself to be a mercy worker. You must read about these amazing saints.
• Esther And More Disciples--Esther Scarborough, director of the medical clinic, has a second group of health care workers to train. Please pray for Ester and her new disciples.
• Dresses For Little Refugee Girls--You should have been there to see the faces of the little girls who received the beautiful new dresses donated for them from someone they didn't know.
• We Call Him Pastor Paul--Paul Camp is a remarkable man who is a voice of comfort to the suffering. He lost his right arm and God is using him to heal the wounds of many in Indonesia.
• Water Project--Water is not an option to good health. IFC has been committed to supplying good water to the refugees. This is an update of the water project in Pandu and the well drill training.
• Bathed In Prayer--A team of five from Palmer, Alaska have been ministering to children in three settlement, refugee camps, and an orphanage. They have a remarkable church that has been coving them in prayer.
  
  How Safe Is It For The Refugees Of East Indonesia?
  
  The current conditions among the thousands of refugees in East Indonesia remains uncertain. I along with a team from Alaska have spent the last two weeks among these people. The Indonesian government's efforts to close all the refugee camps in North Sulawesi have proved to be a very difficult process. The goal of the government's plan to send the refugees back to their home islands is a positive goal as long as the security can be given to the returning refugees. The uncertainty about the safety of their home Islands remains unknown. In speaking to many of the remaining refugees they know there are several regions that are still extremely dangerous and they believe because of the radical strongholds there, that these regions will remain dangerous for some time. Ternate (capital city of North Maluku), Tidore, the Island of Bacan, the Island Morotai, and the region of Galala are some of the areas that we were told are too dangerous to resettle. Refugees from these regions are refusing to abide by the government plan. They know they would face more attacks and conflict if they went back to these regions. Tobelo, Kao, Ibu, and Baru are places where refugees have now moved. There are an estimated 50,000 refugees in Tobelo alone. The refugees remaining in the camps are those that can't access the work force, the mentally ill, single woman, the elderly. There are two new refugee camps that have been built a few miles from the large Dua Sudara camp in Bitung. Many of these refugees are from Ternate. We shed tears with them as they told us they could not go home because it was too dangerous. We asked them how many were killed in the attack on your home town. In Ternate they said, " We do not know the actual number, because the police kept that number. The police have told us it was less than 200, but we believe it was more like 2,000 because we have not been able to find thousands of the Christian residents of Ternate. We have not even found their bodies." On an earlier trip I met a young woman from Ternate who told me she had lost 53 members of her family. If one girl had 53 of her family killed I would say the number of less than 200 is too low. There remains thousands of refugees in the camps and others are going to resettlement sites in North Sulawesi. The refugee crisis is long from being over. They need to accept the situation they are in an start to rebuild their lives. Pray for the Indonesian government that they will need wisdom and compassion to provide security and housing for this uncertain day.
  
  Three Towers
  
  He sat quietly in an adjoining room from were we were having lunch. I asked him to please join us but he was too shy and just glanced up at me. That was when I noticed that he had a huge scar on his neck. I asked him if he could tell us what had happened to him. The team from Alaska and I stood along side this 20 year old man who told us that he was captured in the fighting near his village on the island of Halmahera. He was then asked if he wanted to die of convert to Islam. He replied,"I don't want to die and I don't want to convert to Islam either." He was then cut with a machete over the left ear. It is a seven inch scar now. He was asked again--and he said, "No, I will not convert." He was then cut on the other side of the head. He showed us large cuts on his back, both his shoulders, and both arms.The cut on his neck where they attempter to kill him is a large cavernous wound. It is hard to even look at--it is a miracle he was not killed on the spot. He fell to the ground and was thought to be dead. He was then thrown on a heap of the dead bodies and they were all set on fire. He said, "It was a miracle because all the other bodies burned but mine". After the jihad soldiers left, he fled to the jungle for 34 days and didn't eat for the first eight days. He is an evangelist now and has been sharing his testimony throughout the region. I sat with him and saw a 20 year old who loves the Lord with all his heart and a saint that did not love his life even to the death. I sat in a car later that day with him and told the team--we will see him honored in heaven. He passed the test. He will be confessed to the Father from the lips of Jesus.
  
  Later in the day, we prayed with Dion Patiasina, a pastor's wife, whose husband was hunted down by the jihad and murdered. She lived in fear for nearly two years as she and her two children was also hunted for 20 months and was able to elude capture during the entire time. She and her children would flee to the jungle for weeks at a time to seek safety. This was a constant hell to live in the fear of being killed and the memory of the murder of her husband. Her husband was the pastor of this village that was attacked in early 2000. He laid his life down to protect the villagers he served. He was a good shepherd who did not flee when there was trouble. It must have been all these thoughts that flooded her mind as she wept with her faced cupped in the hands. She sobbed as she tried to catch her breath only to sob even harder. There were several of the team in the room and we all wept with her. There was a commitment made to help her and her son. It would take less than $ 100 USD to provide food and housing as well as keep her son in school. She told us there were many times she would have to wash cloths by hand to earn enough to pay the bus fare to get her son to school. It is only pennies to travel on the busses. She is destitute and in poor health. She had relied on the help of other refugees to give her and her 11 year old son food and most recently IFC has been providing food for these desperate people over the last three months. Prior to IFC's help several children had died of malnutrition. IFC made another food delivery to this group the day we spoke to Dion. She is one of the real heroes who has been tested with fire.
  
  That evening after a dinner with Peter and Esther Scarborough (more about them later) we went to the T.B. house to inspect the facilities. The T.B. project is on hold right now. A house has been rented but is not operating because of local sentiment about having T.B. infected patients in a neighborhood. T.B. is greatly feared in this region and rightly so, there have been large numbers of fatalities. Treatment of T.B. is nearly non existent. If you get it, you have a great chance of dying. We ran up to the door to the house because it was beginning to rain. We were greeted by a beautiful smile. This was Telda and she was the director of the T.B. project. She is a graduate of the medical training that Esther Scarborough led last year. Telda shared with me in broken English her heart for the suffering. She was a smart and talented Indonesian who has been called to help her own suffering people. Her infectious smile hides the raw determination I heard as she told me--whatever it cost her--she wanted to make a difference in the great suffering she sees around her. She held onto the hands of Esther as she told me what an inspiration she had been to her. I could see the great respect Telda had for Esther. Esther shrugged it off and would have nothing to do with being call the "Mother Theresa of the refugees" by one of her students. In spite of the setbacks on the opening of the T.B. clinic she remains resolute in her call. Telda is not a refugee, she has no scars on her body or stories of attacks--but she is a hero. She stands with the other men and woman of faith--because she is the hope of healing for the future. She is a gentle spirit in a ravenous land. She has a heart of mercy and a tenacity to endure all kinds of obstacles and hardships. Telda--you will be listed among the heroes of this conflict. You are a tower of compassion. Please pray for her as she seeks to find a new place to have the T.B. clinic.
  
  I went to bed that night with a blanket of humility and gratitude over me--I had three divine appointments in one day. A 20 year old who would not deny Christ, a pastor's wife who let us in on her suffering, and a mercy worker who is determined to make a difference. I walked among the towers that day.
  
  Esther And More Disciples
  
  The director of the medical clinic in Manado is Esther Scarborough. She is a wife, mother of five children, and a mercy worker among the sick refugees in East Indonesia.I have written about her in the past but I couldn't resist another chance to tell all of you about this wonderful woman. She is greatly loved by the refugees and her staff. She treats between 80-100 refugees twice a week on clinic days. But has an endless flow of the sick in the clinic on any day at any hour. She operated this clinic with stretched recourses. The medicines may be low but she finds a way to treat the sick. At lunch it is not uncommon to have 40 refugees eating with them. Some refer to her as "mother Esther". She has loved some of the most unlovely and will not give up on them.
  
  Last year a team from Taree, Australia came to pray for one of the men that others had given up on. Yopie has a urinary tract infection that went untreated and had by then infected his kidneys. He was sent home from the hospital to prepare to die. He was a refugee and has no home. Esther made a place for him and even with his stomach distended and feet swollen she knew there was little she could do medically but she could do something spiritually. She joined the team in prayer and in a couple week this man who was told to prepare to die was now improving and is now fully healed.
  
  Esther and her staff of Al and Ruth McKeown trained 14 Indonesian refugee health care workers in 2002. Esther is so proud of them when she talks about what they are doing and how they have gone into some of the more dangerous regions of North Maluku to bring medical care to those in need. Esther told about one of her students who went to a village on the Island of Halmahera where she saw over 200 patients a day. They lines up and waited to see her. She worked until 2:30 a.m. and got up at 6 a.m. to start over. This 20 year old health care worker said, "How can I stop treating them, if they are willing to wait, I am willing to keep treating them." I wonder where she got that philosophy?
  
  A new group of 20 student have been selected and Esther will begin to train this new group. Al and Ruth McKeown who were such a help this last year have finished the year and are back in Australia. There is another nurse coming to help her with the training and the clinic. The prospects of 20 new aid working is in Esther's heart--more hands and more trained help.
  
  Please pray for these new workers. They need sponsors at $ 120 USD per month. This is a good place to invest--relieving the suffering of the Christian refugees. Pray for the visa extension for the Scarborough family. They need a to get six month or one year visas. Pray for needed medical supplies. Andrew and Wendy, the oldest Scarborough children, are in Australia to finish school. This is hard for both the children and the parents because this is their first time away from each other. Andrew and Wendy are both mature and spiritually strong but they are still thousands of miles from their family. An answer to prayer was that they will have a teacher for the other children. The new teacher will be coming the end of January.
  
  Dresses For Little Refugee Girls
  
  Shortly before I was to come to Indonesia for this trip I was given a special gift from Jim and Leslie Huffman. Jim told me a part of this was to be used to buy "frilly" dresses for some of the little refugee girls. I was to purchase the dresses in Indonesia and find a group of refugees girls to give them. I asked some of our Indonesian female staff to go down town Manado and get as many "frilly" dresses as they could buy from the donated funds. Who said ministry is not fun. Woman love to shop anyway and now they are doing it in Jesus name. It is hard to beat that! They came home with nearly 20 beautiful dresses. The sizes were for a girls about 5-8 years old. I selected the refugees in a site called Kakanturang. There are 50 families there and so the number of girls age 5-8 would be small enough to assure that every girl that age there would get a dress. These refugees had suffered greatly in the attacks and had 150 from their village killed. All the girls who would receive a dress were terrorized for nearly two years. What a day it was for them. God's mercies in the form of "frilly" dresses. I wish you all could have seen their faced when they were selected by age to stand in line to get one of these gifts. It was a divine moment. The dresses were given to these beautiful little girls. They were told to wait to put the dresses on--but they were too excited and the dresses went on over the tattered cloths they were wearing.
  
  God moved the heart of a family in Alaska to bless a small group of refugee girls. You might say--couldn't you use the money to feed these people instead of buying dresses? Yes--but there is something about the nature of God that says--be extravagant. After all, His grace is extravagant. He doesn't just promise life to us--he promises abundant life. He didn't make Kool-Aid for the wedding feast of Cana--He made the real thing--the best. Do any of us deserve the overflowing extravagance of God's grace? I have to believe that the God of the Bible is a God who would get in on the chance to surprise a small lot of refugee girls with a gift they would never expect. Just for the chance to see the wide smiles of these candidates for a blessing. Don't you love a God like that--who puts new garments over rags. Maybe it is a reminder for all of us--the God of grace will take off our soiled garments and put of white raiment. What a day that will be for all of us. Maybe we will have the same stunned smiles as the refugee girl at Kakanturang.
  
  
  We Call Him Pastor Paul
  
  He is tall and has warm smile and if it wasn't for a botched surgery on his right hand he could walk through a crowd relatively unnoticed. Paul Camp is not a pastor but is affectionately called Pastor Paul by a select group of his friends. He wears a prosthesis on his right arm from the elbow down. Paul has been to the refugees centers of East Indonesia twice in less than a year. He had no idea that when he came he would become a widely known figure among the refugees. He was pushed forward to give a testimony of the resentment and anger he carried against the doctors who had no experience in treating the injury to a finger on his right hand. One bad surgery to the next eventuated in the amputation of his arm just below the elbow. Paul says that with the support of his wife and the grace the Lord gave him to forgive the doctors he has been able to accept what happened.
  
  Paul and I will walk into a room full of people and all eyes go to him. He plays with the children and shows them not to fear. He is not a preacher--but is preaching all the time. He has a message that the refugees can relate to--so many struggle with resentments and unforgiveness. He has been asked if the jihad soldiers cut off his arm. They can't understand why a white man would have lost an arm. He is an open book being read by these people.
  
  We were in a resettlement site last week where Paul gave his testimony. The church was packed and overflowing into the darkness. I could see faces in the dim light as far as the light carried. These refugees listened to this man as they sat with wide-eyed curiosity. When Pastor Joe Hand gave the invitation the front of the church filled and we had the privilege of praying with these seekers. Before we left one of the refugee pastors stood holding the hand of his four year old son asked Paul to squat down. When he did the little boy kissed him on the cheek. That is the reward for being a faithful man. I admire Paul's heart and know that when he comes to care for the refugees he is leaving a trail of hope.
  
  Water Projects
  
  There are 500 hundred families at the Pandu resettlement site and more homes are planned. The homes were substandard and the water system was not operating. 500 families were without water. That is a great hardship on their lives especially in the dry months. I had been to that site many times and knew that we needed to do something. The water these people were using was coming from a stream that was laced with mercury. It took a number of trips to inspect the water system but the well that was drilled would not work because it did not have enough electrical current from the generator. We needed to have the electrical lines brought in from the main pole. IFC sent the funds to pay for the work. There were months of delays but when I was there last week the electrical lines were now in and the well pump was being tested. Peter Scarborough and Wilson Alexander worked on this project and deserve a lot of credit for all the work and contacts they have made to see this to completion.
  
  The LS-200 portable drill is now in Manado and a drill team (Dan Holmgren, Bob Tsigonis, James Aldrich, Paul Camp, and Mark Turney--Ray and Rosemary Miller will arrive later) is there training a team of Indonesians to operate the drill. I want to thank all of you who have prayed for this equipment to clear customs. It is an answer to prayer to have it available for the training. Lifewater International volunteers have been a great blessing in making this water project a success. We plan to drill 20-25 wells this year. The need for water in the villages is great. The first big project on our list is a resettlement site for the Lata Lata village. There will be 5-6 wells for the 1,700 people in this village.I will give another update at another time on the progress for this project.
  
  We have completed four other water project to aid the refugees. I visited these projects and saw buckets being filled, woman washing cloths, and crops being irrigated. Pray that we will be able to continue the process of providing water to aid these people.
  
  Bathed In Prayer
  
  Valley Harvest Church in Palmer, Alaska sent a team of five to Indonesian to minister to the refugee children. Pastor Joe Hand was joined with his wife, Collette, and son, Nick, as well as Scott and Juliet Bartolo who made the two day flight to come from the frozen north to the refugee sites near the equator.
  
  The focus of the church has been on construction of a new building. It is taxing on the spirit, resources, and vision of the church to be in a building program. I have spoken at the church a number of times and knew they had a heart for the suffering saints of Indonesia. It was a step of faith for them to organize a team and head to this far away place. VHC is a new church planted by Pastor Joe--they have a vision for the lost in their community. God had blessed them with many new families who have come to faith in Christ.
  
  The Sunday before the team left--there was a word to the church that they needed to get behind this team. They mobilized 24 hour prayer to cover this team. They understood that we are in a fight with the spirit of darkness. They realized that you cannot casually walk into these spiritual battles. I believe the success of this ministry was because of the prayers coming from the loving church family in Alaska. I believe everything from what we ate to who we ministered to was covered in their prayers. Pastor Joe shared a couple times that nothing has brought his church together more than this mission. God used each one of them and captured their heart for the suffering saints of Indonesia. Watch out Palmer, Alaska--a church has been reborn.
  
  Final Word
  
  Thank you for your support and prayers for the Christian refugees of Indonesia. Continue to lift these our brothers and sisters in prayer. Pray for their future and over this next year partner with us in providing aid to rebuild the homes and lives of these suffering saints.
  
  Hebrews 13:3
  
  Carl Cady--US Director for International Friends of Compassion