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Children's Conference
Children's Conference in Nagaland in January 2010 Nagaland is an Indian state in the North East of India bordering Myanmar. For many years the Nagas, who are divided into many different tribes and sub-tribes have been animists and headhunters. Only about 120 years ago American missionaries arrived in the area successfully leading the Nagas to Jesus. Because of their own cultural background and the customs of the time they introduced Southern Baptist Christianity to the Nagas often telling them, that their old ways of life had been sinful and needed to change. Most all of the tribes turned to Christianity but a lot of their old tribal believes and the fear of spirits is still present. After a revival in the 70s and 80s many people are only nominal Christians and there are many problems in the families. Many of the young people are disappointed by the traditional ways of the church, leave it and get into troubles such as drugs and multiple relationships. There is a high rate of unemployment among the young Nagas. As King's Kids South Asia we would like to reach out to the children in Nagaland, at a time before they are leaving the church and are involving in drugs and other harmful activities. Following is a short description on Nagaland from the present exhibition in Basel: Media release NAGA A FORGOTTEN MOUNTAIN REGION REDISCOVERED 22.08.08—17.05.09 (➞Museum der Kulturen. Basel.)
Until a few years ago, the territory of the Naga people in the border area of Northeast India and Myanmar (Burma) appeared as a blank spot on Western world maps. Today, after having been sealed off for many years, travelers are allowed back into the area which became the federal state Nagaland in 1963. Against this background the “Museum der Kulturen” now sheds light on the aesthetically exceptional cultural heritage of this people in a special exhibition. For the first time select pieces from Naga collections that were assembled over the last 120 years by the museums in Berlin, Munich and Basel are being shown to the public. The Naga people, who number approximately 30 different ethnic groups, live in a mountainous region on the border between Northeast India and Myanmar (Burma). Once, they used to be feared as fierce warriors, even resisting British colonial rule tenaciously for a long time. Not only anthropologists and travelers but also colonial administrators were fascinated by this proud and status-conscious culture with its elaborate feasts of merit and its practice of head-hunting. FASCINATING AESTHETICS Their spectacular ritual life, a complex social organization and the artistic and aesthetic appeal of Naga material culture soon attracted the attention of European anthropologists and collectors who, in the course of the years to come, were commissioned by various European museums to travel to India and acquire extensive collections on Naga material culture. CULTURE IN A FORBIDDEN ZONE And then, suddenly, contact to the Naga broke off. What had happened? Immediately after India gained independence in 1947 Naga territory was closed and declared a military zone. The Naga remained sealed off from the rest of the world for more than fifty years and foreign visitors were not allowed to travel to the area. This did not change even when Nagaland became an official Indian federal state in 1963. SEARCH FOR IDENTITY It was only in the year 2000 that the Indian part of Naga territory was reopened to visitors. However, long years of British colonial rule, Christian proselytization by American Baptist missionaries and forced incorporation into the Indian state have left clear marks on the Naga people: the political situation in Nagaland remains highly volatile, and pervasive cultural change — today more than 90 percent of the Naga population are confessed Christians — has forced the approximately two million Naga living in the federal states of Northeast India and their roughly 100,000 kinsmen in Burma to seek and adopt a new, modern form of cultural identity. The conference for children from age 8 -14 in Dimapur It is a fact, that children between the age of 4 and 14 are the most open to receive the gospel and give their lives to Jesus. We want to reach out to this age group by organizing this conference, giving the children a special experience and instill into them the value they have in God as their father and creator. Proverbs 22.6: Train up a child … By impacting the children we will help to raise a new generation of children and youth that will be able to bring change to the whole area and State of Nagaland. We are expecting several thousand children and if this strategy is successful we are planning to multiply this conferences into all cities in Nagaland and maybe the neighboring states as well. Through outreach to children we will be able to reach the parents as well as the leaders of the churches and Christian ministries eventually being able to impact them as well. Here are the details for the conference in Dimapur, the biggest city of Nagaland. Dimapur Area Children’s Conference for everyone who is between 8 and 14 years old Calling a New Generation! Are you ready? Isa 11:9 Date: January 8th to 10th 2010, from 9 am Training and orientation for group leaders and volunteers: January 7th 2010 Place: Dimapur Stadium Contact: aonoks@yahoo.de Organized by: Kids Worship Center, Dimapur IMC, Dimapur Ebenezer Orphanage, Dimapur King’s Kids South Asia, Guwahati Registrations and flyers are available at IMC and Kids Worship Center as well as local churches Fee for registration and conference: INR 200/- (US$ 4.-) Our needs: The conference will be held in the stadium in Dimapur, working together with other children's ministries in Nagaland. The political leaders of Nagaland have already given us the stadium for free as well as a bus for the transportation of the children and the security personal during the event. Now we will still need the finances for the audio system, chairs, more buses, refreshments for the children, help with finances for the organizers, speakers, worship leaders and volunteers etc. We are asking a fee from the children but we are not sure, if they are all able to pay it as some of the parents only earn a few thousand rupees a month. We are now looking for partners, that are willing to partner with us in the ministry to the children in Nagaland and if possible also in future outreaches to parents and leaders of the community and the churches. It is also possible to be part of the conference as one of the volunteers or speakers, as we are planning to have not only main speakers but we want to offer different workshops for the children and teenagers as well. If you are interested to partner please get in touch: Onen Aonok or Barbara Rüegger King's Kids South Asia Coordinator Switzerland aonoks@yahoo.de or barbara.ruegger@gmail.com Thank you for your interest!
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