There are about 200 villages of this people, a Norther Eastern Indian tribe. The K.s, like most of the tribes in the North East are of different origin then the plain Indians and have Mongolian features. India claims not to be a developing but a developed country but that claim fails as soon as one enters a K. village. The villages are all situation outside the capital, the biggest and most developed city in the North East. The closest villages are only about 35 km, or about an hours drive away from the capital. What becomes obvious immediately after entering one of the villages is the poverty and under-development of them. The villages in the plains have at least some electricity, which is cut many times a day. Those villages who are situated in the hills have not even power and only very bumpy dirt roads to reach them. Non of the villages has clean water. Many things are done in the nearby rivers, like taking a bath, washing cloth or dishes. Many houses have no toilet at all and everybody has to go to the fields for their “business”. The village we visited had a waterhole, where they got the water for cooking and drinking out. This water is a little cleaner then the water in the river, but during rainy season it is always dirty and muddy.
Most of the villages have a government school for the children only up to class 5 with two teachers for all 5 classes, but people told me, that often one teacher takes a day off while the other runs the school and vice versa. It is obvious, that the children will not learn much in this way and that they cannot go further then the most basic primary education. Seeing the children going or coming from school again shows the poverty of the tribe. Many of them have no shoes and many of the cloth are torn and old. The church has started a school and a hostel for children unable to receive proper education. The monthly fees are Rs 120 – 190/- ($ 3 - 5), which for many parents is more then they can pay. For boarding in the hostel they have to pay Rp 700/- ($ 15.-). The school and hostel are build on a hill and when we visited them they had had no water for over a week and the children had to carry the water up in buckets. Their living quarters are small and cramped because they are trying to give education for as many children as possible.
For many years the K. have been animists and only about 25 years ago a missionary from a tribe in Nagaland started to reach out to them, supported by his home church. Today in 26 villages are churches, some smaller, some larger. Because of the very traditional baptist background of the missionaries, the K. church is in danger to become very traditional too and the believers are not able to walk in new ways as they don't know how to. As KKI we have started to run children's camps with the 26 churches last year and were able to conduct a seminar for Sunday school teachers this year with 18 teachers attending. At this time we planned the next camp with hopefully even more children and the involvement of some of the Sunday school teachers for January 2009. We are hoping, that through our involvement we can show them new ways to go and especially new ways for their children and youth to get to know God and follow him wholeheartedly.
A few years ago the Hindus became active in the area as well, winning over some of the animists to follow Hindu believes and customs. At the same time they also started to persecute Christians, forbidding them even to give away tracts to unbelievers. Today if a tract is found in a house of an unbeliever they have to pay a fine and so many of them are too scared to even accept it and take it to their homes. There are several K. evangelists that are going around sharing the gospel and praying for the people. Many of the K. have started to follow Jesus after they have seen his power in healing their relatives and in setting people free from the power of Satan and demonic influences.
There is still a lot to do, the K. need prayer as well as support in many areas. We are hoping to involve other teams such as a primary health care team to teach them about hygiene, the importance of clean water, some help against sicknesses but also a councelling team and others while continuing to reach out to the children and families.
But they also need help with finances and we are looking for sponsors willing to help with the school fees so that the children can go to school, study and help to bring change for the good to their own people. Some years ago when the missionaries came there was only one man with a higher degree, all the others had only basic primary education. Today many young people attend classes 10 to 12 and are going to colleges.
Are you willing to get involved? You can help by sending a child to school or by coming and doing an outreach to the K. children. Get in touch with us: see contact page!
Amri Karbi Children’s Camp
We split in two groups, all the Australiens (two families and two women) plus one woman from the King’s Kids team went to a village in the plain area with a little but more comfort and the rest of us climbed into a jeep and we drove of to the hill to run our camp up there.
There we found a very simple rest house without power but with very hospitable people who welcomed us with a meal while the children were waiting for us and watching us how we were eating. In the two groups, teens and kids, we had 180 all together.
A day normally started with a cup of tea around 6.30 am, continued by „lunch“ at 8. The second big meal was at 3 pm because it got dark shortly after 4 pm in the afternoon. Normally we went to bed around 8 pm. The second and third day they were able to provide some power for us through a generator and so it was not pitch dark around the guest house.
A completely different life!
After a time of worship with all the children we did separate the group. The older kids had to walk a little farther over an adventures bridge made of a a single log. The smaller ones met in the church, made of wood and woven bamboo mats.
Every day we had to times of teaching, learning mermory verses, action songs but of course also games and a lot of fun. The children really like the times together and are hoping, that we will reaturn soon again.
Sunday morning we met with the church elders to encourage them and to pray for them.
The church is still young, only 25 years old. Before that the whole Amri Karbi tribe was animists and the right wing Hindus don’t like it and have started to persecute them.
The people are very poor and mainly live from farming. Since the children can now go to school and get an education big changes are ahead of them and they need great wisdom to handle those changes.
Please continue to pray fort he Amri Karbi, I am sure you will hear from them again.
