– 19 - 27 January 2011 –
In the land of Sarawak, through the lush greenery of the jungle, our team, led by Pr. Richard, took a trip to meet the people of the Penan tribe. We arrived in Long Seridan on a small propeller plane, and travelled through the jungle where we arrived at Baa Leng. At Baa Leng, we pitched our tent in the church. There, we got to know the beautiful Penan people.
The church at Baa Leng
The Penan are simple people who live dependent on the riches of the jungle. Their staple food is sago and plants collected from the forest around them. Their occasional diet of meat comes from wild boar, monkey, monitor lizard, snakes, birds and other creatures they are able to hunt. One of the challenges the Penan people face is the diminishing of food from the jungle around them due to the increasing clearing of the forest. The Penan are not taken to farming as that involves the clearing of land. They live in their tradition, depending on the glorious provision of nature around them. Bathing and washing are done in the nearby stream, where the water is clear and cooling.
Ferns and flowers for food
Wild boar
Bathing at the nearby stream
Although the Penan’s have progressed since the time of their ancestors, the lack of education is still a concern. The children are sent to schools in the nearby towns and live in the dorms set up for them. However, most of them drop out because they are financially unable to even get to the schools.
Our ministry there was to encourage them, to remind them that God has not forgotten them and wants to lift them up to be used mightily by Him. Many of them are open to the preaching of His Word and all of them responded in surrendering their lives to Him.
During the later part of the trip, we were taken on a journey into the jungle in search of a man from Baa Bare, whom we were informed, was ill. What was supposed to be a short trip ended up being a 6.5 hour hike through hills and rivers. We arrived there just before it poured. When we got there, we discovered that the man that we went to pray for had been healed a couple of days ago when their village prayed for him and sought God for healing. We prayed for God’s continuous work upon them and started on the journey back in the dark. The journey took us 10 hours through slippery mud tracks through hilly jungle, in pitch darkness and we arrived back in Baa Leng only by God’s grace and strength at 6.30am.
On the last day of our trip, we headed back to Long Seridan. There, we met up with Pr. Welly and his wife who were posted there just last year. Our spirits were excited as they shared about God’s call upon their lives, their heart for the people, their simple faith and their plans to grow the ministry God has given them in that place. We ministered in that church our last night there. Although there were mostly the Kelabit tribe in that town, many of the Penan people came from their various villages for the ministry of God.
The Penan’s at Baa Leng
Our hope as a church, is to be able to partner with Pr. Welly in the expansion of God’s work in reaching and nurturing the Penan people in this area. As a church, we sense the burden to champion the Penan work in the city of Penang. And in light of that, to establish a committee to spread the awareness, raise funds and mobilize churches for this work that God wants to do. As such, pray with us as we seek God’s specific leading in this mission work.
Our team with Pr. Welly and wife