One of the most interesting things about Indonesia is the contrasts. This is true of village life as well. There is the contrast between the modern and the ancient. The people go out into the rice fields, laboring for hours at end, picking rice by hand and carrying it back to the village…where it is hulled by a gas powered machine. They depend on the river for water and fish. They carry river water up to their homes for use and they go down to the river to bath with soap and shampoo, wash dishes with liquid detergent and laundry with a national brand powder. The sun directs their lives. They get up at dawn, go out to work if it isn’t raining and work all day til dusk when the return home…and in some homes start a generator so they can watch Indonesian satellite TV all evening. Sometimes they cook with wood…but more and more with kerosene. There is the contrast between relationship and progress. Though the government and other agencies have often sought to help the people progress, they choose keeping good relationships with their fellow people than security or growth. They will abandon rather than offend if they can. And they will give up at the slightest hint of discouragement from the community. They willingly choose poverty over the slightest bit of relational stress. They often want change, but fear to pay the price. And there is the contrast between the Truth and beliefs they hold onto. Though many of the people here have heard the Truth and many have it in Indonesian, because it is not in their mother tongue they do not understand and believe. Or, if they do believe, they cannot grow to maturity and continue to fear the spirits they once served. They lack the knowledge and commitment to reach out to others with the Truth, because the Truth is not yet their own. The old beliefs and traditions still influence and control the people, though often only the forms remain and the meaning they once held is long lost. And understand the meaning of the Truth remains elusive because of the language barrier. Modernity is coming to the village. Progress is as well. Nothing can keep them at bay. And they travel swiftly. And the Truth is coming to them too, in a way they can understand and grow with if they choose to. But it’s a long, hard road to get there. And time is short.
Village Update #2
