JP\/19\/MK1<\/p>\n
checked --JSR
\nFrom Kalimantan to Malang via Birmingham<\/p>\n
Duncan Graham
\nContributor\/Malang<\/p>\n
The life of a missionary kid (they call themselves MKs) is so
\ndramatically different from the upbringing of most children that
\nthere is even an Indonesian webpage devoted to the experience.<\/p>\n
Sample: MKs fly before they can walk. They speak two languages
\nbut can't spell in either. They have passports but no driver's
\nlicenses. When watching National Geographic TV specials they
\nrecognize someone. Or think the featured wildlife looks tasty.<\/p>\n
Obviously the trauma rate is high. The quandary facing English
\nMK Jonathan Heath was adjusting to life in the industrial city of
\nBirmingham, England. His formative years had been in a West
\nKalimantan village in a high-stump house eating fresh-killed meat
\nfrom the forest. A wide, brown river outside the garden was his
\nswimming pool.<\/p>\n
How does anyone handle the concrete jungle after a boyhood
\nspent in the real jungle with Dayak playmates?<\/p>\n
Answer: They don't. Well, not without a lot of difficulty.<\/p>\n
Solution: Return to Indonesia.<\/p>\n
But the days of gaunt, God-driven white folk in pith helmets
\ntrekking their version of salvation into the heart of darkness
\nhave all but gone. The Indonesian government no longer welcomes
\nforeign pastors unless they're headed for seminaries where they
\ncan preach to the already converted, and Malang in central East
\nJava seems to have more than most.<\/p>\n
So whether by happenstance, or through the mysterious workings
\nof the Deity, teacher Heath found himself back in the archipelago
\nwith plans to stay indefinitely as the principal of Malang's
\nWesley International School.<\/p>\n
Now when such cherished ambitions are let loose by the husband
\nthey often founder on the rock of marriage. He may want to
\nrevisit the land of his childhood and bask in the tropical sun of
\nhappy memories, but his partner will surely have other plans.<\/p>\n
Fortunately for Heath his English wife, Esther, is also a
\nformer MK. She's been well immunized to adapt and make the best
\nof whatever she finds.<\/p>\n
She was raised in poor, landlocked Malawi in southern Africa.
\nSo she has also experienced a childhood quite out of the
\nordinary. Consequently, the culture shock of moving to East Java
\nhas been little more than a language jolt.<\/p>\n
Life's spiritual dimension<\/p>\n
A similar destiny awaits their children Nathanael, 5, and
\nAbigail, 3, with another on the way who will be born in East
\nJava. The kids are already in a local kindergarten so they will
\npick up Indonesian and the culture, but, as the couple are quick
\nto note, Malang is far from Pontianak.<\/p>\n
\"This is a very safe city to the point where some families
\nfrom Jakarta and Surabaya prefer that their children study here,\"
\nHeath said. \"Although there have been threats of church closures
\nfollowing the problems in Bekasi regency, this is not West Java.\"<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the school takes security for its 100 students
\nfrom 10 countries seriously. Their new, purpose-built campus has
\na winding entrance and a modern take of the drawbridges that
\nprotected castles in medieval Europe.<\/p>\n
In the Wesley version a flick of a switch sends a steel-plated
\nsection of the road skidding away, leaving a big and impassable
\npit.<\/p>\n
The school started in a house in 1971 when missionaries --
\nmainly from the U.S. -- wanted their kids to have an American
\nschooling.<\/p>\n
Most of the missionaries have long gone but the school has
\nmoved three times and expanded to cover all study years and meet
\nthe educational needs of expatriates' kids. These are now mainly
\nKorean, in business or as staff in the seven, government-
\napproved, local Bible colleges.<\/p>\n
The curriculum remains U.S. based, and Heath -- the school's
\nfirst non-American principal -- claims that graduates have no
\ntrouble entering most American and Korean universities.<\/p>\n
\"This is an evangelical, non-denominational Protestant
\nschool,\" he said. To get enrolled here you must be fluent in
\nEnglish as that's the means of instruction.<\/p>\n
\"It's getting more difficult to recruit teachers because of
\nthe reports of violence and political tension. We want our
\nteachers to have the support of congregations back in their
\nhometowns so we maintain partnerships with the rest of the
\nworld.\"<\/p>\n
Heath stayed in Indonesia till he was 18. Apart from
\nschooling in Kalimantan he was also educated in Bandung, Jakarta
\nand Malaysia. After graduating from Loughborough University in
\nLeicestershire he taught mathematics in Birmingham schools where
\nmost students were Asian immigrants. He also went to theological
\ncollege for three years.<\/p>\n
After many years in Britain the pull to Indonesia became too
\nmuch. The family moved to Malang a year ago with Heath as a
\nteacher. Now he's been promoted as the boss.<\/p>\n
Heath's experiences growing up as a proclaimed Christian in a
\npredominantly Muslim nation have made him a hard-nosed realist.
\nThe school was briefly closed during the political unrest
\nfollowing the fall of Soeharto in 1998.<\/p>\n
\"There's no direct threat to Christianity in Indonesia, but
\nalmost every day we hear about an incident somewhere in the
\ncountry where a church has been closed,\" he said. \"That tends to
\ncreate an impression of threat.<\/p>\n
\"People are far more alive in their faith in Indonesia than
\nBritain, which professes to be a Christian country but where most
\ndo not practice.<\/p>\n
\"Here we are constantly aware of the spiritual dimension of
\nlife. The challenge is to be aware of our spirituality.<\/p>\n
\"Christianity will continue to thrive as a strong and
\ntolerated minority religion in Indonesia but the future depends
\non the government -- whether it leans towards Pancasila or an
\nIslamic state.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot proselytize. Our role as Christians and whites is
\nto set a positive example through the way we live and behave as
\npeaceful people. We all have to work hard to ensure good
\nrelations with the rest of the community.<\/p>\n
\"If there's any trouble then both sides need to stand up and
\npromote tolerance together. I don't think it's difficult to be a
\nChristian in Indonesia.\"<\/p>\n
(Pic caption) Jonathan and Esther Heath<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp19mk1-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }