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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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Signs of the Times Australia / NZ edition — lifestyle, health, relationships, culture, spirituality, people — published since 1886 |
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But, you say, people need help and people are doing good all over the world, so what’s so remarkable about this little project?
A remarkable thing happened in Togo village, on my ancestral island of Qamea, in north-eastern Fiji. In January this year, 72 young Christians from Victoria, Australia, spent three days rebuilding much-needed teachers’ houses for the Togo Village School—houses blown away by Cyclone Ami in 2003.
But, you say, people need help and people are doing good all over the world, so what’s so remarkable about this little project?
Well, in the first place, help is most needed where it is at hand. To be sure, there will always be competing claims for who is most worthy of consideration and there will always be greater cases of help-worthiness than the cases we find at hand. But that can often be an excuse for doing nothing at all. In the context of the Indian Ocean tsunami tragedy, it would have been easy for these young people have suspended their resources and diverted them from their little Pacific project to the great Asian tragedy. But they did not. They stuck to their pledge and carried out their intentions. In so doing, they changed lives right where they could.
In the second place, Togo is a poor, predominantly Catholic village in a nation where religious boundaries often get in the road of expressions of practical Christianity. The average rural villager lives on about $A40 per week. Moreover, competitive piety in the context of “denominationism” can sometimes nullify much needed, Christian—and just plain human—cooperation toward achieving a greater good.
But in this case, cross-denominationism prevailed. Young people and the church leaders responsible for them and for organising the project, paid no heed to the superficialities of religious identities; they cared only that this village was a place of need and that the people were willing to accept help offered.
Third, it’s one thing to invite someone over for a meal; it’s another to make their presence effective and friction-free for a sustained and prolonged period of time. One knows how one’s friends are, and one knows how one’s family is, but whether the two will get along is another matter.
But again, the group of 72 was an outstanding witness to their particular brand of faith, and more to the common love of God that we all cherish regardless of cultural identity. This was not only genuine ecumenism—without politics and without denominational walls—this was the real cultural exchange: charity without prejudice, benevolence without strings attached.
It worked beautifully. Village elders, women and children repeatedly expressed their admiration for the visitors, especially the self-discipline and sense of civic duty they exhibited. I’ve taken many young Australians to Fiji, mostly university-aged, but never into a village to engage in a project of this kind. I’ve always quarantined them in a nearby settlement so as not to disturb the village and vice versa. In fact, I’ve never been game to take the risk with my various student groups, because of their drinking. Associations under conditions of intoxication may lead a life into ruin, but with this group of Christian volunteers, I knew the parameters: clean living, clean language and clean motives. They not only fundraised for the project, they cheerfully decided to make it their own by participating in it. Friends of mine, Steve Kane and his wife, Arriana, led the group.
Their exemplary behaviour contrasted with the boastful, foul-mouthed interloper who turned up attempting to insert himself into the group, claiming leadership and privilege. He claimed to be able to establish a self-funding project that would have greater benefits than that of the Seventh-day Adventist youth project.
The Togo villagers soon saw the contrast between loud-talker and quiet-doer. They had a means by which to compare the two faces of Australian “aid,” something noted by my village’s elders.
I admire their cheerful spirit and quiet perseverance at the task handed them. My ancestral village will never forget them; they have made life better for the children of Togo. There is a pride that is dangerous, and there is pride well deserved. I hope these youth learned the difference, and more, that having seen how poor rural villagers live in the Pacific, they will remain touched by God to go onto greater public service on behalf of their church, their personal faith and for His glory.
Extract from Signs of the Times, April 2005.
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