The Mentwai Islands
The epic of mission work began with a visit to the
church I went to. Within 2 days of the presentation I had made the
decision to go on my first ever, medical mission's trip. Once there the
living conditions that the children had to grow up in, had to have
someone care enough to help them live longer than 15 years. For up to
20% of the children die before they make it to 15 years old from
malaria, tapeworm and cholera. So the following stories are of the trips
that I began to go on to reach out to children.
The Mentawai Islands are part of
Indonesia. There are three main islands with another 2 islands that are very close together. Then
there are a myriad of other small islands. If you look on a world map or a
globe, you can see where they are, so the main islands have some size to
them
John Colvin was invited to come to Indonesia in 1993 to
see the medical need in the Mentawai Islands by a Gideon friend, Huise.
God spoke to John's heart and
the next year began doing something about it. He incorporated into a
non-profit organization called The Mentawei Venture. One mistake back home
in doing it, he misspelled the word Mentawai. It gives us something to
talk about from time to time.
By 1994 they had organized 3 women into making quilts.
One lady taught the other two. Then the hand made quilts were brought back
to America and sold for the purchase of medicine and other medical
supplies. John found a company called "Cure, Inc" which gave him free
medical supplies that were collected from medical offices and hospitals.
If you ever thought of a 2 or 3 week vacation that you could
enjoy very much, reach out and touch a child, participate in
a mission's program, and/or just see what a missionary does,
contact us and let us know how you can be involved from your
home or journey to Indonesia.
In 2005 Joe begins a charity called Compassion 4 Kids
International, Inc. He contacted Angela Tobing and began to
work towards raising funds for a children's home. In
February 2007 we opened the first home with 4 children. In
February 2010 Joe goes to India to begin an evaluation as to
raising support for a children's home in or near
Narasaraopet, India. Visit the web pages India Trip
Part 1 and
Part 2
and enjoy the stories and pictures.
