Kids’ Ark brings light to the disabled

 Carol Payne, from Taupo Baptist, has visited East Timor regularly since 2000. Last year she returned to live near Dili, to work with Kids’ Ark, a community development mission organisation.

Let me take you half an hour out of Dili to the village of Hera. Traditional thatched huts are slowly giving way to concrete block walls and iron roofs. Most families possess a mobile phone, many have TV and video, and some have a satellite dish. People pass my house going about their business in a village full of life. This is success on the surface.
Let me take you on a walk through the dirt roads and coconut trees to huts that house disabled people. Where are they? You don’t see them because they are shut away, hidden in shame and cared for with the least amount of effort. They are the perceived penance for their parent’s wrongdoing.
Taupo Baptist has had a partnership with Kids’ Ark since 2003. Complementing the Joy Ministry for the disabled in Taupo, the church actively supports ministry to the disabled in East Timor. This year, for the first time, an 8 year old girl with cerebral palsy goes to a school supported by Taupo Baptist. Success is not just seeing Amelia learning to read and write but watching her mix with other kids. She has her differences but now she is their friend. Just listen to her chatter when she reaches home, telling her parents all the new things she has seen and done.
I remember the look on the face of a teenage girl from the local youth group which visited the disabled during the school holidays. Lucia had never seen a person with a severe disability. She was shocked and had to hold the leader’s hand. Now she, along with the other youth, spends time regularly with some of the disabled young people.
Success is more than numbers and words. It’s about having parents allow their disabled children out into the community. It’s seeing the primary school kids gather about them of their own accord. It’s about seeing mindsets and hearts changed. God’s success is His love through us making a difference.
Sometimes I sit in awe of the amount of community development in health, education and discipleship that has been accomplished by Kids’ Ark. We are just one ministry in one village region which takes the time to love the disabled. I feel blessed to be part of what God is doing in our village of Hera and equally blessed by the support of my church back in New Zealand.
For more information contact carol_ywam@hotmail.com