Hendra’s Vision for a School
By Hendra Pontomudis, Principle of Hohidiai School
— After the conflict in Maluku ended in 2001, we established a permanent medical presence here in Halmahera. Over 60 children have come into our care through that work. We take into care only the neediest cases. There are other underprivileged children that we support in their families and in their villages in various ways such as their education, food supplements for the malnourished, medical attention and care. We did not want our children to be educated in the local schools where they can often be left unsupervised when teachers don’t turn up for classes. The schools are resource poor and the standard of teaching in our area is very low.
We purchased 2.4 hectares of land (about 6 acres) for the school, and the first building commenced in 2015. We plan to continue building this school and, initially, the elementary through senior school will be on this one property. We have this year been able to purchase a second piece of land which we hope to one day develop as a middle school and senior high. For this time, our focus is on developing the current property. We have funds to partially build the next pod of two classrooms. We have outgrown the spaces available for classes at the Hohidiai base. Next year we have four classes that we have an urgent need to place somewhere but have only two rooms at the new school land. We trust God will keep providing for the classes we need. If we rent another building, it makes three campuses which is fairly unworkable for us.
We are very excited at the progress of our children spiritually and educationally. They are learning to love God and walk with Him. Recently grade five went and prayed for patients at the hospital. One ward experienced miracles, and a full ward in the morning was almost emptied after the grade five class left. Only one girl remained, Nelsi, who was just having physiotherapy after a burn injury. People literally got up and went home. This was very exciting for the children who prayed. The children love God and they love to pray for others.
Educationally, we are using a two language curriculum, Indonesian and Australian, so they are becoming fluent in English. This opens them up to a broad worldview due to the education and the fact that they can read English books. An understanding of the world is opened up to them. Having an Australian curriculum is also teaching them to think creatively. A lot of learning in traditional schools is rote learning, although there has been some improvement in the Indonesian curriculum. We have a team of dedicated teachers but are in great need of English speaking teachers with five years of experience. We are seeking to recruit these from the USA, England and Australia. This school is an exciting project that can be self-sustaining, once built, as school fees can support it. We look forward to seeing our children graduate and go on to a university. There is a lot of joy and hope in the lives of our children. We are very grateful to God and to all those dear people who have assisted the school so far. We need ongoing assistance and prayers to continue this work.
Footnote by Carl Cady, Director of IFC
Hendra Pontomudis had a vision for a school that would be able to educate disadvantaged children at a high standard and economically assisting them to climb out of poverty and also create leaders for the North Maluku region. Wealthy, fee-paying children would also attend the school due to the English curriculum providing funds for the school and would go on to be leaders of integrity and truly know God. We shared a common vision with Hendra and so in 2011, Hohidiai School was born with Hendra as the principal. This school started with kindergarten and grade one and has been adding a class each year. We now have preschool, kindergarten and grades one to five. There is a total of 117 children now in the school.