SUBJECT: After 30 Years, School Opens Doors

AUTHOR: David Gates, his wife Becky, and three of their five children - Katrina, Carlos, and Kristopher, work in a medical aviation program in the jungles of Guyana, South America.

DATE: October 6, 1998

AFTER 30 YEARS, PARUIMA OPENS DOORS OF THE DAVIS INDIAN INDUSATRIAL COLLEGE

It was a busy couple of days flying on September 20 and 21. Village representatives who had been nominated for membership on the School Board had to be flown in to Paruima for "Big Meeting". Up to now, Paruima village council, church elders, visitors from the various communities, our District Pastor, our Bible Workers and our Conference Director of Education had served as the acting Board. Now it was time to officially elect the Board and get to work.

School board meets in new school building to consider student applications. A second building like this one is under construction. Two additional buildings, an Industrial Arts complex, two dormitories, and a cafeteria are planned for the near future.

Nominee representatives were coming from the villages of Paruima, Kaikan, Waramadong, Kamarang, and Kako. Additional nominees included the District Education Officer for the government and spiritual leaders such as the Anglican Priest from Jawalla, our Senior Bible Worker, our District Pastor, and our Conference Director of Education. Enthusiasm was running high. A lot of questions were in the air, and as usual, there were many rumors as well. The purpose of this gathering was to meet one last time as a general community for the purpose of receiving a progress report and officially electing the Members of the School Board. The Board would then meet to work on the difficult tasks of writing up a Mission Statement, setting up an organizational structure, determine number of students to be accepted, set up school housing and cafeteria for those students, select work/study program, allocate faculty/staff responsibilities, and the most difficult question "How do we feed the students until the farm is able to produce?"

The morning session with the general community was held in the Paruima church. Each of the nominee Board Members gave a beautiful report on the educational needs of their young people and their desire to provide them with Christian education once again. Many of these same nominees had themselves attended the "Davis Indian Training Institute" over 30 years ago. Now their children and grandchildren would have the same opportunity. I thanked the Lord for the spiritual focus of the nominees that had been selected. After all the nominees were confirmed by the committee at large, everyone broke for lunch. The newly elected committee then moved to the "Davis Indian Industrial College" 2-story school building to continue its work which lasted for 2-days.

"Forward on our Knees" proved to be the operating format during the entire two days. We spent significant time on our knees in prayer, asking for Divine guidance and help with the difficult tasks ahead. God's presence was certainly felt as one after another, the agenda items were accomplished. Initial housing for students was a problem, and with roofing repairs to the older buildings, it was determined that a total of 20 students could be accepted. However, we had over 40 applications on hand. How were we to determine which students were the right ones? There were several things to look at; age, academic preparation, church participation, recommendations. Back on our knees again. God would provide us with an answer. As we tackled the process again, I got an idea. "What words would we use to describe the ideal student," I asked. "Spiritual, honest, responsible, hard working/productive, calm, helpful, courteous, good" were the responses. Each student was then compared to those words and assigned a score from 1-3, with 1 being the preferred. At the end of the evaluation process, we ended up with 21 preferred students and several with question marks. "Perfect!" I thought. However, during the following few days, investigation proved some 1s to be 2s, and some 2s to be ones, and some 2s to have made tremendous sacrifices to come to the school. Yes, they had some defects, but their life trend showed improvement and a dedication to serving the Lord.

What to do? Back on our knees again, as we carefully re-evaluated the applications. As a result, there were some changes made resulting some students being dropped, and more being added. The final result was the acceptance of 30 students from Arau, San Juan, Kaikan, Paruima, Waramadong, Kamarang, and Kako. Some housing changes are being made to accommodate the extra 10 students. The living quarters are going to be a bit tight this first term, with 6-8 students sharing a room. Please pray for these beautiful first fruits of all the labor during the last 18 months. The letters were written up and delivered the following day by plane. In the villages where I flew, I met in the church with the students, their parents, the church elders, and our Bible Worker. After a question and answer period, we had the students kneel while the rest of us laid hands on the students and dedicated them to the Lord as special student missionary envoys. We asked to Lord to circle each of them with his Presence, and provide them with special angelic protection from the enemy as they dedicated their lives in preparation for serving the Lord. What special moments they were. Like never before, we parents must set aside the children God has entrusted to us, and hold them up before the Lord each day. God WILL surround them and use them in a mighty way if we ask Him to, and allow God to make our own lives a living model for them.

Before our meetings came to an end the first day, we dealt with the painful question, "What are we to feed the students?" Being a no-tuition-work-your-way-through type of school, our solution could not include the purchase and transport of food. Someone suggested that the students come with as much as they could carry. That was a good suggestion, but how much can a student carry as he walks across the mountains to school? Another suggested that the parents send food each week for their students until the farm began to produce. With the difficulty of transport, that was another good but impractical solution for most parents. We finished the day without really arriving at a good answer. I awake early during the morning with a clear thought in my mind of how we might solve the food problem. In the morning I discussed it with the Captain Thomas from Kamarang. She was the regional representative for SIMAP, a non-government organization which provided food-for-labor to community members willing to improve their villages through self-help. Captain Thomas was enthusiastic over the plan. She told how SIMAP had last week just received over 100 tons of food from Norway which included a wide variety products. She explained how SIMAP was "desperate" to locate projects in which they could unload their large food deposits. She was sure that a school-development project would be rapidly approved, especially since this first year would be primarily work with partial studies. SIMAP would not only provide the food to each student, but would pay for the charter flights necessary to fly the food into Paruima. With such a clear answer to our need, who could doubt that God was working in advance to provide for the needs of our school. As a committee we acknowledge that months before God had been already at work to put together this large shipment in anticipation of the school's needs. We knelt again in prayer to thank God and filled out the project proposal paperwork for a 9-month project.

Currently the only Adventist school in the country, the Industrial College has scheduled regstration is for October 15. Accepted students are arriving daily to the school, not wanting to wait any longer. As they arrive, each of them participates in the preparation for future students. Our faculty is currently composed of a French couple from Guadeloupe, and a young lady from Canada. Our staff includes a local Amerindian couple with the husband serving as Caretaker and wife as the cook. Another Amerindian brother is a full-time volunteer farm manager. We praise God for the consecrated faculty and staff He has sent us, as well as the dedicated young students who play a crucial in setting a spiritual tone on our campus.

"Now is the time to lay hold of the arm of our strength. " (5T p. 452) Together we are learning to depend on the Everlasting Arm to supply all our needs. The students are becoming witnesses to God's ability to answer prayer, and this lesson, more than anything else, will prepare them to stand with confidence and be an encouragement to others during the time when "all earthly support will be cut off." What a privilege that is. "Forward on our knees" will remain our modus operandi.

In His Service,

David Gates

You may send E-mail to David at: gates@andrews.edu or GAMAS@solutions2000.net

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