Features

"It's right in the jungle. There are a lot of malnourished and basically neglected children," said Ray Balmer, shortly before his flight out to Singapore with his daughter Abi and three others from Bradfield & Rougham Baptist Church.

From there it's a two hour flight to Borneo then a 12 hour car journey to the Living Waters village in west Kalimantan (the local name for the Indonesian part of Borneo).

"Part of your Christian life is not just going to church on a Sunday," said Ray. "It's living your life out and this was an opportunity to do something practical and in a country you wouldn't normally visit. Really it's a massive privilege."

Ray's involvement came after his daughter Abi heard about the Living Waters project at university.

"I said to Dad 'there's this amazing project going on, I'd quite like to get involved' and Dad said 'okay, lets go!'"

The project was started in 1997 by an Australian couple, Ronny and Kay Heyboer, who were working in the south east Asian country with the church planting programme in a local ministry.

The scale of their achievement has impressed Abi: "They're hoping to provide schooling for two thousand children and homes for a thousand. They've bought the land and there will be a medical centre, schooling and worship centre.

"There's lots going on but it's a massive project and they need a lot of workers."

Shoes ready for Borneo

The group are also taking a hundred pairs of new school shoes with them which were paid for by donations from their church.

"We put the appeal out and we raised nearly £2,000 with two weeks," said Ray, who also hopes their practical skills will be used once they are at the village.

"The medical centre is at an advanced point with some air conditioning units arriving from the UK and three of the team have skills we can use for that."

"The other thing is the children themselves. There are nearly 300 in the village at the moment and when we're not working we'll be able to be with them."

For Abi, it's about growing as a Christian as well as the adventure of working in a developing country.

"I've prayed a lot and I've had a lot of friends praying for me. I've been thinking about this for 16 months. This whole project is about feeling what God wants us to do. And also that we'll be able to help them."

The Bradfield & Rougham Baptist Church featured on Luke Deal's Sunday Breakfast Show on 22 August 2009.