“What are you doing?” I asked as I ducked under the grass thatching of the Pnong longhouse.

“I’m making food for the pigs to eat,” Churr’s daughter replied.

We chatted a while. Then she said something that caught me totally off guard. “I would like to learn to speak English. There are lots of people here who want to learn, but we have no teacher.”

As we study Pnong culture, one of the things we look for is what development projects would most help the community. Even before my conversation with Churr’s daughter, Cara and I had been thinking about starting a school here. The elementary schools in the provincial center have a student/teacher ratio of 60 to one. The teachers are overwhelmed and can’t teach their students very effectively. Also, many people in Pnong villages are interested in learning English.

An even more important reason we are thinking about this is because Sabbath is a regular school day here. If we are ever to have school-age children in our group of believers, we will need to provide an education alternative for them. At the Khmer church plant in town, noticeably more children attend Sabbath School when school is out.

The Pnong world is changing rapidly. Only a few years ago, the Pnong did not use money or own land. Now the influence of the majority culture is bringing huge changes to the Pnong lifestyle. These once nomadic people are now forced to stay in one place and own land. Looking into the future, we believe it will be almost impossible for the Pnong to survive as a people unless they can adapt and keep up with these changes. Having a school to help educate village children would give them a better chance of surviving and prospering.

This school project would take significant time and resources. We want to follow God’s guiding. Please pray with us that His leading will be clear. Please pray that if He wants us to go ahead and start this schools, He will open doors for us to go through.

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