Those of us who have travelled internationally know the excitement of visiting a different country, meeting its people and learning the culture. This was the experience of Indonesian teachers Flutner Purba and Yentie Simanjuntak, who spent four weeks in Brisbane recently. The visit of the teachers from the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (a partner church […]

Those of us who have travelled internationally know the excitement of visiting a different country, meeting its people and learning the culture.

This was the experience of Indonesian teachers Flutner Purba and Yentie Simanjuntak, who spent four weeks in Brisbane recently. The visit of the teachers from the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (a partner church of the LCA) was sponsored by Living Faith Primary School at Murrumba Downs and Lutheran Education Australia.

After learning about the full spectrum of Lutheran education opportunities available in Australia, Mr Purba and Ms Simanjuntak returned to their country with a greater understanding of the cultural and economic differences between Indonesia and Australia. They identified the following needs for education in their country: construction of more adequate buildings and the upgrading of equipment, empowerment of staff and development of quality teachers, and better facilities to be able to teach English to trainee teachers. At the same time they recognised just how difficult it was for this to happen quickly, because the needs are great and the resources are limited.

Lutheran Education Australia continues to explore how it can best assist its partner Lutheran schools in Indonesia. Anne Maczkowiak, principal of Living Faith Primary School, says, ‘It is important to remain alert to requests for assistance and to support our partner schools wherever we can, for we truly do live in a “lucky country” when it comes to the educational opportunities our children have.’

If your school would like to know more about how they can connect to the mission of God through a LCA International Mission service-learning and ministry partnership, you are invited to phone Erin on (08) 8267 7300 or email erin.kerber@lca.org.au. For more information, go to www.lcamission.org.au/join-gods-mission/service-learning/

Read more stories about school partnerships and school service-learning at www.lcamission.org.au/category/stories/local-partners/schools/