After months of planning, Kent and Leonda George and a group of young Palawano people made the arduous journey into the mountainous heart of southern Palawan to make first contact with the Taw’t Deram, a feared tribe of xenophobic cannibals. The Taw’t Deram people they encountered were shy and fearful, but very interested in their offer of medical help and the possibility of a native school. In the village of Beluwing, they met a native man named Pastor Duwidi, a Christian left behind by another mission agency with the task of proselytizing the Taw’t Deram and making sure they abided by a contract they had been coerced into signing that prevented them from following the teachings of any other missionaries.

Sabbath, March 20
The helicopter flew over Beluwing this morning with Sublitu, and they dropped several packages for us— mostly medicine and a little food. The helicopter flying over created a lot of excitement and alerted Dulpi in Kebgen that we had arrived. I was excited to meet Dulpi and talk with him. He was the first full-blooded Taw’t Deram I had ever met.

Pretty soon, quite a few people were showing up for medicine. They were hesitant at first until they heard others had received medicine the day before without retribution from Pastor Duwidi, who had himself come to us for treatment. They seemed relieved that we treated people whether they were from our church or not. That doesn’t seem to have been the case with previous missionaries. Niksun and I treated about 20 people today. Kent, Jilin, Jini and Kalbu focused on treating fungal infections.

The Taw’t Deram are very friendly, a bit shy, and much like our Palawano people. It is hard to get their family information because they do not like to use people’s names. We talked with Pastor Duwidi a little more, and he seems willing to work with us. He asked again that we build a school. He just doesn’t want us to build a church. Of course, our schools train students for missions, so there will be a conflict, but at least he is letting us get our foot in the door. It seems feasible for us to start a work near the Kendewaga River—far enough away from Duwidi’s group but somewhat accessible to benefit them as well. We’re headed there to Lanay-Lanay village tomorrow, so we will see. Sounds like a stiff hike tomorrow. Even the Taw’t Deram say it is a long walk. It has been a full but good day. For supper, we are having palm hearts—mixed with maggi noodles, of course!

God, tomorrow we are going higher up and further in. Please give us all strength to go the distance. Give me strength and willpower to keep going. Please prepare a place for us to start a new work. Please prepare hearts to hear, receive and follow Your word. Please provide for the needs of this work, Lord. We are going to be fairly removed from what happens here amongst the Taw’t Deram unless You provide a way for us to get in more quickly. Lord, give us courage and faith to attempt difficult things for You, with Your power working in us and through us. Amen.

Sunday, March 21
We finally left Beluwing at about 8 a.m. Several patients showed up who needed attention, including Dulpi’s six-year-old son. I wish I could have met the boy’s wife. Can you imagine a six-year-old marrying? This is the youngest marriage we’ve encountered, though it is not unheard of for an older man to marry a baby girl and then raise her as his wife.

As we left Beluwing, we passed and photographed a number of Taw’t Deram tree houses. Some had scary looking ladders going up to them; others apparently required a shinny up a tree trunk. The trail was pretty difficult with lots of steep ups and downs, narrow sections along cliff edges, rotten-log hurdles and lots of tangling roots and vines. The tropical forest was beautiful and replete with wild versions of houseplants I loved back in the States. One particular flowering tree had a wonderful fragrance.

About 11 a.m., we began to hear the sound of rushing water, and we charged ahead, eager to reach a cool river. (I hadn’t had a proper bath since we left more than a week ago.) About half an hour later, we arrived at the confluence of the Tebud and Kendewaga Rivers. We rested, swam, bathed and washed our clothes. Then we cooked some rice, palm hearts fresh from the jungle, and fungi from the trail mixed with the ever-present maggi noodles.

Dulpi is guiding us now. He appears melancholy, but kind and gentle. He and the other carriers keep eyeing our girls, Bubit and Jilin. They’ve already made it known they are looking for more wives. Polygamy is common among the Taw’t Batu and the Taw’t Deram tribes.

This hiking is very hard work, but I feel privileged to be with these people in this beautiful land, living simply and knowing we’re in God’s will. We still don’t know how things will turn out or where we will start a school, but God is leading and providing. He has given us cooling cloud cover from mid-morning to afternoon, not much rainfall, places to stay and water to drink. We sleep under the stars in hammocks. I feel very content.

Monday, March 22
Yesterday, after we enjoyed a break by the river, we waited for Pidli and Niksun who, with Juran, were scouting the trail ahead. When they returned, Rinal told me the next leg of the hike would take us up the riverbed, wading and stepping from rock to rock. He and the others were concerned for me—they know my past experiences and fears of rocks and rivers. There was nothing to do but change into my water sandals, pray, and concentrate on each step. It soon started raining, making the rocks even more slippery. It was very scary in places, and I just had to move ahead, not looking down, not thinking about what could happen, just praying and grasping the proffered hands. In many places, I swallowed my pride and crawled on all fours. I had only one goal: get there—wherever there was. I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to camp by the river, do laundry, and get truly clean.

As the trail left the river, we hiked up and up until we finally reached a burn-off rice field. I was very tired but thrilled I had made it to that point, and it wasn’t even dark yet. This was Mengkin’s family field and it had several shelters built on it, so I thought we must be sleeping here. But the fields were very steep, and water was hard to come by, so our guides urged us forward “just half an hour” further up to Mengkin’s main house where they said water was much easier to find.

Hiking up through the rice field was terrifying. It was so steep that we literally had to pull ourselves up from one stump to another, testing each one to make sure it wasn’t rotten. A fall would mean a long trip down, and likely an impaling on a sharp stump.

The promised half hour stretched to two and a half hours of hiking and clawing up and up and up. It was utterly exhausting, and soon my legs felt like cooked spaghetti. But I had no choice but to continue. Occasionally we would pass a hut, and I would think longingly of spending the night there, but everyone else kept moving, and so did I. Kalbu stayed right behind Kent and me the whole way from the river, offering help wherever he could.

When we finally got to Mengkin’s place, it was well past dark, but I could see enough to be disappointed. The houses there are run-down and dirty, and water was a 30-minute uphill hike away. Everyone was too exhausted even to cook or eat, much less fetch water.

It took quite a while to get everyone settled because there was not a whole floor in any of the huts. After everyone had a place to sleep, we handed out the last of our puffed-rice snacks and collapsed into our hammocks for a much-too-short night.

In the morning, we realized we were in Keluwi, a very long way from Lanay-Lanay. Mengkin wants us to establish a clinic and a school right here in the flat area of Keluwi, but getting water is difficult.

After breakfast, we treated lots of patients. Then everyone went off to get water, do laundry and bathe while Kent, Niksun and I talked with Mengkin and others. They really want a school here and are excited about children and adults learning and having access to medicine. They are especially eager that we set up a store. Commercial goods are very difficult for them to get here, and much of the year they are dependent on commercial rice. Unfortunately, they don’t understand the costs involved with resupplying a store by helicopter.

Kent and I explained our philosophy of education and the high value we place on teaching God’s word. They seemed pleased with our philosophy and said they don’t want anyone else to come in and do things here, only us.

Tuesday, March 23
I slept horribly last night. I was very cold and nauseated. It was rainy and windy, and I could find only one sock in the dark.

People started arriving for medicine before I was ready to get up. When I did get up, I felt pretty poorly and couldn’t eat more than just bite or two. Later in the morning, I made some juice from the crystals the helicopter dropped for us, and that helped. The medical work was slow and tiring. With all the weak, rotting floors, we had to sit in very awkward positions. I was also training Niksun, who wasn’t feeling well either. He saw patients for a while and then quit.

Everyone was hungry, too. We didn’t have enough food to feed all the patients, so we couldn’t cook and eat until most of them had gone. We were finally able to eat at about six in the evening, after which most of our group went to work felling trees for a helicopter landing site while daylight remained. I was still feeling nauseous and weak. I’m praying for courage to continue. I feel this is an attack of the devil, and I refuse to be thwarted.

Wednesday, March 24
Today, we’re packing up and preparing to head back to the lowlands. We need to hike into a completely different area to meet with another of our church groups by Friday.

Afterword
Niksun had planned to remain behind to teach and minister to the Taw’t Deram, so we left him there in Keluwi, and Nusi stayed with him to be his companion. We left them feeling very lonely and forlorn. All of their Taw’t Deram neighbors were off living in their field houses, and the area seemed ill suited to future work due to the difficulty of getting water. Niksun and Nusi didn’t know what to do with themselves. Niksun was also sick with malaria and taking quinine. I hated to leave him, but he had a cell phone and could call us if he needed help.

Over the next few days, Niksun and Nusi got themselves organized, treated more patients and talked with people. When Niksun felt strong enough, they started looking for more appropriate areas to establish a mission post.

Several weeks later, Dulpi and Pastor Duwidi came to visit Niksun. They told him the whole Beluwing group wanted him to come and establish a clinic and a school, but Niksun knew it was not centrally located to serve the Taw’t Deram and the people of the Kendewaga River area. He asked them if there was an appropriate place between Beluwing and the Kendewaga, and they suggested Kebgen, Dulpi’s village. Niksun hiked the several hours to Kebgen and there found an area flat enough to build a home and a school, water reasonably close, a clear cell-phone signal, and easy access to a significant number of people. He was excited and felt it was the right location. He told me later that when he arrived there and saw the place, his chest relaxed and he could breathe easier, like a weight had been removed.

The people in Kebgen told him they would build him a house and then a school. They said the house would be done in three days. (Niksun wondered what kind of a house it would be!), and they would send him a smoke signal when it was ready. So Niksun returned to Keluwi and waited for the signal. Two days later, he saw the signal. He thought the house couldn’t possibly be ready so soon, so he waited. The next morning, he saw the signal again and decided he and Nusi should hike over. But how would they get all their gear over to Kebgen? The people in Keluwi wanted him to stay there, and he didn’t want to risk making multiple trips and leaving things unwatched in Keluwi. Niksun sent us regular text-message updates, and we were all praying about his need.

Pretty soon, I got a text from him that a group of five had arrived from Kebgen to see why he hadn’t responded to the smoke signals. He explained that he didn’t know how to get his things to Kebgen, and they responded that they would carry it for him—no problem. So they hoisted the bags and headed off down the trail.

When Niksun and Nusi arrived in Kebgen, they found a sturdy platform and house frame still lacking walls and a roof. It was amazing what the people had done in such a short time. Mountain people have to work hard just to eat, so houses typically take weeks to get to this stage. Later that day, several women arrived with the woven roofing, and Niksun realized the people were still working hard to prepare a place for them to live. These people are very eager to have him there and are going out of their way to be helpful.

Niksun tells me the people in Kebgen are surprised at the permissiveness of Pastor Duwidi’s group. They say even their ancestors told them things they should and should not do, so they doubt Pastor Duwidi’s message is the truth. When they learned that Niksun didn’t condone eating pork, they said they didn’t really either.

This particular group of Taw’t Deram doesn’t participate in siburans—drunken rice-wine festivals for the rice god. These and a number of other things encourage Niksun that these people are wide open to accepting the gospel.

Please keep the Taw’t Deram people in your prayers. Pray that Niksun will have wisdom as he raises up a new work in this area. He is just 19 years old, and he plans to marry an Adventist young lady in October. Pray that a nurse will feel led to join the work in this very remote area among these needy people hungry to know the truth about God. Pray that the hearts of the Taw’t Deram will be opened to the gospel and that there they will find life and wisdom they will pass down through the generations, just as they pass on the teachings of their ancestors.

Thank You, Lord, for a safe trip and for building our faith in Your providence. We trust You to lead Niksun, the Taw’t Deram people and us in this new venture for Your glory.

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