Class of 2018: Chigira Hasumi

Japan Graduate Intern (2017 ARI Graduate) “A society where all people can eat safe and clean food, a society where people can live with their own dignity and humanity through organic farming and education aimed at a sustainable society.” After spending last year as a participant in the ARI training program, I am happy to be returning as a Graduate Intern with the class of 2018. I would like to continue my learning here in ARI to build the foundation for accomplishment of My Dream. The general goal for this year is the balanced combination of the theory and the practice. The thing that I especially believe it important for … Read more…

Thet Paing Aung

ARI Nickname: Thet Paing Myanmer Pwo Karen Baptist Conference, Myanmar Baptist Convention, MBC Project coordinator / Church and community mobilization program “It is sure that I was born in rural community and my family are earning with planting paddy field. I feel honor that I came from the farmer family because farmers are the main supporters of food resources in our country.” Born into a family of poor but honorable farmers, Thet doesn’t just understand the struggles of the people he serves: he has lived them. Now a coordinator for the Pwo Karin Baptist Conference, his goal is to foster a social environment in which his community can prosper. To … Read more…

Lar Dar Wi

ARI Nickname: Lar Myanmer Shweli Shan Baptist Convention, SSBC Project Directer / Pastor “I remember one of my childhood experiences in family table. When I eat the food sometimes the food fell down the table. My father always reminds that the farmers plant the paddy field and it is not easy to get even a seed of rice.” Lar comes from a community in the northern reaches of Shan State. The community is very diverse, consisting of many cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds. Lar works amidst this gathering of humanity as director for the Shweli Shan Baptist Convention’s Christian Social Services and Development Department, which strives to improve the livelihoods … Read more…

Mambud Kestine Samai

ARI Nickname: Mambud Sierra Leone Single Leg Amputee Sports Association Program Coordinator / Pastor “Football acts as a channel through which friendships are built and further identifies and addresses the social needs that affect our members. The amputees can feel part of something where we are equal to others.” In addition to being a pastor, Mambud has been the program coordinator for The Single Leg Amputee Sports Association, or SLASA, for the last 16 years. As a program coordinator, he serves as a liaison between SLASA and its partners/donors. He also supervises projects to ensure they are meeting the association’s rigorous standards and that they are being successfully completed. Mambud … Read more…

Venitta Mkaka Kaduya

ARI Nickname: Veh Malawi Maziko Radio Station Radio presenter / Program producer “We target the poor and the stigmatized because we feel everybody can live a better life and anything is possible. These people are the ones that can change a society because they act like as an example to those who are low and feel they cannot manage.” Venitta works as both a farm supervisor and a host/producer for the Maziko Radio Station. She manages the production of three radio programs: Mbeleko, Ulimi Othilira, and Women Empowerment Programs. The first of these (translated as Baby) focuses on maternal health. The second (Irrigation Farming) involves Venitta visiting farmers to make … Read more…

Class of 2018: Joe Ginting

ARI Nickname: Joe Indonesia Gereja Batak Karo Protestan, GBKP Pastor “In fact at this moment we do not need competition, but how we can work together. Work together to produce the better life, by working together will certainly ease the burden of easing the cost that we should bear alone, and by working together we learn more what we didn’t know.” In the Indonesian heartland of Kabupaten, the duties of a pastor don’t end after the Sunday service benediction. Joe Ginting knows this well, as his work schedule demands he make daily efforts to help improve the lives of the Karo people of Sukajulu. Since Sukajulu is a rural village … Read more…

Class of 2018: Chlaodhius Budhianto

ARI Nickname: Chlaodhius Indonesia Christian Church from Northern Central Java (GKJTU) Pastor “I know that many of my church members are poor farmers. Because of this, I not only nurture their spiritual life, but I also work to empower economically.  Organic farming is the solution to my people sustainable economic growth.” As the pastor of a small farming village in rural Indonesia, Chlaodihus has seen first-hand that spiritual words alone are not enough to alleviate the struggles of those who live in poverty. As such, he has taken it upon himself to realize the Christian creed of ‘preferential treatment for the poor’ by actively working to improve the economic situation … Read more…

Class of 2018: Prokhen Phangcho

ARI Nickname: Khen India Amri Karbi Baptist Association, AKBA Pastor “I know that my community has capabilities within themselves, so I want them to bring up together and work and to live by themselves not depending on any other.” Born in the same village he now serves as pastor of, Prokhen has lived his whole life among the people he now serves. As a spiritual leader, it is Prokhen’s calling to tell the word of God, pay visitation to the sick, and offer support to the needy and disenfranchised members of his community. Prokhen is a devoted Baptist, and at the same time very respectful of the local animist traditions. … Read more…

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