Students and staff of Kiribati’s only Adventist school were also impacted by Kiribati for Christ. Based on the island of Abemama—one of the three islands reached by the first phase of the campaign—Kauma Adventist High School hosted Kiribati for Christ as a week of worship for the school, while also being open to community members.
The week culminated in 43 baptisms, mostly students and staff.
Kauma Adventist High School is the Adventist Church’s main educational institution in Kiribati. The boarding school draws students from across Kiribati’s islands, providing education from form one to seven, with a current enrolment of more than 260 students and more than 35 staff. According to staff members, 80 per cent of students are non-Adventist, many with a Catholic background, the dominant denomination in Kiribati. Salapan Frank, physics teacher at Kauma, said, “Kiribati for Christ reinforced the beliefs that we’ve been trying to teach these kids.”
Head girl Tekinoa Otomwabi said that the meetings were good for all the students, “but especially for the students who don’t know God.”
However, some of Kauma’s staff are also non-Adventist. Several of them were baptised at the end of Kiribati for Christ, including two couples. Other staff members were rebaptised.
“While Kiribati for Christ was effective for the students, it was also effective for the staff,” said biology teacher Bwebweariki Tarariki, the wife of Mr Frank. The couple has been working at Kauma for three years and acknowledged the impact of the school on the lives of both staff and students.
Kiribati Mission president Pastor Taabua Rokeatau, is a former student of Kauma and shared how the school played an important role in his conversion to Adventistism. “I’m fortunate to be one of the fruits of Kauma High School, where I first met my Saviour!” said Pastor Rokeatau.
Other than Wright Chapel on the campus of Kauma, Abemama’s only other church, Taribo, supported Kiribati for Christ. Each night, church members attended and extended invitations to others in the community. Trans Pacific Union Mission children, women and family director Alice Kaisuva, said, “We had the church members’ support and the staff who are here on campus with their families—they were there from day one.”
Mrs Kaisuva explained how she felt blessed coming to Kauma and thanked God that she was able to condense a two-week preaching program into one week.
“God gave me the strength, wisdom and vigor to be able to preach two sermons a day. And these sermons are not short! Some of them would ask, ‘You’re not tired?’ And I said, ‘I don’t feel tired. I just feel the arms of God around me every day as I prepare and as I read and as I pray.’”
The closing program for Kiribati for Christ on Abemama was combined with an opening ceremony of the newly tiled maneaba, a traditional meetinghouse, that is used for school events. The event also welcomed Norman Hansen, a pilot relocating to Abemama indefinitely with his wife Nancy.
Mr Hansen flies with MiracleAir, an aviation and maritime independent Adventist ministry that supports remote islands. The plane’s inaugural flight to Abemama took place the day of the event, and the three-passenger Cessna 182, named AngelOne, will be permanently stationed on the island so the students and staff of Kauma and the other residents of Abemama will no longer have to rely on emergency evacuations via boat to Tarawa.
“God has a plan for Abemama and He has a plan for Kauma,” Mrs Kaisuva said. “God’s children are here on Kauma and He wants the message to be shared.”
