I am currently sitting in a home in the middle of the jungle. It is hanging off the side of a mountain like all of the homes here. This small Hmar village is known as Saiphai which means “the place elephants flattened”. This place is so remote that elephants were commonly seen wandering through until a few years ago.
Photo Credit Hallie Banish
This village is accessible by road, but it is not easily accessible. It takes 5 hours to travel a short distance.
There are still many Hmar villages that aren’t accessible during monsoon season. In those villages the children eat only bamboo shoots for months. The children suffer from malnourishment. Their stomaches are bloated; their faces have white spots, and their arms legs and necks are like tiny twigs. Unfortunately these people are invisible.
The Hero of the Hmar people died recently. He is the reason the Indian government knows this tribe exists and recognizes them. He is the one who translated the Bible for them. One of the Hmar people said it was terrible that he passed because the only people who look after the Hmar people are the Hmar people, and there biggest spoke’s person is gone. This man is spoken of like Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi, or Mother Theresa.
How often is this the case? How often do we only look after ourselves, our families, or our people? Too often if you ask me. And how can we look after people if we are ignorant of their existence? We can’t.
So I just want you to know that this place is real.
Photo Credit Hallie Banish
There are still villages that are unaccessible in this world. There are still places where the people haven’t heard the name of Jesus. There are still places where people go hungry because they can’t leave when it rains. There are still people out there who don’t know the outside world exists. These people are real people.
They are here in India. They are all over Asia. They are in North America, South America, Africa, Antartica, and Australia. They are all over the globe.
The world isn’t fully known. There are still people out there if only we are willing to find them. And we must, for how can we help them or pray for them if we don’t know they’re real?
