February 21, 2007

Born from the couple, Kilion Balingga and Silfa Kobak, in Ninia-Wamena, the hill country in the middle of Papua in May 8, 1979, his name is Yanes Balingga. He has been an orphan since he was very small as both his parents died / lost during the DOM time (attack by Indonesian Military to destroy the GPK OPM – a separatist group aiming to separate Papua from Indonesia).

Yanes went (or rather, ran) to Jayapura when he was very small to look for a job. In Jayapura, he was taken in as a son by the chief of the Kayu Pulo tribe. The man let him go to school until he finished his high school. Tough life and hardness has shaped him to be a strong and hard person. Negative environment however, has led him to alcohol and drunkenness. There was no day without getting drunk for Yanes.

After finishing his high school, Yanes took whatever job he could find. He went from one temporary work to another. Whenever he received his pay, he would spent it by drinking with his friends. So during earlier dates of every month when he still had money, he would very often got so drunk and slept by the roadsides or in the trench. And then during the later dates of the month when he no longer had enough to buy a drink, he would stay in his rented room.

At the end of 2003, a brother in the Jayapura church invited Yanes to visit the church. He came to the service he had been missing for so many years. Yanes felt very convicted hearing the message preached that day, that he decided to study the bible personally. After much struggle, in December 1, 2003, Yanes was baptized to be a disciple of Jesus. This was the beginning of a great start in Yanes' life. From a no purpose and drunken life, he now lives to love God.

Right now Yanes works for a contractor who owns some quite big business in Jayapura. He lives in a mes (residence for housing one's employees) for the workers. And even though he receives a considerably low pay (about US$65 a month) and has a very simple life, Yanes understands that God loves him and his life is special in God's eyes. Every month he faithfully set aside a tenth of his salary for the church's contribution and another sum to pay for his study in a college. One could easily see how modest his daily life is, but Yanes never question nor complain, even though every morning he has to work as a manual worker and study every afternoon. Quite often, when coming back at night, he is still asked by his boss to clean up the mes which definitely requires a lot his energy. Yanes lives his life joyfully.

Because of his grateful attitude, spiritually Yanes grows a lot, he is now one of the leaders in the Campus ministry. Yanes' dream is to be able to do much more thing for God and to help others, especially the people in Papua most of whom he knows, live very far from God.