Friends of Mizoram

I recently returned from a six week trip to the Christian state of Mizoram in North East India, I was my seventh visit to this unique community.

Just a bit of background – on January 14^th 1894 two Welsh missionaries arrived in Mizoram and began what has proved to be the most successful missionary endeavour he world has ever seen. By 1976 every adult member of the Mizo was a baptized Christian. I have tried to analyze why this has happened and have come to the conclusion that God had prepared these people for many years before the missionaries arrived and desires to use Mizoram as a witness of Christian living for the world.

I believe there were four major factors that contributed to rapid growth of Christianity in this remote area:

1. The close knit clan village system where the conversion of the chief could lead to the conversion of a whole village.
2. The Mizo tribe were the largest tribe in all of North East Indian with a common language.
3. Mizo culture had a concept of a perfect man and Jesus Christ met all of the criteria attributed to this man.
4. The religion was animist and their entire life was dedicated to appeasing the demons, who they felt ruled every aspect of life. When the missionaries arrived and defied the demons and demon worship and were not destroyed by the demons, the practical Mizos realized that there was a strength in this new religion that was vastly superior to what they were practicing.

When I first visited Mizoram in 1996 I felt I had found paradise – they had a simple faith that was beautiful.  I produced a video on that first visit called, “Mizoram, God’s Chosen Jewel” and that indeed is what I had experienced. At that time almost all Mizos were eking out a living with subsistence farming and to a large extent equally poor. Since then much has changed and each time I go back I see more of the evil things of the world creeping in.

I believe Satan will do anything to spoil this Christian witness and he has used television and greed to taint the Christian heritage. Mizoram’s time zone is 13.5 hours ahead of Vancouver – this means that our middle of the night television is available live in the middle to the day. If you want to know just how bad that is turn on any of our stations a 2:00am any morning. What we export throughout the 10-40 window is downright disgusting. In 1996 I saw no corruption, greed or moral decline. It grieves me to see all of these in Mizo society today.

However Mizoram can still boast of no starvation, no homeless, no beggars and almost 100% literacy and the fact that almost 80% of the population attends church at least once a week. While I have come to the conclusion Mizoram is not as good as I found it 12 years ago it is still hands down the best community in the world!

Approximately every fifty years this area experiences a unique famine and this is the year. This is caused when a certain bamboo, which covers most of Mizoram plus parts of Myanmar, Bangladesh, Manipur, Assam and Tripura, blooms and then dies. With this blooming comes a devastating plague of rats. Once these rats have consumed the bamboo seeds they move in mass and eat everything in sight. In many areas up to 97% of the crops have been destroyed. Knowing this was coming the Government thought the famine could be averted by harvesting the bamboo around the villages and farms and by offering a bounty on rat tails. This has proved to be fruitless – while hundred’s of thousands of rats were destroyed they reproduced in the millions and overwhelmed all efforts to control them.

This trip three small teams of Canadians have attempted to use media to bring this unique famine, which covers a defined area for a defined period of time, to the attention of the world and to explore both short term and long term solutions. Two teams traveled to remote villages by jeep, boat and foot to distribute much needed food and ascertain ongoing needs and to explore ways of meeting those needs.

Our conclusions were that in Mizoram alone almost 400 villages are suffering – while we found no actual starvation we did find signs of deteriorating health due to malnutrition. We also found that the entire day is taken up with finding food to eat today. They are foraging up to 5 km into the jungle to find wild yams and green vegetation to eat. The next few weeks are the season where next years crops need to be planted, there is an acute shortage of seeds and of the time and energy to plant. This planting is critical or the effect of Mautam will extend for another year.

We are working on several solutions to meet the immediate needs. We have challenged to city churches in Mizoram to each take responsibility for one village, to send someone to that village to find the needs and then to muster the resources to meet those needs. Global Youth Network (www.gyn.org) is collecting moneys in Canada to help these churches buy and distribute food that is available in other parts of Mizoram and surrounding areas.

Fraser Valley Gleaners in Abbotsford are teaming up with World Vision and with Mizo churches and organizations to deliver 1,000,000 meals of dehydrated vegetables to the needy villages. This is ideal food especially for the monsoon season that is about to begin. Transportation to remote villages is precarious during the dry season. During the wet season many, many villages are accessible only by foot. This light weight dehydrated food is ideal as one person can carry over 1000 meals on his or her back. When a package, weighing only 1.5 kg is combined with 25 litres of water it will feed 100 people a meal. A forty foot container will leave Abbotsford next week.

The third team worked with local farmers to help them switch from temporary slash and burn farming to sustainable farming. This sustainable farming goes under the acronym of SALT, which stands for Sloped Agricultural Land Technology to learn ore about this google “fertilizer tree”. Where this farming method has been used in southern Mizoram for several years agricultural production has increased three-fold. Our team combined with SALT farmers to train and help local farmers set up a demonstration farm. In one week 35 farmers committed to adopted this method of farming.

The long term answer to Mautam and other crop failures is more efficient farming methods and vermin proof food storage. We feel that much progress has been made toward this end.

While I was in Mizoram during the month of March I read a chapters of Proverbs every morning and marked one verse that stood out to me that day. Here is the list of verses I marked.

March 1 1:19 So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain
It takes away the life of it’s owners.

March 2 2:11 Discretion will preserve you
Understanding will keep you

March 3 3:11-12 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord
Nor detest His correction
For whom the Lord loves He corrects
Just as the father the son in whom he delights

March 4 4:18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun
That shines ever brighter on the perfect day

March 5 5:21 For the ways of man are always before the eyes of the Lord
And He ponders all his paths

March 6 6:10-11 A little sleep, a little slumber
A little folding of the hands to sleep
So shall your poverty come on you as a prowler
And your need like an armed man

March 7 7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister”
And call understanding your nearest kin.

March 8 8:11 For wisdom is better than rubies
And all things one may desire cannot be compared with her.

March 9 9:10 The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding

March 10 10:3 The Lord will not allow the righteous to famish
But He casts away the desire of the wicked.

March 11 11:14 Where there is no counsel the people fall
But in the multiude of counselors there is safety

March 12 12:11 He who till the land will be satisfied with bread
But he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding

March 13 13:11 Wealth gained by dishonesty will diminish
But he who gathers by labour will increase.

March 14 14:11 The house of the wicked will be overthrown
But the tent of the upright will flourish

March 15 15:22 Without counsel plans go awry
But in a multitude of counselors they are established.

March 16 16:3 Commit your works to the Lord
And your thoughts will be established.

March 17 17:10 Rebuke is more effective for a wise man
Than a hundred blows to a fool.

March 18 18:15 The heart of the prudent acquires knowledge
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge

March 19 19:21 There are many plans in a man’s heart
Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel will stand

March 20 20:17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to man
But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

March 21 21:6 Getting treasures by a lying tongue
Is the fleeting fantasy of those who seek death.

March 22 22:17 Incline your ears and hear the words of the wise
And apply your heart to may knowledge.

March 23 23:17-18 Do not let your heart envy sinners
But be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day
For surely there is a hereafter
And your hope will not be cut off.

March 24 24:27 Prepare your outside work
Make it fit for yourself in the field
And afterward build your house.

March 25 25:9 Debate your case with your neighbor
And do not disclose the secret to another.

March 26 26:20 Where there is no wood, the fire goes out
And where there is no talebearer, strife ceases.

March 27 27:21 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold
And a man is valued by what others say of him.

March 28 28:6 Better the poor who walks in integrity
Than one perverse in his ways, though he is rich.

March 29 29:7 The righteous consider the cause of the poor,
But the wicked does not understand such knowledge.

March 30 30:8-9 Remove falsehood and lies from me
Give me neither poverty or riches
Feed me with the food allotted to me
Lest I be full and deny You
Or lest I be poor and steal
And profane the name of my God.

March 31 31:9 Open your mouth, judge righteously
And plead the cause of the poor and needy.

Rev. 2:4-5 Each time I have revisited Mizoram I have thought of these verses and how they apply to Mizoram. However on this, my seventh trip, I am more optimistic than I have been since trip three.

I firmly believe that God has very special plans for Mizoram. Percentage-wise, it is the most Christian place on earth. When I made my first visit here in 1996 I experienced an innocent, pure type of Christianity that I described in the video Mizoram: a Glimpse of Heaven. However, on each subsequent visit, that image has become more tarnished. It seems Satan is working overtime to spoil God’s plans for Mizoram. He has been successful in many areas.

When I first came there was no television, and most people were living at a subsistence-level, but there was a joy that radiated from the people. I now find that too many in Mizoram have been corrupted by the love of money, and their lives have been jaded by overindulgence in television. How I long for Mizoram as I first found it.

My first exposure to Mizoram was through their choir in Canada. The first song I remember them singing was “I Would Rather Have Jesus Than Silver and Gold.” I challenge each Mizo to think deeply about this song, and to honestly consider the implications in their own lives.

I was asked at my first press conference if I was against development. I have pondered that question throughout my visit and have come to the conclusion that most development in Mizoram is from the top down, rather than from the bottom up. Aizawl has become a city of traffic jams and luxurious homes while remote villages have been left unchanged over the last hundred years. In fact, in one way, most villages are actually worse off, as traditionally each village at least had a blacksmith. This vital trade is dying out.

Approximately every 50 years Mizoram and the surrounding states experience a plague of rats. This plague, called Mautam, takes place when a certain bamboo blooms and produces seeds. The rats feed on these seeds and then attack the crops. In some areas 98% of the crops have been destroyed. As I visited remote villages, I found that people were not actually starving since they were finding food in the jungle. However, they now have to travel by foot up to 5 km to find that food, and their entire day is used finding enough food for a day. Two things are urgently needed: 1) seed for this year’s crops, and 2) food to eat during the planting season so that they have the time and the energy to plant.

I had the opportunity to speak to the General Assembly of the Baptist Church, and challenged them to assign every city church a village—to have their church send someone to visit their village, ascertain the needs, and then to come back to the church to garner the resources to meet those needs. I would also like to challenge the other churches to do the same thing. If this is done diligently the effects of mautam will be short-lived. To get this started, simply list the churches and villages in order of size, then match churches and villages somewhat by size, taking into account the proximity of the churches to the villages.

I met with a small group to explore the possibilities of a society to be called “Friends of Mizoram”. This society would be Internet-based and would have three objectives:

1. To help Mizoram become completely self-sufficient for food and, further, to see agriculture become a major source of income for the state.

2. To encourage appropriate education for Mizoram—that is, education that prepares students for life in Mizoram. At present, my observation is that education prepares students for exams, not life—especially not life in Mizoram at the present time.

3. To build on the fact that most Mizos believe in eternal life, and that one day they will stand before their Maker and will be forced to review their lives.

Watch www.friends-of-mizoram.org as ideas to support these ideals are developed by others and myself. During the past month I have done much praying and thinking about these three points and believe the Holy Spirit can provide every answer.

During March I have been reading a chapter of Proverbs every day and have underlined a verse that has stood out to me in each chapter. Shortly after the end of the month I will publish this list on the above website.

Here are a few immediate things Mizos could do as individuals to work with God to make Mizoram the blessing He intends it to be:

1. 10-10-10. Spend 10 minutes every day asking God what you can do for Mizoram, rather than what Mizoram can do for you. Then spend 10 hours every month following His instructions and volunteering time to make Mizoram a better place. Do this for 10 years, and I believe Mizoram will be the paradise God intends it to be.

2. Read Luke 19:1-10 and truthfully consider its implications in your life, thinking especially of the day you will stand before Jesus with your eternal life in the balance.

3. Read a chapter of Proverbs every day—pick a verse and try to apply it that day.

4. Become a watcher and contribute your wisdom to www.friends-of-mizoram.org

5. Seek God’s wisdom as to how you as an individual can help alleviate the suffering caused by mautam, then act on God’s leadings.

God has blessed Mizoram, but with that blessing comes responsibility. In every action, first consider what Jesus would do. Act accordingly and you will find true joy.

Mizo soil plus Mizo toil will bring true prosperity.

May God bless each of you!
Your brother in Christ, Stuart Spani