Talk:Kauma Adventist High School

Chronology for Kauma Adventist High School

1920s - 1930s

1920

S.W. Carr writes of the unentered field of the Ellis and Gilbert group.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19200614-V24-12__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=5

1928

Before passing on from this field, I would like to introduce to the members of the Council, a fine man and his wife who have recently accepted the message in Vavau, Joni Taliauli (John Black Dahlia). He has spent considerable time as assist- ant to Dr. Lambert of the Rockefeller Institute, and has resided for some time in the Gilbert Islands, having acquired that language. He also speaks and reads English well, and greatly enjoys reading the, Review and Herald. During my recent visit to Tonga he interpreted for me with marked readiness and correctness. We feel sure that when the time comes to open up the work in the Gilbert Islands, this couple would prove to be excellent native assistants.
Report of the Island Mission Field of the Australasian Union Conference presented at the council.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19281015-V32-42__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=2

1940s

1947

J.T. Howse announces plans to start an Adventist mission in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands.

March 18.
The "Matua," sailing from Auckland, New Zealand, on the 18th of March, carried Brother and Sister J. Cernik and two children on the second lap of their journey to Tonga. On the same boat Brother and Sister F. W. Gifford and two children returned to Fiji after furlough; and Mrs. J. Howse and four children went out to Suva to await the arrival of Pastor Howse aboard the "Fetu Ao," and go on with him to their new appointment, the Gilbert and Ellice Groups.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19470407-V51-14__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=8

March 23.
The Fetu Ao dedicated at the Rozelle Bay wharf, Sydney, on Sunday afternoon, March 23, for the dedication of the fifth Adventist mission ship sent out to the islands since the war.
Piper, H. E. (April 21, 1947). "Our Island Field: Mission Ship Dedicated to New Enterprise" (PDF). Australasian Record. 51 (16). Warburton, Victoria, Australia: Signs Publishing Company: 6. Retrieved 2012-05-27.

1948

Howse describes the pleasant reception, offers of land, and requests for a teacher from the residents of the Islands.

1949

Thirty miles north of the equator, near the 174th longtiude, lies the island of Abemama, headquarters of our mission in this new and interesting field. On this island, which is some thirty miles long and encircles a beautiful lagoon in the shape of a "C," live some one thousand people, who spend their time fishing, cutting copra, and talking of the latest news, which, here on Abemama, is the progress of the Seventh-day Adventist Mission.
Howse, John. First-fruits from the Gilberts
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19490704-V53-27__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=8

1950s

1954

September 18. The first church in the Gilbert and Ellice mission was organized.
Thomson, Alec C. Progress in the Gilbert Islands. Ausralasian Record, November 15, 1954, p.6 (a DjVu file)

Gilbert and Ellice Islands Training School, grades 1-8, 74 students located at Abemama, Gilbert Islands
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/ASR/ASR1954__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=21

1956

Thomson, A. C. His Excellency the High Commissioner Visits Training School at Abemama
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19561001-V60-40__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=4

1960s

1962

May 3, Sail date. Robert Sutcliffe becomes headmaster of Abemama school. His wife and two children accompany him.
Australasian Record, April 30, 1962, p. 16

1963

February 4 edition of the Australasian Record profiles women involved in missions. For the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, the report tells of the wife of mission president W. G. Ferris. In describing her place in the mission, the article mentions her experience as a nurse, the role of the mission boat Fetu Ao, the agricultural limitations of this coral island

"Life is trying for womenfolk on Abemama, where the mission headquarters are established, mainly because of the food situation. This island being in the dry belt, with an average of only five inches of rain per year, no food grows there except coconuts. The staple diet of the native population is fish and coconuts, while other people live on tinned food, even to potatoes and butter, imported from Australia. Eggs are unobtainable. The ingenuity of the housewife is put to the stretch in providing a menu that is both wholesome and palatable and of sufficient variety to prevent loss of appetite."
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19630204-V67-05__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=8

April 17. Food sale conducted by the church's Dorcas Society on the property of the school. This report describes how the food limitations do not discourage culinary creativity. The principal's wife, Rosemary Sutcliffe, describes the school setting.

"IT is the evening of April 17. The stillness is broken by the sound of the surf as the waters of the mighty Pacific hurtle onto the coral reef that surrounds the lovely island of Abemama (Gilbert Islands). Mingled with the roar of the surf are the happy voices of our boarding students as they await their evening worship....The table was laden with freshly woven green- coconut-leaf baskets containing all sorts of delicious food and plates of other delicacies. In this sandy atoll the produce is limited in the extreme. Very little if anything that Australians are familiar with will survive the continuous heat of the equatorial sun. However, the limited variety of food with which to work did not discourage the ladies in the least. With fish, flour, coconuts, babai (a coarse root vegetable), and the first- fruits of the breadfruit season, they set about their preparations, and in a most commendable way made a variety of palatable dishes....A plate of watermelon pieces was at one end of the table. The eyes of all seemed to be upon that place. The donor had nurtured the melon for months, and how her young family of five would have relished it! We know these unselfish acts do not go unseen by the Master...."
Sutcliffe, Rosemary. Food Magic and Sacrifice. Australasian Record, July 8, 1963, p. 8

1964

Mission president, A. C. Thomson, describes the school's ingathering day organized by head master Sutcliffe. The fund raising event of Ingathering invites all members of the population to assist in the Adventist mission outreach. Thomson describes the interaction of the students with their community. They told of meeting former members, people in dire economic difficulty, and one young child dying from malnutrition. This prompted the church to seek to alleviate the discovered crises. Clothing was delivered to those in need. Mrs. Sutcliffe took the dying baby in, brought it back to health, and returned the child to its family. Thomson describes the impact the day had on the students desire to be socially and spiritually involved in society. Thomson, A. C. Ingathering Blessing at Abemama. Australasian Record, February 10, 1964, p. 2

1965

In 1965, Alex C. Thomson, head of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Mission (now Kiribati), describes a 15 day mission boat trip to the various islands. They returned students home for a few days and gathered other students to bring them to the Abemama (Kauma) school. He describes navigational challenges, mechanical problems on their mission boat, the Fetu Ao, two rescues at sea, helping people with clothing, the universal application of cocunut string, boiling rip tides, the gathering of students from an island where the mission opposed any other mission's activity, the gathering of students who passed the magistrates inspection, fishing at sea and the problem of hungry sharks, and the record breaking number of students at the school, 134. (One navigational challenge was resolved by observing the change of hue on the bottom of passing clouds. The article includes a picture of a maneaba, or meeting place, used in civic meetings.)
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19650524-V69-21__B.pdf#view=fit , pages 1-3
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19650524-V69-21__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=3

1970s

1972

We were visiting the mission to take part in the first session that has been held in the Gilbert and Ellice islands for many years. ...Following the session, we had the opportunity of visiting our Kauma school on Abemama, some 100 miles south of Tarawa. The school had not opened for the year at the time of our visit, due to the teachers being in attendance at the session. Tremendous needs are evident on every hand at Kauma, especially dormitory accommodation and kitchen and dining-room facilities. The temporary native-style dormitories that have served up to the present time are a real eyesore now, and urgently need replacing with more permanent structures.

Mitchell, D. E. G. Our Northernmost Mission
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19720501-V76-18__C/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=1

1979

Gilbert and Ellice Islands mission rename Kiribati and Tuvalu Mission http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/YB/YB1980/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=137

Had a letter from Bro. W. W. Lawson a week or two back—he's the principal of our Kauma Adventist High School in Abemama, in the Gilbert Islands (now called something else, because they've been granted independence). He writes that they have their hands full with a capacity complement of 200 boarding students, catered for by a staff of nine teachers. They go as high as Form 3, most of their students coming from the Gilberts and Tuvalu (formerly Ellice Islands). Incidently, as I read the letter again, I find that the new name for the Gilberts is KIRIBATI (pronounced, of course, Kee-re-bus) which, according to Brother Lawson, is supposed to be the Gilbertese word which was corrupted into the word Gilberts.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19790806-V84-32__C/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=16

THE UNSUNG HERO—well, unsung until now—in the Kiribati Group (formerly the Gilbert Islands) is Mr. Calvyn Maunder of N.Z. who, with his wife, volunteered for a term at Kauma Adventist High School in Abemama. He has built tanks, laid pipes, and installed showers and toilets for the students and staff. He has also connected water to the science laboratory which turned a science room into a science laboratory. Mr. Maunder, you might have been unsung in the past, but they are singing your praises out there right now as someone turns on a tap and water flows, or someone splashes under the shower at the end of a hot and sticky day. And thanks from all of us to you and your lady for volunteering.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19791126-V84-48__C/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=16

Thirteenth Sabbath offering earmarks Kauma school, staff housing and dormitories.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/ALUG/ALUG19751209-V74-23__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=4

1980s and 1990s

1994

June 9, Kiribati Tragedy
The business manager of the Kauma Adventist High School, Araiman Ratu, and his three children are missing and presumed drowned after a boating accident between the islands of Abemama and Aranuka, in the Kiribati Mission, on June 9. His wife; the mission president, Pastor Baraniko Mooa; and the school principal's wife were also in the boat, but were found alive, washed up on rocks. A memorial service was held on Abemama on June 14.
http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19940702-V99-25__C/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=5

2000s

2000

Blocklayers, carpenters, plumbers, handyperson needed! For water and building projects at Kauma Adventist High School. Kiribati. Teams needing more helpers. Term: 2-3 weeks, July 2000.
Australasian Record, June 3, 2000, p. 13 (a DjVu file)

Fulton's observations

In Fiji Again

AFTER a fairly pleasant passage of less than a week on the Levulca, we steamed into the beautiful Suva harbour. The voyage was made more than usually pleasant by associations with the Rev. W. E. Goward and wife, Miss Simmons, and Miss Forth, a missionary party returning to the Gilbert Islands, where Mr. and Mrs. Goward have laboured for thirteen years, and that after thirteen previous years had been spent in Samoa, making altogether twenty-six years spent in tropical islands. They are earnest, devoted Christians, and their humble life, their unassuming manners, and plain dress, and their cheerful words were an inspiration. Together weheld service on board, Mr. Goward requesting me to take the sermon while he assisted by earnest prayer and reading....

http://www.adventistarchives.org/docs/AAR/AAR19140713-V18-28__B/index.djvu?djvuopts&page=2

This illustrates the goodwill felt by missionaries of various denominations for each other.

Background sources

Background sources

Jane Resture's Kiribati Traditions page http://www.janeresture.com/kiribati_traditions/index.htm