Light to the Folopa

I put together this short video (see below) some years ago about how the Gospel came into the Folopa speaking area. It's a drama reenactment with added photos and videos of the man who brought the Gospel, and about the Andersons who translated the New Testament.

Back in the 1960's a young man by the name of Kitapareke who was sent by the ECPNG Church in Samberigi mission station, trekked into Mt Tawa village to share the Gospel. This was a dangerous thing to do because the Folopa people were hostile to outsiders, thinking they were enemies. When Kitapareke walked into the Folopa village, they grabbed their weapons to challenge him. He told them he was coming in peace and bringing good news. They let him live and listened to what he had to say. He shared the Gospel message and some of the Folopa believed his message. He stayed there in Mt Tawa village for about 4 years. He told the people to pray for a "white missionary", to translate the New Testament into the Folopa language, and so they prayed. A few years later my parents (Neil and Carol Anderson) arrived in the village to translate the New Testament. Many years later (2007) the Folopa people dedicated the completion of the Folopa New Testament.

When Kitapareke was a baby, his village came under attack from another enemy village to the north. His father rebuked his mother who was carrying him, who was about to throw the baby into the bushes and run away. He told her not to throw the baby away but to take the child to Yonkuri village about a 2 day's trek away. She carried him to Yonkuri village where he grew up. When Kitapareke was a young man he went to Samberigi mission station, which is about a day's journey from Yonkuri. There he heard the Gospel and became a follower of Jesus in the ECPNG church. Later he would be sent by the church into the Folopa villages to preach the Gospel.

Kitapareke with his wife Nipulewande