When migrants suddenly started turning up in Bali from the nearby island of Sumba, many people assumed the worst. Would they be a strain on housing, jobs and social harmony? One more group of outsiders to be tolerated or pushed aside?
But for Rev Betha and her team at MBM (the development agency of the Protestant Christian Church in Bali), the arrivals weren’t a problem to be solved but an opportunity to love their neighbours in need.
“In our outreach to new migrants, they shared that the primary driving factor for leaving Sumba to seek work in Bali was extreme poverty,” Rev Betha explained.
“Their condition is largely caused by drought, infertile land and limited access to water, which make it difficult for villagers to make a living.”
Climate change sits at the centre of this shared challenge. “These changes have led to reduced rainfall and prolonged dry seasons, resulting in drought and crop failure,” Rev Betha says, with ripple effects across health, livelihoods and family safety.
For many years, MBM has worked alongside vulnerable communities in Bali. But when Rev Betha stepped into leadership in 2023, she felt called to respond more deeply to the plight of new
migrants.
“Climate change and poverty have driven many people from Sumba to migrate to Bali in search of work, often without adequate skills or an understanding of cultural differences.
As a result, many Sumbanese migrants in Bali face a type of ‘double’ poverty. First in their places of origin, and again in their destination areas. These realities strengthened our conviction at MBM that we must expand our ministry to Sumba.”
As well as supporting families who have already migrated, MBM devised a plan to help people still at home in Sumba, before they become stuck in Bali facing hostility and fewer opportunities.
MBM has partnered with UnitingWorld and the Sumba Christian Church to make this work possible, building trust through shared faith.
“We hold the conviction that it is God who sends us to accompany the vulnerable and the poor with compassion,” Rev Betha reflects. “We believe that God goes before this good plan and faithfully sustains our work.”
We will be sharing more about this growing partnership, and ways to support the project, later in the year. Pease uphold Rev Betha and her team in prayer.