Location Profile: Hueknutu
Population: 2,637
Elementary students: 232
Junior high school students: 91
High school students: 98
Religious affiliation: Protestant: 71.0%
Catholic: 15.3%
Muslim: 0.2%
Unreported: 13.5%
(Data taken from published annual report of Kupang District Statistics Center, 2021)
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The village of Hueknutu is a remote, less-developed area in East Nusa Tenggara, in Eastern Indonesia. It is positioned about a 2-hour drive outside of the provincial capital city of Kupang, on the island of Timor. Until 2019, Hueknutu had no paved roads and no electricity or cellular or internet connection. The Indonesian national government then made the area included in its list of rural areas for development, and in the past few years, there has been a main paved road created, electricity lines provided, and improved cellular connection supported. Most families live in small, traditional houses, work to farm rice and vegetables, and enjoy the local village culture. It is a warm, happy, spirited place.
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The province of East Nusa Tenggara in Indonesia marked in red
Co-founder Okta's Mother teaches teens traditional fabric weaving, 2020
The Hueknutu weaving group (Naubina) at work, 2020
Celebrating the corn harvest with the governor in the fields of Hueknutu, 2022
Hueknutu school children on the main village road, 2019 (before pavement)
With the new improvements in infrastructure, we see it as the right time to come in with something like KetongBaca. Children are beginning to have greater exposure to the internet and to the outside world, which comes with its opportunities and its dangers. While 71% of the local people report religious affiliation as Protestant Christian, we have seen that it is, at best, quite a shallow and undeveloped affiliation. We think there is an opportunity to help the young people of Hueknutu toward growth in the truth of Christ, and literacy education is our way to do that.
Our chosen location is in a former road-side mini-mart, right in the middle of the village, along the new paved road. This will be an advantageous location, as everyone knows it, and people walk past it every day. It is also less than 500 meters from the largest village public elementary school, which will allow us to work together with existing educational programs and also catch the attention of students.
We are so very excited to start our KetongBaca digital reading room in Hueknutu, and we pray that it will be a blessing to the people there.
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