Ranwadi School (officially known since 2003 as Ranwadi Churches of Christ College) is a co-educational boarding school on Pentecost, Vanuatu. The school has over 300 students who come from all over Pentecost Island and from other parts of Vanuatu. Lisepsep inhabit the forests around the school.
The school is situated 11km north of Lonorore airport on a coastal hillside adjacent to the village of Vanwoki. The name is a shortening of ranwadikon which meant "on a heap of sand" in the Sowa language. Strictly this name refers to the coastal area below the school; the site on which the main school buildings now stand was historically known as Orobe.
Ranwadi is a Churches of Christ mission school and is run along strongly religious lines; the school's motto is Luke 2:52.
The school's main source of income is the school fees paid by its students, although it also receives some funding from church and government sources. Major development projects at the school have often been funded by overseas aid. In 2005-2006 a major improvement programme was carried out with the help of AusAID (the Australian Agency for International Development).
Although the majority of the staff are local, in the 1990s and 2000s under Principal Silas Buli the school also welcomed a large number of expatriate teachers. Most of these were affiliated with volunteer organisations such as Latitude Global Volunteering (formerly GAP Activity Projects), Project Pacific, VSA, Peace Corps and church mission groups.
History
Ranwadi traces its origins to 1902, when a local man named Willie Tabimamkan returned from working on a Queensland sugar plantation with a "burning desire" to tell people about Jesus. Tabimamkan wrote to Australia asking for help, and in response, a missionary named John Thompson arrived in 1903.[1] Malaria forced Thompson to leave later that year, but his arrival marked the beginning of the work of the Churches of Christ Overseas Mission Board in the area, which continues to this day. The next white missionary was Frank Filmer, who stayed at Ranwadi from 1908 until 1912.[2]
Tabimamkan died in 1918, and there is no record of what happened at Ranwadi from then until 1934, when another missionary, Mr Sandalls, arrived. He left due to ill health, and was replaced by another missionary, Mr Dow, who stayed at Ranwadi from 1937 to 1939. After this the school was temporarily abandoned and became overgrown, although the work of baptising people into the Churches of Christ was continued by local villagers.
In 1946, a missionary couple named Jack and Dorothy Smith established a mission station at Ranmawot, 3km south of Ranwadi. A small primary school was established here, although the site proved too small, and in 1955 work began on building a new school at the old Ranwadi site, under the leadership of Owen Jones, a teacher newly arrived from Ballarat, Australia. The school was gradually developed there under a succession of missionaries, including Frank Beale (1957), Fred Reynolds (1958–1959), Jack Edwards and his wife (1959–1968) and Beth Clapp (1969–1970). The school originally took only boys, but under Mr & Mrs Edwards girls began to be admitted.
In 1971, as the islanders' educational standard improved, Ranwadi was transformed into a secondary school, while a primary school was re-established at Ranmawot. Ranwadi continued to be run by Australian missionaries: Ray Wilson and his wife (1971–1973), Ken Warne and his wife (1974–1978), Jenny Marshall (1978–1980) and Lyall Muller[3] (1981–1985).
In colonial days, Ranwadi owned a large tract of surrounding land, on which students cultivated their own food. However, following Vanuatu's independence in 1980, the school faced demands from traditional landowners for the return of their ancestral land. The ensuing land dispute was solved by the signing of a Lease Agreement under which Ranwadi kept the core of its land in return for a small annual rent payment to the villagers. The remainder of the land, including the site of present-day Vanwoki village, was returned to its traditional owners. Although the agreement led to good relations between the school and the surrounding communities, it also left the school dependent on imported foodstuffs which represent a major drain on the school's budget and a cause of malnutrition among its students.
The new Vanuatu government's desire to see schools run by local people rather than overseas missionaries led to the appointment in 1986 of Silas Buli, from nearby Vanuu (Waterfall village), as principal (1986-2009). Although very young and inexperienced at the time of his appointment, Silas enjoyed a long and successful term at Ranwadi, and won a great deal of respect from those who worked with him. Since 2009 the school has had several principals and acting principals including Silas Tabi, Stephen Toa, Albert Bule, Royal Bebe, Max Tari, Caulton Bule and Albion Tabi.
Curriculum
Ranwadi offers education from Year 7 to Year 13 (students aged between approximately 13 and 19 years).
Year 7 - 10 students ("juniors") follow a standard curriculum set by the Vanuatu Ministry of Education, culminating in national exams at the end of Year 10 which determine students' future progress. Year 11, 12 and 13 students ("seniors") study towards Vanuatu National Secondary Certificates (VNSC) and Vanuatu University Entrance Certificates (VUEC).
The language of instruction at Ranwadi is English, although in informal settings, teachers and students mostly communicate in Bislama or their vernacular languages.
Christianity is a major part of school life, with students attending twice-daily services in the chapel, in addition to other religious events such as Easter baptisms, which are held in the saltwater pool below the school. Helping students get to know Jesus is considered by many to be the school's number one priority.
The school competes at the PISSA Games (a provincial inter-school tournament), and hosted the Games in 2008 and 2018.[citation needed] The major sports played at the school are football, netball, volleyball, basketball and athletics.
Facilities
By rural Vanuatu standards, Ranwadi is well resourced, thanks largely to donations from overseas aid agencies and other foreign benefactors. However, good maintenance of buildings and equipment is difficult due to the damp tropical climate and isolated location, and the school was badly damaged by Cyclone Harold in 2020.
The school buildings comprise twelve ordinary classrooms, two science laboratories, four technology rooms, a computer room, a staff room, a large library, offices, a dining hall and kitchen, a chapel, a mechanic's workshop, an aid post staffed by a nurse, a small shop, boys' and girls' dormitories, and staff houses. Teachers' houses are located close to the main school buildings, while ancillary staff such as the driver, nurse and boarding master are housed on the shoreside strip below the school.
A large sports ground below the school, with a football pitch and three basketball/volleyball/netball/futsal courts, is shared by the school and the local community.
Small gardens around the school are used by students for agriculture classes.
Electricity is provided in the evenings by a diesel-powered generator. A solar power system provides power during the day for the school office, staff room, computer room and the freezer in the school store.
Unlike at typical locations in rural Vanuatu, most houses at Ranwadi have running water and flush toilets. Water is supplied from a spring on the mountainside above the school near Lalwori village, via a system of pipes and tanks which also serve neighbouring villages. Rainwater tanks collecting the run-off from roofs provide an additional source of water, as well as helping to prevent erosion, which is an issue in parts of the school.
Transport of students and supplies to and from the school occurs primarily by ship, although some also arrive by air from Port Vila and Santo, or by road from neighbouring parts of Pentecost. Cargo ships, which pass along the coast of Pentecost approximately twice per week, put ashore either at the beach by the school sports field (although access here is somewhat difficult due to the presence of a reef), or at nearby Vanuu (Waterfall Village). The school owns a 'truck' (four-wheel-drive utility vehicle) which is used for transport of staff, students and supplies to and from the landing point, the airport, the bank and hospital at nearby Melsisi, and other locations.
Related Research Articles
Pentecost is one of the 83 islands that make up the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu.
All Nations Christian College is an English missions college, located on the Easneye estate near Ware, Hertfordshire, and validated by the Open University.
The Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa (AFM) is a classical Pentecostal Christian denomination in South Africa. With 1.2 million adherents, it is South Africa's largest Pentecostal church and the fifth largest religious grouping in South Africa representing 7.6 percent of the population. Dr. Isak Burger has led the AFM as president since 1996 when the white and black branches of the church were united. It is a member of the Apostolic Faith Mission International, a fellowship of 23 AFM national churches. It is also a member of the South African Council of Churches. The AFM is one of the oldest Pentecostal movement is South Africa with roots in the Azusa Street Revival, the Holiness Movement teachings of Andrew Murray and the teachings of John Alexander Dowie. The AFM had an interracial character when it started, but, as in American Pentecostalism, this interracial cooperation was short-lived. The decades from the 1950s to the 1980s were marked by the implementation of apartheid. After 1994, the white AFM moved rapidly towards unification with the black churches. By 1996, all the AFM churches were united in a single multi-racial church. The constitution of the AFM blends at the national level the elements of a presbyterian polity with an episcopal polity. Decentralization is a major feature of its constitution, which allows local churches to develop their own policies. The Apostolic Faith Mission displays a variety of identities and ministry philosophies, including seeker-sensitive, Word of Faith, Presbyterian, and classical Pentecostal.
Protestants in Thailand constitute about 0.77% of the population of Thailand. Protestant work among the Thai people was begun by Ann Judson in Burma, who evangelized Thai war captives who were relocated to Burma. Protestantism was introduced to the country of Thailand in 1828 through the work of Karl Gutzlaff and Jacob Tomlin, the first two resident Protestant missionaries in Thailand.
Selly Oak Colleges was a federation of educational facilities which in the 1970s and 1980s was at the forefront of debates about ecumenism - the coming together of Christian churches and the creation of new united churches such as the Church of South India; the relationships between Christianity and other religions, especially Islam and Judaism; child-centred teacher training; and the theology of Christian mission. It was located on a substantial campus in Selly Oak, a suburb in the south-west of Birmingham, England, about a mile from the University of Birmingham. In 2001 the largest college, Westhill College, whose main work was the training of teachers, passed into the hands of the University of Birmingham, and most of the remaining colleges closed, leaving Woodbrooke College, a study and conference centre for the Society of Friends, and Fircroft College, a small adult education college with residential provision, which continue today.
Goodland Academy is a boarding school located in Choctaw County, Oklahoma, 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Hugo in southeastern Oklahoma, U.S.. Founded in 1848 as a Presbyterian mission, it is the oldest private boarding school in Oklahoma still in operation.
Bule Hora is a town in southern Oromia Region, Ethiopia. Located on the paved Addis Ababa-Moyale highway, in the West Guji Zone, it is the largest town in this zone mainly inhabited by the Guji Oromo. It has a latitude and longitude of 5°35′N38°15′E and an altitude of 1716 meters above sea level.
Church College of New Zealand (CCNZ) was a private secondary school in Temple View, Hamilton, New Zealand, that was operated by the Church Educational System of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was closed at the end of the 2009 school year.
Araki is a small rocky island with an area of 2.5 km², located 3 miles off the southern shores of Espiritu Santo, which is the largest island in the nation of Vanuatu.
Christianity is the largest religion in Vanuatu. Vanuatu is an archipelago made up of 13 larger islands, and approximately 70 smaller surrounding islands, each home to multitudes of diverse cultural and religious communities.
Aore Adventist Academy is a coeducational Christian secondary school in Aore, Vanuatu. It first opened in 1927 as 'New Hebrides Training School.' Its educational status varied over the decades. In 1974, the Aore School was upgraded to that of a high school, and was renamed Aore Adventist High School. It was previously Parker Missionary School. In 1994, the school's board changed the name to Aore Adventist Academy.
Lelean Memorial School is the largest school in Fiji. It was established in 1943 and is run by the Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma. It is co-located at the Davuilevu Methodist Compound with the Davuilevu Theological College and the Young People's Department, which runs training for Methodist catechists.
God's Bible School and College is a Bible college in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1900. It is of the Wesleyan-Arminian (Methodist) tradition.
Vanuu, also known as Waterfall Village, is a large settlement on the southwestern coast of Pentecost Island in Vanuatu. The village consists of several scattered groups of houses within an ageing coconut plantation.
Melsisi is a large settlement and Catholic mission on the west coast of Pentecost Island, Vanuatu.
Taipei Adventist American School (TAAS) is a private foreign-registered elementary school with an American-based curriculum located on Yangming Shan (陽明山) in the Shihlin District of Taipei City, Taiwan. It is administered under the Northern Asia-Pacific Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
The Boro Baptist Church Association (BBCA) is an association of Baptist Christian churches in the state of Assam. Established in 1927 by the American Baptist Missionaries and later nurtured by Australian Baptist Missionary Society ABMS. The BBCA has its headquarters in the Tukrajhar Baptist Mission compound in Chirang district of Bodoland, Assam. BBCA is working in partnership with Baptist World Alliance, Global Interaction (Australia), Asia Pacific Baptist Federation, Seva Bharat, Missionaries Upholders Trust, Inspire India and Tura Baptist Church.
Silas Mead was an English Baptist minister who founded the Flinders Street Baptist Church and South Australian Baptist Association in Adelaide, South Australia, and is remembered for the missionary work in India which he inspired.
Riverside Christian College, formerly Maryborough Christian Academy, is a private primary and secondary school in Maryborough West, Queensland.
Helen Plummer Phillips (1850–1929) was an educator, missionary, and philanthropist. She was the first missionary sent from Australia by the newly formed Church Missionary Association NSW in 1892. She was the first tutor for women students at the University of Sydney and formed the University of Sydney Women's Society in 1891 and established its settlement work, mentoring the women students until the Women's College was built and the first principal arrived. Phillips was a principal of St. Catherine's School, Waverley NSW, an advocate for women's full education, and a benefactor of St Luke's Anglican Community Church, Medlow Bath, NSW.
References
↑ Foster, Douglas A. The Stone-Campbell Movement: A Global History (1sted.). p.132. ISBN9780827235298.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
