For half a century, the Sisters of St. Augustine of Divine Mercy have crossed muddy logging roads, navigated rivers and lived among Indigenous Dayak communities, providing education, health care and pastoral support in one of the most isolated parts of West Kalimantan.
At first light on a Saturday morning, the quiet village of Menyumbung awoke not to the sound of engines or chainsaws, but to prayer.
The rhythmic recitation of the rosary drifted through the rainforest as nearly 200 Catholics walked along the village’s dusty roads. Some carried an image of the Divine Mercy. Others bore statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Monica.
Children walked beside elderly villagers. Young people sang hymns while mothers led the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. The procession moved slowly through the settlement, turning the remote Dayak village into what participants described as “a river of prayer.”
For the people of Menyumbung, deep in the interior of Ketapang Regency in West Kalimantan, such a public expression of faith is rare.
The July 25 procession was part of celebrations marking the golden jubilee of the Sisters of St. Augustine of Divine Mercy (OSA) in Holy Cross Parish, Menyumbung.
The jubilee commemorates the official foundation of the sisters’ community on July 27, 1976, although their missionary presence in the area had begun the previous year.
For five decades, the sisters have lived among Indigenous Dayak families, establishing schools, providing health care, accompanying the sick, preparing children for the sacraments and traveling to isolated villages accessible through rivers winding across the forested interior of Borneo.
Many of those who joined the procession were once students in schools established by the sisters. Others had been treated at the mission clinic decades ago or had grown up seeing the sisters arrive by wooden motorboats after long journeys.
The celebration reflected how closely the congregation’s history has become linked with the life of the local Church and the communities it has served.
Beyond the Last Road
To understand the OSA sisters’ ministry, one must first understand Menyumbung itself.
Located more than 198 kilometers from Ketapang City in West Kalimantan province, the village lies far from Indonesia’s major highways. The journey begins with a seven- to eight-hour drive from Ketapang through Sandai.
Distance, however, is only part of the challenge.
There are no smooth asphalt roads leading to the village. Instead, travelers navigate rough dirt tracks known locally as Jalan Perusahaan, or “company roads,” first opened decades ago by timber concessions and later used by oil palm plantations operating in the interior.
During the rainy season, sections of the roads can disappear beneath thick mud, forcing vehicles to crawl forward at walking speed. In the dry months, red dust covers the route.
Even when the road ends, the journey is not over.
Passengers transfer to small motorized boats and continue upstream along narrow rivers cutting through dense tropical forest.
For generations, these rivers have connected remote Dayak settlements with the outside world. In many places, they remain the most practical means of transportation.
The geographical isolation has also shaped the pastoral mission of the Diocese of Ketapang, whose territory stretches across Ketapang and Kayong Utara regencies.
Priests, catechists and religious sisters routinely spend hours traveling to celebrate Mass, administer the sacraments or visit Catholic communities scattered across the interior.
For the Augustinian sisters, difficult travel has long been part of everyday missionary life.
A Mission Born from Need
The story began more than half a century ago.
In the early 1970s, access to education and health care in Menyumbung was limited. Children often had little opportunity to attend school without leaving their villages, while families faced difficulties obtaining medical care.
Recognizing these needs, the Diocese of Ketapang invited the Sisters of St. Augustine of Divine Mercy to establish a permanent presence in the area.
The initiative was entrusted to Dutch missionary Sr. Carina Kester OSA and Sr. Theresia Tembaga OSA, one of the congregation’s first Indigenous Dayak sisters.
Their assignment came in February 1975. There was no completed convent waiting for them and little modern infrastructure. Their first home was a simple, unfinished building.
The Menyumbung community was officially founded on July 27, 1976, the date on which the congregation bases its golden jubilee celebration.
The early years were documented in the 2021 book Muddy Roads, Rocky Rivers: OSA Developed Ketapang, written by Mathias Hariyadi and Royani Ping.
Looking back on those first months, Sr. Carina recalled a life that required constant adaptation.
“When we arrived, the convent was still unfinished,” she recalled.
“We simply continued our community life as best we could. For bathing and washing, we went directly to the river. I had never worn a traditional bathing cloth before, but I had to learn. We were always careful because the current could easily carry someone away.”
The sisters adapted to the conditions of the communities where they served, sharing many of the same difficulties faced by local families.
They did not limit their work to providing services. They lived among the people and became part of village life.
The pioneering community consisted of Sr. Carina Kester OSA, Sr. Joannita Dekker OSA, Sr. Maria Goretti OSA and Sr. Florentina OSA. Two were Dutch missionaries and two were Dayak sisters. All four have since died.
Their first works centered on education and health care.
An elementary school opened its doors to children who previously had little access to formal education. A small clinic began treating illnesses that might otherwise have gone unattended.
The sisters also visited families, accompanied mothers and children, assisted elderly residents and served communities far from government services.
The mission became a place where children gathered to study, parents sought advice, the sick received medicine, travelers found hospitality and villagers came to pray.
Over the decades, another change emerged within the congregation itself.
Many OSA sisters now serving throughout the Diocese of Ketapang come from the Dayak communities where the congregation’s early missionaries once worked.
A mission that began with foreign missionaries has gradually taken root among the Indigenous communities themselves.
Fifty years after the Menyumbung community was formally established, that legacy could be seen in the July procession: generations of Dayak Catholics walking together through the village where the Augustinian sisters began their mission half a century ago.
