Serving in the Boas Orphanage
In a rural and small city in Central Java, Mr. Cho
and Mrs. Cho have established Boas Orphanage in
order to serve the abandoned children of Indonesia.
Currently, the orphanage houses thirty-five orphans,
ranging from new-born babies to college graduates,
and plans to accept even more orphans from all over
Indonesia. The Boas Orphanage also provides
scholarships for fifty households and food for ten
disabled families. So how did Mr. and Mrs. Cho begin
their orphanage ministry?
Mr and Mrs. Cho came to Indonesia as missionaries
and realized that there were many hardships ahead of
them, such as language barrier. Discouraged, they
started to pray about their future ministry, and God
inspired them to open a Christian orphanage to start
their mission work here in Indonesia.
The construction of the orphanage took two years,
and God generously provided all the means for Mr
and Mrs. Cho to accomplish the task. After its
completion, a nearby hospital called Mr. Cho if he was
willing to accept new-born babies who have been
abandoned by their single-mothers. This presented a
dilemma to Mr. and Mrs. Cho, because he only
planned to receive elementary children. Nevertheless,
believing that this was part of God’s plan, the couple
accepted the baby as their first orphan. Soon, other
hospitals started sending newly born babies to the
Boas Orphanage. Today, fifteen toddlers are running
and playing around the orphanage.
One year after opening the orphanage, Mr and Mrs.
Cho received a call from pastors from other islands of
Indonesia. The pastors wanted to send children who
wanted to be pastors, bible teachers, and full-time
ministers, but couldn’t afford to go to school. This
presented another dilemma to them, because these
kids had parents. This meant that when they grow up,
they would return to their parents instead of staying in
the orphanage. Nonetheless, Mr and Mrs. Cho prayed
for wisdom and discernment, and God told them
through His word that He wanted the Boas
By Peter Cho
Orphanage to be open to any children, not just
orphans. In an act of obedience, they decided to
accept children who wanted to attend theologian
schools to become full time ministers. Currently in the
Boas Orphanage, twenty children are studying in
elementary school, secondary school, and college.
However, Mr. and Mrs. Cho realized that their
ministry would be more productive if it went beyond
the walls of Boas Orphanage. Therefore, to further
expand their ministries, they decided to give
scholarships to fifty nearby families and food to ten
disabled families. They also purchased a small house
just outside of the Boas Orphanage to open a
pre-school for young children in their neighborhood.
Running the orphanage, supporting thirty-five
children and helping out nearby neighbors challenged
Mr. and Mrs. Cho and their several co-workers. They
constantly have to take care of the babies, teach in the
pre-school, give out aid to nearby neighbors, and buy
groceries for them. Although this deprived them of
their leisure time and other comforts, Mr and Mrs.
Cho and their co-workers were glad to have such
opportunities to return.
The main challenge was the financial issue. Mr. and
Mrs. Cho needed huge amounts of financial aid to
keep things running smoothly in and out of the
orphanage. However, they didn’t have a wealthy
supporter. Instead, their supporters consisted of
middle-class people with average incomes. Although
this may look unfavorable to other people, Mr and
Mrs. Cho say that they are never worried about
financial issues because they believe that God will
provide everything.
Though they face various challenges, Mr. and Mrs.
Cho are joyful and diligent in their ministries. During
the interview, they said that they are willing to give up
their personal comfort and desires to continue God’s
work and plans to further expand their ministry by
receiving more children and helping greater number
of poor and needy neighbors.
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