There have been quite a few research papers and articles published on the Karens of Andamans which we’re thankful for but I find that there has been no mention of an Indian missionary in the Andamans who has been living and working amongst the Karens for the past 62 years. So many Karen people and children have benefitted from the school and the Church that he runs in Webi village even till date. I can confidently say that I am who I am today because of Rev George David and I’m sure many others can also testify to the same in their life story.  

Rev.George David and Late Mrs. Sunanda David

In 1958 Rev. George David an Indian Christian missionary came to the Andaman Islands.  Prior to this, He was working for HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited) for the 15th Bomber Squadron as an “A” grade mechanic and was based in Poona (now Pune). He was an accomplished and skilled mechanic in the establishment of HAL. After a stint of five years in HAL, Rev. David had a calling to get into the Christian ministry and to move on to serve his Lord and Saviour. He, therefore, quit his job and joined the Calcutta Bible college to do his theological studies and prepare himself for the ministry ahead. Calcutta Bible College was also associated with the Carey Baptist Church, Calcutta (Kolkata).

After his Bible college, Rev. David said that he prayed and waited on the Lord to lead and take him to the mission field that He wanted him to go. As he waited on the Lord for an answer, a Burmese businessman Mong Myin from the Andamans had visited Calcutta on business and while in Calcutta, he stepped into the Calcutta Bible college and casually mentioned that a Christian community known as Karens in the Andamans were wanting a Baptist missionary to work amongst them. When Rev. David heard this, he realised that this was the mission field that the Lord wanted him to go to – the Andaman Islands, but he says that he had no idea how he was going to go, where he was going to stay, who he would contact and how he would communicate with the Karen people in the Andamans.  But trusting God and in faith, he started off, took the ship, and set sail from Calcutta to Port Blair in 1958. The ships in those days took about five to six days to reach Port Blair and while on the ship he met a local person of Andamans who offered to put him up for a few days at his home in Port Blair till he was able to decide where he would be going in the Islands. There are about 572 islands of which 38 are permanently inhabited.

Steam Ship SS. Cholunga 

After reaching Port Blair, Rev. David came to know that the settlement of the Karen community was not in Port Blair but in Mayabunder, the Northern part of the Islands, and the traveling to Mayabunder would take a whole day by boat. As the only means of transportation, those days were by boat, Rev David had no other option but to take the boat and travel through the creeks to reach Mayabunder. One boat that used to sail from Port Blair and back was a steamship known as SS Cholunga and this ship carried passengers, cargo, animals, and livestock all at the same time. This was quite an old ship that was designated by the Andaman Administration to ply between Port Blair and Mayabunder and She did serve the islanders well for many years. There would be a lot of rush to get tickets for this ship and people had to stand in a queue for a long time at the Marine jetty, Port Blair to pick up a ticket. Invariably people would be disappointed as tickets would be sold out by the time they reached the counter. 

During the monsoon season when the sea is rough, the journey would be very difficult with passengers experiencing seasickness as the boat would toss up and down in the choppy sea. People had to just lie on the deck of the ship. One had to be careful that you don’t roll over the railings of the boat into the sea especially when it was choppy and rough. There were no berths and beds for passengers to lie down during the journey.

In these rough conditions of travel, Rev. David reached Mayabunder in North Andamans but did not know who to meet or where he would stay. Then he heard that from Mayabunder, the Karen settlement in Webi village was another eight Kilometres and there were no proper roads and transport to the village during those years, only some mud tracks that would take one to the village. The only means to get to the village was to walk. Rev. David would not have imagined that the place was still very untouched but he somehow managed to get in touch with a Karen gentle, Saw Ahtin, who lived at Burmadera (Now Lucknow village), about six kilometers from Mayabunder.

Pastor Diamond Joseph assisting Rev. George David in the School and the Church

Saw Ahtin put up Rev. David in his home initially and from that day they became good friends and Saw Ahtin was also a guide to Rev David, took him around, and got him familiar with the people and the place in the village. Rev. David visited the homes of the Karens to spread the good news of the gospel, prayed with them, and talked to the people about their social and spiritual well being. Saw Ahtin was one of the very Karens who was educated and knew how to speak English, and so he had to accompany Rev. David everywhere on his visits to the Karen homes and be his translator. Not everyone took the instructions and advice well but there were a few who accepted the truth of the gospel and respected Rev. David for a person who was enlightening them about the Word and The Truth. Rev. David narrated to me that there were times when people were hostile and even threatened him with dire consequences when he confronted and corrected them for the wrong things they were doing. 

I was about seven years old when my parents told me that an Indian missionary by name Rev. George David had reached our village and was going to stay in the village which was quite close to where we stayed. Saw Ahtin along with a few other elders of the village then constructed a house for him made out of wood, bamboo, and thatched roof and they provided him with food initially but he had to adjust to the rough and tough village life which I’m sure would have been very difficult for him in the beginning. I vaguely remember my parents supplying him with buffalo’s milk for him to make tea and coffee.

Mula School and Church When Rev George David first arrived In Webi Village

During that time, there was a little private Christian school named Mulla school (meaning “ Future Hope”) in Webi village which was set up mainly for the Karen children and Rev. David wanted to improve this school and make it an English medium school, where the children of the village would have an opportunity to learn English. He, therefore, took over the school and made English as the medium of instruction. Parents were encouraged to send their children to school instead of just getting their young kids to work on the field. They were free to help their parents during the holidays, otherwise, they had to be regular to school for which the parents were instructed to take care in order to avail the benefits of formal education.

Saw Ahtin was a great support to Rev. David in the initial years of his ministry in teaching and preaching in the village. There were also a few other elders like Saw Aungthong, Saw Abber who supported Rev. David in establishing the church and later the school. Parents began sending their children to school and my parents too sent me to this school and since it was so close to our house, it was convenient for me. I used to be one of the earliest to school every day and recollect an incident when I was all alone in the classroom and picked up a piece of chalk. I wanted to experience the thrill of writing something on the blackboard when it slipped, fell, and hit me on my forehead. Immediately, I realized that my forehead was bleeding profusely and panicked at the thought of Rev David punishing me for messing with the blackboard. Inevitably, when he asked me what had happened, I lied and said that I had fallen and hurt my head on the edge of the table. I was terrified to say that I had tampered with the chalk and the blackboard.

This was my first experience of going to a school. I recall with gratitude starting off my Pre Primary education because of the school that Rev. David had established in our village. We were taught to read and write English only after attending Mulla school and Rev. David was the only teacher who taught us English and Maths. The other teacher in the school was a Karen gentleman Saw Ba Maung who taught the Karen language to the children as Rev. David did not want us to forget reading and writing our mother tongue.

Students of Carey Memorial School (then Mula School) 

After a few years, Rev. David began to identify some students who he could send to the Mainland to study and then return and help their community. One of the first Karen boys whom he sent out to study in Bangalore was Saw Batha, the son of Saw Ahtin. Rev. David made arrangements for Saw Batha to study in Clarence High school, Bangalore and to stay with a missionary family Rev. Grey & Mrs. Grey who was serving at the Ebenezer Baptist Church at Bangalore. Saw Batha finished his schooling in Bangalore, returned to the Andamans, and helped out as a teacher assisting Rev. David in the school and church for some years.

Little did I realize that a few years after that, I would be picked by Rev. David to also go to Bangalore to continue my education there.  I was only ten years old at that time and it would have been difficult for my parents to decide to send me out so far away to study. My parents did not have the means to even see to my travel expenses to Bangalore let alone pay for my education in the city.  But Rev. David always encouraged us to trust and have faith in God. I believe this was God’s plan and doing in my life because there were other students whose parents were a little better off financially and who could help support their child’s studies in the mainland to some extent. 

Then along with me Rev. David also chose two other young Karens, Saw Diamond Joseph and Saw Jimmy go along with me to Bangalore. They were much older than me and so Rev. David arranged for them to do some apprenticeship work in a mechanical and electrical garage so that they could return to the Andamans and set up their own workshops for the benefit of the Islanders and for themselves.  My parents were a little reassured now that  I would be having a company with my cousin Saw Diamond Joseph and Saw Jimmy going to the Mainland as they could also look after me during my travel and stay in Bangalore. None of our parents had the money for our travel and stays in Bangalore but Rev. David wanted us to just trust in God’s leading and provision. Thus it was finalized for the three of us to go along with Rev. David to Bangalore. Our parents could not come even to Port Blair to see us off. 

A few years after this, Rev. David also selected two other Karen boys from the school, Saw Joshua Martin and Saw Robert Pee to also continue their Middle and High school education at Madras (now Chennai). He got admission for them into a good school in Chennai, St. George’s school, and made arrangements for them to stay at the home of a local pastor in Madras.  This was exposure and an opportunity for us to get a good headstart in our education in the Mainland. Joshua returned to the Andamans and was able to get a good job in the Medical departments as a Compounder and Robert Pee too got a good posting in the forest department as a Forestor since they had the necessary qualification and had good spoken and writing skills in English due to their education in the Mainland.  Saw Diamond Joseph worked for a few years as a motor mechanic and when he felt the calling to serve the Lord, he quit his job and went on to do his theological studies in Bangalore at the Berean Bible college and later on returned to the village and assisted Rev. David in the school as a teacher and the Assistant pastor of the Zion Baptist church. He is now the pastor of the Church. 

Mula school upgraded and renamed as Carey Memorial School

Mulla Primary school where I began my schooling has been upgraded by Rev. George David in Webi village to grade 8 and many Karen children have benefitted from this school through the years. The school is now known as the CAREY MEMORIAL SCHOOL and is registered and recognized by the Education Department of Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

 While serving in the Andaman Islands, Rev. David lost his eldest daughter Rita in August 1972 due to an illness and in August 2006, his wife Mrs. Sunanda David also passed away. Having experienced the loss of two of his dear ones, Rev. David had all the reasons to give up the work in the Andamans and move back to the Mainland and retire comfortably. But he has decided to stay on with his daughter Ranjana and continue the work and ministry that God has called him to. Our hope and prayer are that his son Rajesh and his daughters Ranjitha and Ranjana will continue the good work that their father had started. Rev. David is now 87 years old and still continues to oversee the running of the school in Webi Village, Andaman Islands.

Rev. George David Today at 87 Years 

I want to conclude by saying that Rev. David’s life has been one of Commitment to his Lord and Master and as a result making a difference in the lives of others. For his sacrifice and service, we give God the glory.

Our prayer for you Uncle David will be as numbers 6:24-26 states:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift his countenance upon you,
And give you peace.