Road of Hope Update and Morung Express Article: March 5, 2021

By ts-admin | September 2, 2026
A group of you gave generously towards the Road of Hope project in Nagaland in February. I have been keeping that smaller group updated but wanted to share some of the news with the rest of you. We were able to transfer $3400 on Feb 22 to the “Core Team” led by Rose Rekha.  This donation caused ripple effects spreading from the team to the affected villages to the surrounding region to all of Nagaland and beyond. Rita Krocha, who originally wrote the article alerting us to the Road of Hope initiative, interviewed me over email. The Morung Express newspaper (Nagaland State paper) published the follow-up article on the front page about our group donation and its impact.
 

I am grateful to have been given a platform to speak up about corruption in politics and to encourage those individuals working to make positive change. The article highlights me specifically being American which didn’t seem like a great viewpoint to me at first, but I have been encouraged that it is bringing into focus the lack of integrity within local government there and “that it took a foreigner” to encourage people to help and give.

I wanted to encourage you all that the impact is reaching far beyond just a road or just the dollars you gave. We have received countless messages of gratefulness and thanks saying that the donations are encouraging and inspiring many, many people to give funds and pitch in to the effort. The village leaders are now taking this project seriously and each village is taking turns (70-100 people/day) to work together to repair the road. Pray with us that the impact on the morale and courage of motivated Nagas would be exponential. This is our hope – not just to complete a road but to empower locals to make a change rather than waiting on the corrupt government to take action.

They are needing an additional $2000 to finish out the project and are asking the villages to give. Several more of you have been asking about the project and have donated in the past week. So we will transfer funds again when we have collected another round of donations.

Thank you for partnering with us and with the people of Razeba range in Nagaland. We are all grateful to be part of change.

Here are the villagers assembling to work on the road last week:
Work underway:
  
This photo shows the 4 main village leaders inspecting the work being done on the road with the core team two days ago:
The core team camped for a week along the roadside to be close enough to manage the project. Rose Rekha is the woman in the blue cardigan and hat.

Here is Rose’s response when I first told her how much had been raised:

Tabitha, 

It’s not enough to just thank you for what you have done for us. I got your message when I was about to enter the church and I was surprised and at the same time touched and motivated by your support. 

Of course this act of yours have not only encouraged me and my team but the whole Razeba range are grateful. Please know that you and your family and all those people who have contributed to this Initiative are remembered in our prayers. Will keep you updated.

You know very well how the system works here, we are so used to recieving that we have forgotten to give back. It is very challenging to take up an initiative like this, but I believe somewhere somehow someone have to start and I’ m glad our team could contribute in a small way possible for which you’re also part now. 

Please convey our deepest gratitude to all the donors, may God bless you all.

 

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