Dimapur, March 17 (EMN): Life is full of surprises, but when one faces them with courage and perseverance, they can withstand the trials to transform the experiences into something delightful.
Subonenba Longkumer was a boy then, from Kangtsung village located in Tuli subdivision in Mokokchung district. He lost his father, who died of cancer at the age of 47 in 1986. His father was O Yanger Longkumer, who was said to be a pioneer of education for his village. He had completed MA in economics first-class from Guwahati University in 1977 and had worked as a labour officer at the Tul[i Paper Mill.
Subonenba Longkumer’s mother was also said to have been one of the first few women those days to have studied till class-VI, from Impur Bible School. His mother worked as a receptionist in the company’s hospital at the mill earning Rs. 3, 000 a month but could still manage to send her children to school and provide for them.
The young Subonenba then faced another tragedy in 1990: he lost his mother to stroke three years after his father’s demise.
It was a day Subonenba Longkumer would never forget; it still brings tears whenever he talks about his childhood as an orphan. He said to clearly remember how his siblings were separated five days after his mother’s sudden demise, all searching for shelter in different homes. The young Subonenba ended up in one of his uncles’ house.
Knowing that education was the only hope to securing a better life, he did not miss the opportunity when one of his father’s best friends and a colleague volunteered to bear his educational expenses till matriculation as he was only in standard-seven that time. Later, schooling after class-X was supported by his elder brother who had joined the police force to support him.
Though life was hard for Subonenba he always had a strong personal relationship with God. He never failed to go to church and later contributed his service working as a church chowkidar (Sunday school) for two consecutive years with an incentive of 500 rupees a year.
Also, Subonenba derived joy in spending time interacting and collecting wisdom from his village’s elders whenever he was free. He joined Servanthood Bible College in1996 and completed Bachelor in Theology after four years.
Later, an NGO known as World Vision offered him the job of a driver. He took the offer. He received an honorarium of Rs 2000 a month. He continued to work as a full-time volunteer for five years without his name on the payroll of the organisation.
Having nurtured profound love for underprivileged children, he volunteered to impart non-formal education for street children and child labourers at the Rail Bazaar every day. When he received news that World Vision, which was running an ICLRP (community education centre school), was moving to another district in Nagaland, he approached the authorities to allow him to run the school despite several applications that were rejected because of his theological background. However, they agreed to let him run the school because he was not a permanent staff member according to the norms of the organisation.
He started to manage the school with only 12 staff members and about 300 students. He suffered another major setback: financial constraints. There was no funding agency to help him to run the school. Soon after, he had to take a decision to close the school. Nonetheless, he somehow managed to officially register his school with the Community Educational Centre Society in the year 2008. That was how he began slowly climbing the ladder to success.
Subonenba Longkumer is today the chairman of two schools: The Community Educational Centre School in Dimapur and Rajeswari Karuna School in Tuli. He has around eight other projects under his supervision. Some of them are the Medical Mobile Help Unit, Non-Formal Education Project and Childline, besides his being the nodal director of Childline in Nagaland. It is under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Today, he is a proud employer of 130 people working under him and reaching out to more than 1, 600 children with educational programmes. His eldest brother is a sub-inspector in the 2nd NAP and his younger brother a constable. His youngest sister is a teacher in a government primary school.
’Life cannot remain stagnant if you have the zeal and the passion for overcoming any hurdles in life,’ he says. He believes that his life’s testimony should be an encouragement to the younger generation that there is always “hope for the hopeless” if they believe in what they do.
Happily married to a beautiful wife with two sons and a daughter, Subonenba Longkumer has achieved most of the things he wanted. He has not given up the fervour to work for the welfare of the society.
