A Seventh-day Adventist school in a northeast corner in India near the Myanmar border is changing young lives and the community for the better, regional church and educational Adventist leaders say. Thanks to a partnership with Maranatha Volunteers International, they now hope that the influence of Pine Hill Adventist Academy may soon be doubled.

In a Faraway Corner

It was 1988 when Adventist leaders in the state of Mizoram in northeast India requested local officials for a plot of land to build a school around the city of Champhai. The local council obliged, giving the Adventist Church the land on a long-term lease at no cost. Such arrangement, later endorsed and registered at the relevant government offices, is still bearing fruits that have benefited the local and regional Adventist Church, Adventist education, and society in general, regional church leaders recently said.

In its beginnings, a vocational training school opened on the grounds, located just 14 miles (about 22 kilometers) from the Myanmar border, they shared. That place survived as a facility where the church still manufactures tofu and hot healthy drinks. Eventually a primary and secondary school were also built. Both faculty and students were accommodated in simple wooden houses. And so Pine Hill Adventist Academy was born.

A few of the dozens of refugee children that have found a place to stay and get an education in the area.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Maranatha Volunteers International India director Vinish Wilson (center) chats with the organization’s president Don Noble, on the site of the construction of the new school.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

A group of students dressed in traditional mizo garb for a special performance at Pine Hill Adventist Academy.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Current student body at Pine Hill Adventist Academy.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

A Crucial Moment

Mizoram is a small landlocked state that shares borders with Bangladesh, Myanmar, and other Indian states. About 90 percent of the state is covered by forests, and the mountainous terrain makes access difficult. Most of Mizoram’s 1.25 million residents are Christians, belonging to the Mizo ethnic group, with their traditions and language.

The Adventist Church is thriving there, regional church leaders said. And against that background, Pine Hill Adventist Academy has kept steadily growing. Currently, with about 350 K-12 students, its classrooms are at maximum capacity, they reported.

A regional Adventist church leader and the school principal discuss particulars of the project at Pine Hill, which the regional church administration fully supports.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

A local crew works on the foundations of the new Pine Hill Adventist Academy building in late 2024.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Simple houses like this one are used for faculty homes and to accommodate some of the refugees arriving to study at the school.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

The city of Champhai, Mizoram, seen from the campus of Pine Hill Adventist Academy.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Lately, the school’s importance and crucial role in the area has increased, as hundreds of families from Myanmar are crossing the border into India as refugees, fleeing instability and uncertainty in their home country.

“Students and their families, some of them Adventist members, are arriving in the area,” Pine Hill principal Zothanzauva (Zova) Pachuau explains. “We need to provide them an option so their kids can have access to sound, Christian education.” In some cases families stay in Myanmar but send their older children to Pine Hill. Those boarding students need a place to sleep, mentors, and educational support as they adapt to a new country and often a new language, leaders explained.

The good thing is that everyone involved is doing something to support the education of young people, school leaders reported. “Families send all the money they can afford, and local churches are also supporting their students,” Pachuau share. “Students also have chores and help to cover their costs. Everyone is committed to Adventist education.”

A drone view of the construction site of Pine Hill Adventist Academy in early 2025.

Photo: Maranatha Volunteers International

The construction demanded extra care in laying its foundations, because of how uneven the land around it is.

Photo: Maranatha Volunteers International

Local crews keep working on the new school building project at Pine Hill.

Photo: Maranatha Volunteers International

The Role of Maranatha

Some time ago Maranatha Volunteers International, a supporting ministry of the Adventist Church based in the United States, decided to partner with the regional church to provide Pine Hill Adventist Academy with a new school building.

“This is different from other projects we have done in the past,” Maranatha Volunteers International president Don Noble explained during a site visit in December 2024. “The ground is so uneven that securing the foundations of the new building will require a structural framework with an incredible amount of iron and concrete.” As a result, costs will be much higher than in a regular Maranatha project, the ministry leaders say, explaining that Maranatha is fully funded by its donors and supporters.

During the December visit Maranatha leaders discussed with regional church leaders and the local construction crew the next steps in the construction process. At the time, Maranatha was hoping to bring teams of volunteers to work on the site, something that has not yet been possible because of government restrictions to visits by foreigners. But despite the isolation, the logistical and financial challenges, and the changing political landscape, the work goes on. As of this February, the foundations have been finished, and the main concrete pillars of the new school are steadily rising.

“What you are doing is so special for us. We are so thankful!” Pauchau told the Maranatha delegation in December.

Mizo Conference executive secretary Rodingliana agreed. “I hope this is just a start; we are all so excited!” he said.

Maranatha Volunteers International is a nonprofit supporting ministry and is not operated by the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The original article was published on the Adventist Review news site.