• Suriname
    1990 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • An Act of Faith by a Needy Sister

      In 1955, after a meeting in the dilapidated Kingdom Hall above the shoe shop, Stella Daulat walked home deep in thought. By the time she entered her small house surrounded by mango and star-apple trees, her mind was set. ‘I’ll offer my plot of land to the congregation so that it has a place to build a better hall.’ She talked it over with her mother, who also was a Witness, and both decided, ‘We give it for free.’ Since Stella had no place to go, she only asked if her house could be moved to the back of the lot. “No problem,” said the brothers. “We’ll move it.”

      Sister Daulat’s property​—inherited from her great-grandmother, who received it in 1863 when emancipated from slavery—​provided her more than housing, however. Because she sold fruit from the trees, it also gave her a small source of income. Thus, giving up the property meant giving up her livelihood. “Stella’s decision,” admires one brother, “was an act of faith.”

      The brothers gratefully accepted the gift but lacked the funds to build. Some months later, however, they had no choice but to build. Why? In December 1955, when over a hundred persons were sitting in the old Kingdom Hall, the building began to shake. The structure could no longer support that many people. “We worried,” remembers Wim van Seijl. “It felt as if the floor was about to give way and we would all land among the shoes downstairs!” At the end of the meeting, it was announced that those sitting in the first row could stand up and descend the stairs while all others remained seated. After that, the next row of brothers exited, and so on, until the hall was empty. “That day,” adds Wim, “we cut the knot and said, ‘Money or not, let’s build another hall.’”

      A New Hall Heralds a New Era

      Willem Telgt, baptized in 1919, supervised the project. “Don’t bother with taking out furniture,” he told Stella. “We move your house as it is.” Passersby gazed as the brothers lifted the fragile house onto tree trunks and rolled it to the back. “Can my window face the street?” asked Stella, “then I have a better view.” No problem. Her house was moved a quarter turn. Later, Stella entered the house, adjusted the pictures on the wall, put her chair in front of her window, and was ready to watch the construction crew at work.