“Handful of Rice” (or “Merong Jakkep,” as it is known among the Garos) is a popular way of offering a handful of rice to God, found in almost all churches across denominations in India. This refers to a practice in which a handful of the rice used for cooking is set aside in the name of every baptised member of the family. This is called the “Merong Jakep” (Garo).

Whether in the morning or evening, before preparing lunch or dinner, rice was taken from the bamboo container to cook. From the rice taken for cooking, a handful is taken from the bamboo container—one for each baptised female member of the family. If there were two baptized female  members in the family, two handfuls of rice would be taken out and set aside as an offering to the Church. The practice of saving the apportioned rice was in good and absolute faith in God and in the atmosphere of solemn divinity. It was never done in haste. The apportioning would be done only through the services of a mother in a family. She would dedicate it fully to God through prayer. The practice reminds us of God’s presence in the family, who is not regarded as a guest but as the head, guide, and leading light.

Inception: Inspired by God, the idea of sharing the rice taken from the vessel for God, with the thought that this small and insignificant contribution might help build the church, was first conceived by Rev. Ramke Watre Momin, the first pastor of the Nisangram Baptist Church. This God’s chosen man needs no introduction to the Garo people. Ramkhe, out of firm conviction, impassioned love, and a strong faith in the Almighty God, made up his mind that something good, however little help it might be in church-building activities, must be done for God. It’s a thought that has since helped the church build and grow larger and larger over the years.

Ramke W. Momin was one of the first Garo converts to Christianity, the other being his cousin Omed W. Momin, hailing from Watrepara (in Matchokgre), a small Garo village situated in the remote northeastern corner of the Garo Hills, who were baptised on the 8th of February 1863 by Rev. Miles Bronson at Sukleswar Ghat in Guwahati. After conversion, both returned to Guwahati, while Omed W. Momin stayed in his own village, Watrepara, and began spreading the gospel among his people.

Ramke W. Momin temporarily resided in Damra, where he opened a school to educate Garo boys. While staying at Damra, Ramke often visited a solitary place southwest of the Damra market and practised deep meditation there. Later, he chose this very place to settle down permanently. The village was present-day Nisangram, now known as one of the cleanest Garo villages, situated on the Assam- Meghalaya border. Possibly in 1876, Rev. Ramke W. Momin told his wife. “In the manner we feed our child in the morning and in the evening, take out a handful of rice from the container already taken out for cooking and keep the same for the poor” Being encouraged with such a word, Ramke’s wife, Suboni Bangbonggre Sangma and Salje Koksi Sangma began this noble scheme of saving a handful of rice in their respective families. Thus, they became pioneers in saving and collecting “Merong Jakep”, among the first Garo Christians. Encouraged by Suboni and Salje, other women in the village of Nisangram, viz., Gongse, Gongje, Sanje, Kuje, Baljo, Mikje, and Singre, were said to have adopted the scheme in their families and to have volunteered to subscribe to the Merong Jakep. For the first time, the Merong Jakep of the six families in Nisangram was collected and sold together, and the total sale proceeds amounted to Rs 12/- that year. That was their first collective earning from their Merong Jakep. Later, Rev. Gongman Mrenda Momin, who was the second pastor of the Nisangram Baptist Church, took a special interest in promoting the Merong Jakep scheme. Through his hard work and sheer dedication, the scheme began to gain popularity among his people, and the funds collected rose. The scheme indeed had been of great help to the poor people of the village, as those who did not produce rice by themselves from their agricultural fields could purchase it at a reduced or concessional rate. The fund so earned had helped in the payments for the persons engaged by the church in pastoral services. The scheme, so small in the beginning, grew larger and larger over the years, and the fundraising through this scheme enabled the local Baptist Churches in the villages and the A∙chik Baptist Krimas (Garo Baptist Convention) to grow and prosper at a rapid pace.

Tradition of saving and collection: It was evident that since the year 1878, a similar way of saving ‘handful of rice’ and making it available for the poor at a much-reduced price was practised in the village of Rajasimla, also, where the first ever Garo Church was founded. This may be because news of this innovative way of showing God’s love to the poor, by those noble souls, spread like wildfire and was heard by contemporaries in that village as well. Though illiterate, there emerged a few distinguished Garo women in the Garo society who had volunteered themselves for the spread of this marvellous idea, and by dint of their sheer dedication and hard work, the scheme of collecting Merong Jakep as a fund for church building activities, very soon spread to other neighbouring Garo villages. Though not safe to move freely outside and take part in the works of evangelisation, they reached out to their fellow women in other villages. They spread this noble idea of subscribing to and popularising the “Merong Jakep” scheme among them for church-building activities. By strengthening and properly executing the scheme, they, too, extended their helping hand to their male counterparts in raising funds for the church.

Salje K. Sangma: the first preacher and promoter of the Merong Jakkep. The fundraising through the “Merong Jakep” scheme soon proved highly effective. Salje K. Sangma dedicated herself to spreading the word about this noble scheme amongst her people in the neighbouring villages. The year was 1888. Salje started mobilising people in her neighbourhood and, accompanied by her two female co-residents of the village, explained how a scheme, once launched, would effectively support the church’s growth. Nokme Ch. Momin and Sulema R. Marak visited Amjonga, Pandra in Derek, and Resu, and gave inspiring talks on the Merong Jakep to their fellow Christian members. Salje took a keen interest in it, did the job very sincerely, and was later officially appointed by the Church as a promoter of the scheme for a monthly remuneration of Rs 5/-. Her dedicated service in promoting the Merong Jakep scheme served two purposes: she could spread the Gospel among her people in the villages and, secondly, mobilise resources to enhance the church’s funds through the scheme’s spread. She might therefore be the first known promoter of the Merong Jakep scheme and the first lady among the members of the Christian community of North East India to undertake the work of spreading the Gospel of God. Always being alone to go and visit her fellow women Christian members in the villages and to constantly encourage them and oversee the subscriptions of Merong Jakep among the members of the Christian families, she engaged one female companion by paying her Rs 2 and 8 anna a month, from out of the total monthly remuneration she had been receiving for her service. Womenfolk in other villages would extend a warm welcome to Salje K. Sangma when she visited, often escorting her halfway on her return journey. The noble scheme of subscribing Merong Jakep generated a high morale satisfaction amongst the minds of the baptised A∙chik womenfolk, some of whom willingly proposed to contribute more than the prescribed limits. Salje told them that “It is not the quantity, but the free, just and faithful gift from a true heart that matters to God.”