Kairos

Why am I going to Argentina right now? There are definitely poorer countries, and countries with more obvious spiritual issues. So why Argentina? My stepsister Karina described this time as a “kairotic moment” for Argentina, which in rhetoric (her area of study) means a passing instant when an opening appears. According to the New Testament Greek lexicon, kairos is the time when things are brought to crisis, the opportune or seasonable time. What is going on in Argentina that makes me characterize it this way?

Several key provinces are excited and active in working for change in their communities. We have been invited to work in four key provinces: Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Santa Fe, and Salta. The first three are key because they are home to Argentina’s three largest cities. Salta is key because it is a land rich in natural resources that also has a significant indigenous population (Wichi).

In Buenos Aires the denominational barriers have fallen and churches are working together. The Libertador Church has been doing relief work in Baradero, a nearby slum, for many years, and recently began incorporating development techniques in the area. This past month, a couple from that church (Horacio and Silvia, who have prayed for 20 years to be released full-time to missions) received the go-ahead to move to Baradero to work full-time. In Cordoba a large evangelical church recently woke up to the idea of missions and is being trained to train others in transformational development. In Salta the villagers have responded to recent trainings with action: building a new form of oven, planning a village-wide event to deal with alcoholism, and requests for more training from both Christian and secular groups.

Horacio and Silvia

Fun serendipitous fact: the location for the training we did near Buenos Aires was called Centro Kairos! Here we are at the urban TOT1:

Not a quick fix

September 12, 2007

Above is a photo of me taking Doña Marta's blood pressure. She and I hardly spoke before the above picture was taken -- her husband, Don Donato, (the cacique, or leader of the Wichi village) said that he wanted me to evaluate her medically and that he would interpret for me since she spoke limited Spanish. I don't know if you can appreciate it in the photo, but I was rather irritated. You see, in a village like this -- dangerous open cooking fires, little food, and lots of social and political problems (for example, the majority of the Wichi land was recently made into a federal park and they are not allowed to harvest wood on the national park land) -- there was a lot more involved with this woman's health than I could solve in one visit, yet so many hopes (her husband's and those who came with us to the village) seemed to be pinned on it. Secondly, 90% of the primary care physician's diagnosis comes from the history, and I didn't know how to get an accurate history. Instead of interpreting, Don Donato answered most of the questions I asked without any input from her, and added a lot about his own symptoms as well. I've seen people "diagnose" from one or two questions before -- this happened daily in the Philippines during the military's humanitarian mission where I saw people given Advil to "cure" their chest pain. To me, that way of doing medicine is disrespectful, not least because it raises false hopes.

I mentioned to Don Donato that from what I could tell, some labs tests would be helpful. We then started talking, and he brought up the fact that people came to them and gave them pills or wrote prescriptions, but that his people just got sick again later. I asked him if he would like the villagers to be trained so that they would know a lot about their own medical problems and would be able to prevent many of them. We discussed a screening that would help determine what issues were in the village (parasites, malnutrition) and then offering training to his people. He said that he would like that, since "it's not just medicine that is needed." Please pray that the people of his village, Ebenezer, will indeed receive that screening (we talked about it happening some time in February) and that it will be a catalyst for them to learn how to help their village.

Later on Doña Marta and I spoke some as we walked around her land. She showed me how she harvested fibers from a plant to make the beautiful weaving we had admired. We shared some laughs as I tried to pronounce some names in Wichi, including the word "Wichi" itself. I was glad to connect with her, even if only in a small way.

The village people are ready

As we share the stories of what is happening in Burela, Salta (yesterday there was a meeting of the missions team at Iglesia Jesucristo Rey among other opportunities), I contine to be amazed at how God is bringing things about. The people of the village of Burela are ready and excited about the work ahead.

Marcelo and others spoke with the ¨agentes sanitarios¨ in Burela, who are (I think) nurses paid by the government to go house to house and perform some public health work. What they told Marcelo was, ¨We need to do more than vaccinate. The majority of pregnancies we now see are among 14 - 15 year-olds!¨ They are ready to learn how to work in a more holistic way, even within a government framework. They have invited Marcelo to be a part of their semi-annual training which next occurs in December. Please pray for this opportunity.

Cultural fact: most programs in schools and churches stop for the summer, which is December through March. The new trainers in Burela are planning a ¨seed project¨for December 8, to coincide with the end of Sunday School and other programs. They are thinking of incorporating some teaching on combatting teenage drinking and domestic violence. Please pray for these plans and for the resources to carry them out.

The village of Manantial sent two people to the training last week. They took a five-hour tractor ride to come from this remote area! They are planning a seed project with the Lorena oven, a way for the villagers to use less firewood and keep the fire contained so that it does not cause burns. Please pray that they will learn how to make the oven and that they will be well-received within their village.

Please pray that a path will open to enter the different Wichi communites. Gabriel has formed a lot of relationships, but there are many obstacles. The Wichi that live in the town of Burela no longer speak Wichi and there is animosity between them and those who live in the forest. The other villagers look down on the Wichi. The Wichi look down on themselves and have been pushed down so long by others.

Why

Above is a photo of a Wichi child in the community of Ebenezer. The Wichi recently lost most of their land to a national park. In the land now owned by the park they are not allowed to cut down trees to use for cooking fires, which in practice means that they cannot live there. Meanwhile, vast areas of forest are being cut down and burned for companies to use the land to plant crops.

Please pray for Gabriel, the pastor of the church in Burela. In addition to his pastoral function in two villages, he has worked with the Wichi for over ten years, doing what was needed at the moment -- legal representation, starting a school, even taking children into his home (upon request by their mother for a week of childcare while she went to a city -- she returned a year later without any communication in between). Sadly, most of the projects have been frustrated by various agencies. He is very excited about the LifeWind training. When we spoke with Donato, the cacique (leader) of the Ebenezer community, he invited us to come and start a project there. We are hoping to do a screening project in the community in February or March. Please pray that the community will be freed from their negative self-image, and be empowered to seek change. Pray for Donato, who is a Christian, that he will allow us into his community, and continue to see Gabriel and now LifeWind as being different than so many others who came in offering help only to abandon the community and leave them in worse conditions.

During the training of trainers held last week in the nearby village of Burela, a few of the participants mentioned the indigenous people in the area as being part of the community. This step is huge as there is an enormous divide between the indigenous people and the ¨criollos,¨or mixed Argentineans. This divide exists even in the church. Please pray for the Christians in Burela and the nearby village of Apolinario Saravia, for their hearts to be broken by the condition of the indigenous people, and to recognize them as their brothers and sisters.

Above is a photo of a community within Apolinario Saravia, the village near Burela. This community was formerly mostly Wichi, but is now nearly entirely made up of Bolivian immigrants. The majority of people in Bolivia are indigenous, primarily Aymara and Quechua.

Basket weaving

The above is a photo of the Wichi community known as Ebenezer. They live a few miles from the village of Burela, where our training was held this past week. You can see one of their houses, the open pit fire which is used for all of their cooking, and the close proximity of their dogs and cats. On the above right are some drying fibers taken from the chagua plant (below). Doña Marta, the wife of the cacique (community leader), plucked and stripped one of the leaves to show us how they extract the fiber. Below she is showing what it looks like before and after braiding.
Donato, the cacique, shows us the way the fiber is colored. The orange color comes from bark that is boiled in the pot below. The black color comes from the seed pod of the guayacán tree.

I now have a lovely purse and decorative box made from this fiber, for which a ridiculously low price was asked. As you can see, there is a lot of labor involved. Perhaps with some micro-enterprise training the Wichi will be able to request a more appropriate price that reflects the time-consuming process!

Meat

Well, I´ve been in Argentina less than 48 hours and I´ve already eaten two pastries made with lard and five bites of chicken. My host is buying a special roast to grill today. That may seem yummy to some, not a big deal to others, but for someone who hasn´t eaten any of the above for 21 years it´s a little crazy! I´ve had in mind not only the terribly deep spirituality involved in sharing meals with others but also my friend Mike´s saying of being a ¨scavenge-tarian¨ instead of a ¨vegetarian.¨ Tee-hee!

I am so excited to be here! The Lopez family, with whom I am staying and who will start my on-the-job training, are lovely and very welcoming. Marcelo and Silvia are the parents and their children are Luz (18) and Felipe (16). When not working in micro-enterprise and development, Marcelo works in accounting and teaches economics at the university. Silvia is very gifted artistically and has taken courses on indigneous Argentinean art.

On Monday, 9/10, we will start our travel to the village of Burela, in Salta province. We stay overnight in Tucuman, and then arrive in Burela on Tuesday. We will meet a couple who currently work with LifeWind in Bolivia, Develt and Estela. They will be facilitating the majority of the training there. After reading Isaiah 61 & 62 this morning, Marcelo, Silvia, and I were praying for the Wichi Indians (who live in Salta Province) and the training. Apparently some of the problems with the Wichi include a lack of clean water, issues of abuse and violence, and extreme poverty. Many politicians have come in to the area with small gifts and promises of development but no follow-through. However, the Wichi are hungry for teaching, training, and change. One of the pastors there, Don Sixto, has been praying for justice for his people.

The training next week is called, ¨Training of Trainers 1,¨and the purpose is to teach those who will be teaching the individual ¨CHEs.¨ The CHEs will go house to house in their villages, teaching their neighbors about health promotion, disease prevention, small business opportunities, and the love of God. The training will go from Tuesday night, 9/11, to Saturday, 9/15. The sessions are on such topics as: the resources within the community, learning techniques, development, how to experience the love and forgiveness of God, and the role of the training team. I will teach a session on the Holy Spirit on Thursday morning. I´m glad that my session isn´t until later in the week, as I want to experience more of the learner-centered, participatory style Lifewind uses.

“I love you, O Lord, my strength.” Psalm 18:1

I have recently been meditating on the above thought. My desire is to love God, and for everything I do to be done out of an ever-growing love for God – not to prove myself to other people, not to worry about my path in life, but rather to rest in God. This week I have been moving out of my house, and God provided strength in the heat (over 110 degrees), trust and faith to give up my possessions, and lots of generous people to help:

• My sister Lorena and brother-in-law Gregor (above) came to visit for over a week of assistance: Lorena was phenomenally helpful at going through boxes of things, letting me tell their story and then encouraging me as I let them go. Gregor brought computer accessories and did some intense work on my computer. He also brought the movie “Strictly Ballroom”!
  

• Chrissy and Jeff held a garage sale for me at their house and invited people to sell things there and give the proceeds to my missions fund. Chrissy tirelessly priced, greeted, hauled, and advised for over a week in preparation.

• The Rodgers’ community group is cleaning my house after I have moved out.

• Nadia is letting me stay at her house whenever I am in town (which includes much of October through December) and has a lot of room for me to store things.
  

Schedule

September 5 – 30 I will be in Argentina to assist with two trainings, look for housing, and get to know the Lopez family who will be providing on-the-job training for me next year. Then I return to the U.S. for a few months of support raising and other preparation before moving to Argentina in early January. Some highlights of the next few weeks are:

September 5 – 6

Nearly 24 hours of travel to get to Cordoba, Argentina -- I leave Queen Creek at 10:00 am on Wednesday and arrive in Cordoba at 7:30 am on Thursday (MST)! I will stay with Marcelo and Silva Lopez and their children Luz (18) and Felipe (16). Marcelo has been working with LifeWind International for some time and I look forward to learning from him.

September 11 – 14

“Training of Trainers 1” in the village of Burela, province of Salta. The Wichi Indians had a “Vision Seminar” a few months ago and are now ready to receive training to become trainers of community health evangelists (CHEs). The CHEs will go from home to home teaching their neighbors about basic healthcare, micro-enterprise, and the gospel.

The Wichi Indians are an indigenous people group in northern Argentina and Bolivia. The possession of their land has been disputed by the national government and much of it has been sold and de-forested. Portions of the Bible were recently translated into their language.

September 20

Bibiana MacLeod, Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean and South America, flies in to Buenos Aires to facilitate the next week’s training. She will be my supervisor while I am in South America, and I am looking forward to seeing her again in person – I last saw her in 2004 in the Dominican Republic.

September 24 – 28

“Urban Training of Trainers 1” near Buenos Aires. This training is specially designed for those working in inner city slums to discover local connections and help people work together for the community’s good: spiritually, emotionally, physically, and vocationally.

September 29 – 30

Only 17 hours travel from Buenos Aires to Phoenix, then I hop directly in my car to drive to San Diego.

September 30 – October 4

Continuing medical education conference in San Diego. I will stay with my stepsister Karina, attend the conference with my friend Jenny, and hang out with Jenny, her husband Ken, and her daughters Grace and Kate. Grace is my god-daughter, and while I think it’s a good example to her to follow God to the mission field, it is difficult to move further away from her.

October 5 – 9-ish

I will stay in San Diego, initially alone, to start to digest the previous month’s work and to pray. My stepsister Karina will then return from a conference and we hope to gather some of her friends together so that I can share my heart and vision for holistic ministry.