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.
