As our long
time readers may know, over the past 4 years increased effort has been made to
reach the many remote villages in the vast interior of Guyana. The goal is to preach the entire country
at least once and so far about 60 villages have been covered. My brother
in Law, Tom Sanches, was assigned to oversee this effort about four years ago
and has taken several trips into 54 villages so far. Fortunately I have been
able to accompany him on four of these expeditions, and each one has yielded
amazing and faith strengthening experiences!
Here are links to some previous Expedition posts:
On September 28th Tom and I left on an expedition that has been in the planning for over three years. The reason it has taken so long to make this trip is due to its extremely remote location, and the expense required in reaching it. The village is called Masekenari but after doing some research we found that it actually has other names like Konashen and Gunns. But since it was taking so long, and the entire Region 9 had all been preached except this one village, Tom started making a more concentrated effort to reach it. Despite the fact that it’s a small village, only around 200 people including children, but our goal is to bear thorough witness! And thanks to Jehovah, the many obstacles that were preventing the trip were removed, and the trip was a huge success!
Before I get too far I would just like to apologize for the length of this post. I tried desperately to condense the story as much as possible but there is just so much that must be told! Feel free to skip around as you see fit, I have added subheadings to make it easier to navigate, otherwise enjoy!
The Obstacles
As I
mentioned there were many obstacles, some of which came up just as we were
preparing to go, and we almost had to cancel the trip again! One of these was a
huge break out of Rioting in the Linden area. The Rioting was so bad
that no one could get through to Lethem because they were burning buildings and
setting up road blocks. Even if we were able to get through Linden we couldn’t
afford it because the Gas prices all sky-rocketed in the area. All of
this happened the month before we wanted to leave, and as you can imagine we
were feeling very disappointed. Amazingly enough the government was able to
clear up all the Rioting and things returned to normal just in time as you will
see.
Another
Obstacle was transportation. In the past we had been able to use a
brother’s Truck (Alton Primus) to reach many of these villages which was both
cheaper and more convenient than the other options. But brother Primus was
doing maintenance on the truck and it ended up taking much longer to finish and
would not be ready in time. So that option was out. The only other option would
be to hire someone to give us a ride which could cost anywhere from $200 to
$400 USD, and that’s only one way and not including the cost of fuel. Neither
of us could afford this so Tom looked into another possibility. It just so
happened that the Amerindian people were having their Heritage Celebration
which meant that many of them would be traveling to Lethem. So we had Alton
check and see if any of them would be willing to give us a ride south. Alton was able to find the Village leader or
Toshou of Parabara, the exact village we needed to get to, and the Toshou
agreed to give us a ride south! The only problem would be arranging for transportation
back home since Parabara is remote and not many vehicles travel there. Even
up until the day we left we weren’t able to secure a sure ride home, so Tom
said “We’ll
just have to put ourselves in Jehovah’s hands” and see what happens.
Worst case scenario, we would have to hike out of Parabara which would take a
few days, but as you will see Jehovah had other plans for us.
Aside from
all of this there was the problem of the River Levels. We knew there would be a small window where
the rivers were not too high but also
not too low. During the rainy season
when the rivers are high, no one is able to go far south because there’s no
bridge across the Rupununi River. On the other hand if the rivers are too low,
no one can reach Masekenari because it’s only accessible by river and the
rivers become impassable during the dry season. And of course this year we were
having a very unusual rainy season, months longer than it should have been so
we kept waiting for the rivers to go down but it wasn’t until about a week
before we had to leave that they were low enough!
And on top
of all this there were problems with scheduling. Since the trip could
take nearly a month we had to make sure that we could both could leave and that
it wouldn’t cause too many problems for the congregation.
So you can
probably see why this trip kept getting put off, and it almost got postponed
again but thankfully with a little work, a little diplomacy, and a lot of Holy
Spirit we got it done.
The Location
Again, this
village is extremely remote, and this did cause difficulties in more ways than
we expected. The first few legs of our trip would be pretty easy, a two hour
ride to Georgetown, then the 14 hour ride down to Lethem which we have taken
many times before. There was no problem getting to Lethem thankfully since all
the Rioting in Linden had been cleared up. Then from Lethem our plan would be
to take a 22 hour Tractor Ride down south to Parabara where we could put
into the River. The first River we would put into is called the Kuyuwini River
going Northeast. Then we would hit the Essequibo River and take it Southwest
right to Masekenari. We really had no
idea how long it would take on the River since we got a variety of estimates.
Some people said 5 days, some said 7, and some even said 14 days paddling. So we were mentally prepared for a few
long weeks of being in a canoe and sleeping in the Amazon jungle. And no,
there are no roads going to Masekenari, despite what many maps might
show. We asked many of the villagers in Lethem about it, and some of them even
got our hopes up. When we asked about a road a few people said “Yes, there’s a Road!” In our minds we were
thinking “Yay!” but when we asked for
more details they said “Yes, you take the
road all the way south to Parabara, and then take a boat to Masekenari.”
- - The Red Box shows the area where we traveled - -
- - Here's a close up of the area we Traveled through. The Yellow line is Travel by Land. The Blue line is Travel by River - -
The Transportation
When we
finally got to Lethem we had to go hunting for the village leaders or “Toshaos” of Parabara, and Masekenari.
Like I mentioned there were a lot of Amerindians in Lethem at the time because
of their annual Heritage celebration, so it was a perfect time to get into
contact with leaders from other villages yet to be preached. We asked around
for about an hour and finally found the Toshou of Parabara, Paul
Martin. Thankfully Alton had
already spoken to Paul and they were planning to take us with them on the
Tractor all the way to Parabara. So that was good but we still needed a ride
back from Parabara to Lethem. Sadly Paul couldn’t think of any way that he
could help us since not many people travel to Parabara, so we left that be for
the time.
Then after a
little more searching with found the Deputy Toshao of Masekenari, Wachanna.
We picked his brain for quite awhile trying to get all the details about how to
reach the village. He was very worried about whether we could get there because
the rivers were dropping so fast. He said “When
the river is low there are many trees and rocks in the way, it makes the travel
very punishing” and when an Amerindian says its “Punishing”, there’s no
way us Americans could handle it! Plus he wasn’t even sure if we could get a
boat within a reasonable amount of time. So we spoke again to Paul from
Parabara, and he assured us that we could hire a boat for $60,000 or $300 USD,
and that it shouldn’t be hard since there would be other people needing to
travel home to Masekenari. So we had transportation from Lethem to Parabara
and a round trip from Parabara to Masekenari, but we were still unsure
about transportation for our return to Lethem. We were willing to hike
back but we desperately wanted to avoid that option since it meant we would
have to carry all of our supplies,
and we would not know where to get drinking water on the way. Even if we did
find a ride for part of the way, it could be very expensive. So we continued
praying for Jehovah’s guidance.
We arrived
in Lethem on a Saturday and we hoped to get going with the tractor on Monday,
but it ended up leaving on Thursday. We were delayed because the tractor trailer got damaged due to all
the traveling that was going on. We were frustrated about the delay but it
ended up being an answer to our prayers. After working on the Trailer for a
day, they realized that the damage was going to cost them more money than they
had. So on Tuesday Morning Wachanna came to where we were staying and asked us
if we could help pay for the repairs. Tom asked how much, and he said they
needed $100 USD to fix it. On these trips people are often asking for
money and we can normally find a way out of it, but in this case Tom tried to
negotiate with them. Tom explained that we really don’t have extra money and
that all of it was going into the expenses for the trip. But he said we would
be willing to pay for the repair if they would guarantee us a ride back from
Parabara to Lethem. So Wachanna called Paul, the Toshou of Parabara, and he
agreed to give us a ride back! This was perfect because it was a lot cheaper
than the other option of hiring a truck to give us a ride, plus they said they
would work with our schedule since we didn’t know exactly how long the
river travel would take. And we didn’t have to worry about hiking back!
Hallelujah!
Not long
after this Wachanna came back with another
request, but this time it was from the Toshao of Masekenari. The Toshao said
that normally they would charge visitors $100,000 GYD or $500 USD to
come into their village, but since we were “Pastors” they would waive the fee.
We thought “Thanks because there’s no way
would pay that!” But then Wachanna said that instead of the fee, the Toshao
asked if we could just bring a gift of
20 gallons of fuel! Astounded by this, Tom again explained that we have
already spent all the money we have just to get to the village and we are
bringing a huge gift of 7 boxes of literature. We had no way to get more
gas containers and fuel so Tom told Wachanna that all we could do us give them
whatever fuel we have left once we reach Masekenari and just paddle home.
Wachanna laughed at this and shrugged his shoulders, and we left it at that. So
we had yet another item to pray about since paddling home would probably take
us over two weeks! We
desperately hoped they wouldn’t take our fuel, but we had to prepare ourselves
for the possibility and leave it in Jehovah’s hands.
Over Land - Lethem to Parabara
So on
Thursday we got on our way to Parabara on the newly repaired tractor trailer.
Neither of us were looking forward to this leg of the trip because we knew it
would be a terrible ride! For one the tractor is fully loaded with supplies and fuel for the villages of
Parabara and Masekenari. Plus there would be
20 other villagers crammed in with us, and the Trailer was only about
20 feet long by 10 feet wide. Plus the trailer has no springs or shocks so we could feel every bump and rock.
And this trailer had no canopy or
cover, so we would be getting a little crispy in the hot savanna sun.
To top it off tractors aren’t known for their incredible speed, especially a
heavily loaded tractor, so our top cruising speed would be about 10 miles an hour. The driver told
us that we would reach Parabara in about 22
hours, not including a 5 hour sleeping break in between. So we prayed
before, and all during this trip for strength, endurance and to keep a positive
spirit.
- - Yes, its just a little crowded - -
- - Here's a short Video Clip from our Tractor Ride - -
Or you can view it from Picasa HERE
- - Desperate passengers trying to block the Sun - -
- - Tom with his custom hat - -
We weren’t
able to do a lot of talking while the tractor was moving, since most of our
concentration went to bracing ourselves and escaping into our “happy place”. But when we did stop we got to do some preaching
and we met a very interested man who was traveling to Parabara with his family,
Richard.
Richard said that he had gotten so tired of all the bad influences of Lethem,
and that he craved more peace. So he moved to Parabara where he enjoyed
fishing. While there he met his future wife, and he found in her things a Reasoning
book! Since his wife seemed to be done with it he took it and he would read
it every day while fishing. He said he loved reading it so much and he wanted
more things his family could enjoy. We had some very nice conversations with
him and when we got to Parabara we loaded him up with books and magazines.
- - Richard and his wife are on the top Right corner - -
After
traveling in the tractor for about 14 hours we finally stopped to rest in a
village called Karaudanaw (Sounds like Crowder-Now). We were about to lose our
minds from all the tractor travel, so this stop was a huge answer to our
prayers! We got about 5 hours sleep that night, and the next day we were
treated to some bread and tea from the villagers. They even brought us a few
oranges, which marked the start of our Citrus splurge… you’ll understand
later.
We got back
on the road around 10am, but we woke up at dawn since that’s when they told us
we would leave. We learned on this trip that the Amer-Indians are a lot like
the Guyanese in their view of time and deadlines, very relaxed! So a regular
part of our prayers was to keep patient with their unusual customs. Only about
an hour outside the village we got stuck in a huge mud hole and it took about
an hour to get out of it!
The Second half of the tractor ride had a lot of Jungle parts which was much cooler and more interesting. They stopped a few times where there was water to drink and bathe. We didn’t drink the water but we had a nice time resting at least. Then around 5pm we finally got to Parabara, but the water was still too high for the tractor to pass through to reach the village. So we unloaded our 40 gallons of fuel, 300 lbs of literature and our bags and re-loaded it into a canoe, or as they call them, Dugouts. The Dugouts are tough but they are very easy to tip over! We tried not to think of how terrible it would be if the dugout flipped and all our literature got soaked. Fortunately it didn’t but we were very nervous the whole time since it was loaded up and riding very low in the water.
- - Parabara Landing and a heavily loaded Dugout! - -
- - Notice the how deep the dugout is riding - -
- - All over Parabara are trees like this! - -
Tom also
made a return visit on the Priest of the village, Gerome. When Tom
gave a public talk in this village a few years ago, Gerome pleaded with them to
stay and become their village “bible
teachers”. Tom helped Gerome to see that he could use the new books to
learn how to teach better from the bible. Gerome promised to start using them and now Tom had a chance to see how
he had progressed. At first Gerome didn’t even recognize Tom, but after a
minute his eyes got really big and he exclaimed “Oh, it’s you! You’re back! I’ve been using the books and I’ve changed
everything I was doing! I’ve been teaching about Jehovah!” They had a
tearful hug and a long encouraging conversation. We thanked Jehovah repeatedly
for giving us the spiritual and physical sustenance in this village, keeping us
bolstered up despite the difficulties. After eating several oranges and
grapefruits we bathed and washed our dusty clothes in the river and prepared
for the next leg of our trip!
“In
everything let your petitions be made known to God”
By now it
was Saturday, and we awoke early to get everything ready for the long trip on
the river. Everything was falling into place but I had a personal problem that
needed attention. A few years ago I got an infection
on my finger that started small but quickly got out of hand. I tried several
types of antibiotic creams and even bleach, but nothing worked. Eventually I
went to a doctor in Guyana, and he gave me a strong oral antibiotic which
cleared it up in a few days. Well I had noticed during our trip that this
infection seemed to be coming back again on the same finger but I hoped that it
would just go away. Much to my chagrin, bathing in the river seemed to make it
much worse and it was getting inflamed and discolored! I prayed
fervently about this the night before and asked for some way to treat the
infection, but I wondered what I could possibly find in this remote village!
So in the
morning I set out after eating and started asking if there was a nurse in the
village, since they never have doctors in small villages. I got directions to a
house where the nurse (Esbund) lived and found him
there eating breakfast. I explained the situation and asked if he had anything for infection. Esbund
said that he would check right after he finished eating, so I left him and went
back to our resting area. About a half hour later Esbund comes and gives me a
small paper packet with some writing on it. After examining it I found inside
some pills! Esbund tells me they are antibiotics they received recently for
another patient but they ended up not needing them! I immediately thanked
Jehovah for providing the medication and prayed that these pills would help the
infection so I could have peace of
mind for the rest of the trip. I repeatedly thanked Esbund for bringing
them and told him that he helped to answer my prayers. I explained why we were
there and he asked if I had anything I could give him. I checked in my bag and
I found a used bible teach book
I was going to use as a personal copy. I offered it to him and he took it and
immediately started looking through it. I told him when we got back from our
trip to Masekenari I would take more time to explain the book.
- - When we returned to Parabara I was able to have a nice bible study w Esbund.
He chose the chapter on "Why does God allow Suffering" - -
- - The Pills he gave me - -
Looking
back, this personal problem was a small factor when compared to the
scope of our trip, but I was touched by how quickly
and decisively I received an
answer to my prayer. Coincidence or not, the timing and the delivery were
perfect, and the medication did the job as I had no more problems with the
infection! There were other personal request I made during this trip such as
having rain water to drink as
opposed to river water, having some fresh
fruits to eat, not to get sick
like I did on the first trip, and for the entire trip to move along as efficiently as possible so as not
to be gone from home longer than scheduled. Again, these were small factors
when compared to Jehovah’s objectives, but I am happy to say that all
of these requests were answered above and beyond what I expected!
Over Water - Parabara to Masekenari
So after
getting my personal problem sorted out I joined Tom and our boat captain down
at the river and after bidding farewell to Kufa and his family we started on
the next leg of our trip. With us in the boat were Wachanna and his Son,
Emmiche our Boat captain, and Me and Tom. We weren’t expecting the boat to be
so big but were happy to have the extra space. We hoped to have an aluminum
boat since they are better on gas mileage, but we ended up with a 30 foot
Dugout. The dugout ended up being a better choice since the river was low
and we would have to literally bump and slide our way through half the river.
An aluminum boat would be much more susceptible to damage from all the
underwater contact, whereas a dugout is very durable. The only downfall of Dugouts
is that they are much heavier which decreases gas efficiency, and
they are harder to maneuver. Not to mention they leak constantly so we were
bailing water the whole time! But after a few hours we got used to picking up a
plastic container and scooping water out for a minute or two, after all it gave
us something to do!
- - From Left to Right, Wachanna's Son, Me, Tom, Wachanna in Back and Emmiche - -
- - Wachana (Left) Emmiche (Right) - -
Like I
mentioned the river was very low, so often there were logs and debris
in the river. So Emmiche, our boat captain, would gun the motor and we would ram
through the debris! Sometimes we could clear all of it without much
trouble, but other times we would get stuck and have to push and pull our way
through! After an hour or so we got used to the drill: 1) Identify the upcoming debris. 2) Put away any valuables and secure all clothing. 3) Assume “Debris Clearing positions” (Heads down, feet in the air, brace for
impact) 4) Push and pull the boat
clear of Logs and branches. 5) Kill
and clear out any unwanted passengers (aka
Spiders, bugs and other critters)
- - Killing Spiders! Ok, Maybe I'm a little too Excited - -
- - "Bush Rope" Tree. Yes like the kind that Tarzan would swing from - -
- - Here's a Video Clip of Our River Travels - -
Or to view it from Picasa click HERE
After about
6 hours on the Kuyuwini River it started to widen out so we had a smooth trip
for the rest of the evening. But around sunset we saw a group of gold miners
camped out on the side of the river and they asked us to stop and “chat”. They
ended up asking us to deliver some provisions to the Masekenari village since
we were headed that way, "A little
bag of flour, and a little sugar".
We also
learned on this trip that all the oppression and colonization in these
countries has forced the Amerindians to develop a “Take what you can get” attitude. So if any foreigners come through
to the villages, it’s a green light to “Take,
Take, Take” So we agreed ahead of time that we couldn’t say “No” to everyone since it would likely
leave a very bad impression on the people. This decision started with paying to
fix the tractor and included carrying 400lbs of provisions on our boat. Again,
we didn't want to say no to everything, and now
we agreed to help these miners out by carrying their provisions too. But the "little" bags of flour and
sugar turned out to be 80lb and 50lb bags! Together with some other
items they added another 200lbs of weight and it was in the front of the boat
which increased the drag quit a lot. But hey, at least we were doing our part for
the Amerindian community!
- - The Gold Miners and thier Overloaded boat - -
Along the
way we had a few distractions here and there, like when Wachanna would make us
top so they could go hunting for a bird called Powice (not sure about spelling)
As you may have seen in the pictures Wachanna was holding his 12 gauge shot gun
the whole time in the tractor, and we thought maybe he brought it for
protection. Little did we know he intended to use it to hunt these small birds
also known as "Bush Chickens"
and they are a lot like chickens except they can fly. Both Tom and I were very
confused at why he would use such a huge gun with expensive ammo to kill such
small animal, but that was just his way.
- - Emmiche was great a building grills and pot holders out of Branches - -
- - (Right) Getting a little shut-eye - -
- - (left) Our Water and Plenty of Grapefruits! (right) Making gourmet Tuna! - -
On the River at
Night
As it
started to get dark we were wondering if the captain was planning to keep going,
and if so how could we see? It turned out that Wachanna and his son both had
Maglite flashlights with brand new batteries, so they worked great for lighting
up the way. They also used the flashlights to hunt more Powice and caught about
6 to take back home to Masekenari, we figured maybe they are rare around the
village.
As it got
really dark we also noticed small
glowing red eyes that would light up when light was shone on them.
After getting closer we figured out that they were Alligators! (Or Caiman
as they are called here) Most of them were small, only about 3-4 feet, but some
were pretty big maybe even up to 7 feet long! Thankfully they were very afraid
of us and would go under water when we got close so I never really got a
picture of one, but you can still see the glowing eyes!
Everything
was going great that night until it started to get very windy which
means rain! I kept thinking to myself "Of all the days to rain, it's supposed to be the dry season!"
but Wachanna said it still rains a little most nights, but a lot less than in
the wet season. So we tried to prepare ourselves for the downpour, we put on
our ponchos and hats and tucked everything else away under the tarps.
Sure enough after a few minutes the rain came fast and hard and we had to stop
on the side to get shelter under the trees. Wachanna and Emmiche both jumped
out of the boat and looked for cover, but I was thinking "what about all the caiman that we saw on the sides of the
river?" I asked Tom and he said to just stay near the boat and
Wachanna said they all run from us and only hunt fish and small animals, but I
didn't feel very comforted.
- - "Rain Ga Fall" - -
- - (Right) Thats Tom behind me in the Yellow Poncho in Fetal Position - -
So the rain fell hard for about 30 minutes and then lightened up, so we got back in the boat and continued. Being in the rain wasn't the worst part, it was the Cold! And you are probably thinking "Shouldn't it be hot in the Amazon?" And yes it is quite hot when the sun is out, but at night it gets very cool, especially if you are wet and there is a constant breeze blowing on you. We endured this for about an hour, Tom was next to me bent over in the fetal position he was so cold, and he's never cold so you know it was pretty bad. Then he suddenly gets up, goes up to where some provisions are in front of the boat, crawls under the tarp and sits there! I was thinking "that can't be comfortable but it must be better than freezing to death all night!" So I pulled the tarp up that was behind me and crawled on top of our bags, also in the fetal position. The Tarp was perfect for blocking the wind but it smelled bad underneath and there were still some creepy critters under there from running into the debris. But it was still better than the cold, so I closed my eyes prayed for strength and endurance, and tried to sleep.
I actually
did doze off eventually after fighting off a few spiders attracted to my
warmth. I awoke when I felt the boat run aground and slowly peered out from
under the tarp. Everyone was off the boat and where up the hill where there was
a fire and some other river travelers. Tom and I went and joined them
where they all huddled around the fire. There were a few families there on
their way to Masekenari camping out for the night, and they had a big custom
built grill over the fire, with a selection of different fish and iguana
eggs cooking. I wasn't hungry but our Amerindian boat mates were
helping themselves quite voraciously. I looked around at all the other family
sleeping peacefully in their hammocks and I wondered if we would sleep here?
Tom had told Emmiche that we wanted to get to the village as fast as possible,
so his plan was to go all night on the river. So after warming up and drying
off a little we reluctantly got back on the boat and continued on our merry
way.
- - From Left to Right - Roasted: Poice, Pirranah, Himara, Iguana Eggs - -
That was a
very rough night but I was able to sleep for maybe 3-4 hours. When I awoke we
were on a the Essequibo river! The Essequibo is a much larger river, and
that morning it was smooth and glassy. We stopped at a rocky spot, ate some
grapefruit and crackers and read the text together. This morning and many other
times on these trips we felt overwhelmed by the beauty and peace of Jehovah's
creation. It often made us reflect on how life will be in the Paradise when all creation will be at peace and
we can fully enjoy traveling anywhere,
and without trembling or fear!
- - (left) Tom Shaving after a very long Night (right) My Breakfast! Granola with Milk - -
- - Tom and I reading the Text after breakfast - -
Compared with the previous night the rest of our travel was pretty uneventful, the only real excitement came when we reached the falls or rapids. These rapids are very wide sections of the Essequibo where the rocks were uncovered by low tide. They didn't pose much of a threat but I really enjoyed the excitement of going up the rapids! Emmiche was very good at finding the best path to take but there were times when the motor was on full and we were barely moving! Once or twice I thought we might starting going backwards, but after maneuvering a bit we made it through. There were five areas with falls and only two of them were very big.
Finally, Masekenari!
Have you
ever talked about or planned something for so long that you wonder if it will
ever come? Well this was definitely one of those times, after three years
of planning and research, six days of travel and a lot of prayer we were
finally there! We arrived at the Masekenari landing right before dark. Within
about five minutes there were several families gather around to greet us and
find out who we were. We greeted everyone and talked for a bit and then started
carrying our luggage up to the village. Most of the time these river villages
are right on the river, but this was not
one of those times. The village was about a 10 minute walk, and it was
uphill! And we had around 800lbs
of luggage to carry up! And unfortunately, we brought in so many provisions
and supplies for the villagers they were very preoccupied getting their own
things up. So we were on our own, and after the second trip up the hill we were
both "feeling the burn". All we could do was take our time and take lots
of breaks in between trips and of course, pray for strength.
Somewhere
around the third or fourth trip we met a man named Eleazar who turned
out to be the village priest or pastor. He came looking for us because
he heard that we were Jehovah's Witnesses and he had one of our magazines.
He loved reading the magazine and of course wanted more to read! The
only problem was we were both exhausted and drenched with sweat, so Tom offered
to give him one of everything in the morning. But Eleazar was insistent and
said that he would wait for us to finish. After following for a little
while he offered to help us carry some of the boxes of literature for which we
were very grateful. While resting Tom looked in one of the open boxes and gave
him a Greatest Man book, which he immediately started reading. As we continued
up the hill we looked back and Eleazar was just standing there, still reading!
When we finally got everything up to our Benab we had a great talk with Eleazar
about our plans and our message and Tom loaded him up with books and magazines.
- - All of our Literature - -
That same
night we had another visitor, Romel Shoni, who heard we had arrived and he came over to meet
us. Romel said that he was leaving in the morning and he didn't want to miss out!
He was very excited to get the Bible Story book and he had heard of it before
but never received one. He got even more excited when I gave him the Greatest
Teacher book and explained how to use it. He said "I'm going to read this tonight with my children!"
Breaking Down
Barriers
So you may
recall that before we left Lethem, the village Toshao was asking us to
bring a "Gift" of 20 gallons of gas. Well now Tom had to go
and give him the bad news, and he didn't take it very well. The Toshao, Paul,
was very disappointed because he had already told the village that we
were bringing the fuel and everyone was excited about it. So Tom tried to
explain step by step why we
couldn't bring the fuel, and he tried to help him understand that we did bring 7
boxes of literature to give away for free! Plus we would be teaching
and studying with everyone in the village. They talked for maybe 30
minutes and Paul listened but he was still a little upset and disappointed but
he said "Tomorrow we will meet with
the village council and discuss it further" So Tom left it at that and
prayed fervently that this misunderstanding wouldn't ruin our whole visit.
Well in the
morning Tom and I went up to the Village Bennab and met with the Village
Counsel which consisted of the Toshao Paul, the church leader Eleazar and a few
other Council Members. Tom was a little worried but the Toshao seemed to be in
a much better mood that morning. We found out later that Eleazar
has been reading his new books all night and in the morning he had a long
talk with the Toshou and gave a great witness for us! So in the
meeting Paul basically just had a few questions about what we are teaching and
sharing. After having about an hour
conversation with him and the council he stopped us and said "Ok, this all sounds good, so go ahead
and preach the village!" We were extremely relived and we thanked
Jehovah for again answering our prayers and smoothing over these obstacles.
- - Masekenari Village - -
Our Place of Residence
- - We each took a side. (Left pic is my hammock) - -
- - Tom trying to do wash but getting a little carried away! - -
The Preaching
In the past
we have enjoyed a great number of encouraging conversations and faith
strengthening examples these trips, and this time was no different. We found
several in the village, including Eleazar and Paul, who had a strong
desire to learn and had many questions about what we were teaching. Then there
were others who needed the message to be simplified a great deal so they
could understand, but when they did understand it was amazing to see their
faces light up with a big smile! And then see them telling others their new
found understandings! So the truth benefited everyone whether they were
searching for truths or not.
An
interesting thing we found in this village is that the council does not allow
any alcohol to be brought in! After a conversation with Eleazar he explained
that they used to allow alcohol but noticed that the village started to get a
lot of “wickedness”. Paul,
the Toshao, confirmed this and said “we
don’t want to bring any temptation into the village”. And because of this
there is very little crime or domestic violence in Masekenari and the people
seem to really enjoy it! From what I’ve seen in many other Amerindian villages
it does seem that the more access to alcohol there is, the
more
severe problems are prevailing.
Another
interesting discovery we made is that this remote village actually has internet!
Before we left Wachanna told us this, but I had to see it to believe. Sure
enough at the village office there is a satellite, solar power, and two
laptops. When I went in they were browsing on Facebook and chatting with
other villages in Wai Wai! Tom and I
both laughed to ourselves and then asked if we could use the computer to send
an email to our wives telling them we were still alive. So we were able to
share a few experiences with them over the next two days, what a blessing!
A Few Experiences
Bess Bernard The morning
we had the meeting with the Toshao, I noticed a woman come sit nearby and
listen to the whole conversation, nodding
her head and giving vocal agreements.
Tom found her later and spoke briefly and gave her several books including a
Bible teach book. Later when I was making a return visit in the area I found
her home and asked how she was enjoying the books. She loved them of course and
I asked if she would like to have a bible
discussion. She quickly ran up stairs into the house and came back with ALL
of the books. I explained the purpose of each one and gave special emphasis on
the Bible Teach book, that it was a
book that could help her to learn and teach. She then opened the book to the
chapter on the Last Days and asked if I could explain it to her. So we
sat and had a bible study and she was very quick to get every point. I knew she
was busy so I asked a few times if she needed to stop, but each time she said “let’s go a little more”. At the end of
the study I asked her why she was so interested in this chapter and she said “I want to know what is going to happen and
what we should be doing” I commended her for her strong interest in the
bible and told her to make sure to come to the public talk we were having that
evening. Well, she came, and during the whole talk she had her flashlight
looking up the scriptures and taking notes!
- - Her Collection of Bibles and an old United in Worship Book! - -
- - (Left) After the bible study (Right) Bess bringing her books to study - -
Ramsyran Tume Another man
I spoke to on the second day because he was on the river fishing all day which
is common for the men to do. He actually found me and sat in on a study I was having with another man and listened the
whole time. After I was finished I asked him if anyone spoke to him yet and he
explained that he had been gone. So I went into the usual presentation,
emphasizing Jehovah’s name, and to my surprise he knew everything
already, even the difference between Jehovah and Jesus! This was very
unusual for a person in this village so I had to ask him how he knew so much.
He explained that he is actually from a different village further north called
Awarwanaw (Pronounced a-war-wan-now) and that the church leader in this
village has been teaching about Jehovah! I asked the name of this church leader
and he said his name is Charles and that he is an Amerindian
but he has the same books that we were sharing. I learned later that some
brothers had been into this village briefly but they were asked to leave early
by the Toshao who didn’t want them there. But apparently some books were placed
and the church leader was now using them! I spoke further with Ramsyran
and asked him some questions about what he had learned and most of it was very
accurate. At the end of our discussion I told him that when he goes back to
Awarwanaw to tell Charles thank you, and
to keep up the good work! I was able to verify this story on the way home from Masekenari;
I spoke to a man who was also from Awarwanaw and I asked him if he knew who
Jehovah is. He said “Yes, he is the
creator!” I then asked if he knew Charles and he confirmed that he was the
church leader there and that he had some books from us. So, true story.
- - Ramsyran - -
On all these
preaching trips we are simply scattering seed, and a lot has been scattered! We
really don’t know how all of the literature will be used and understood after
we leave a village, but we are confident that if
the people have a good heart condition, Jehovah can guide and move them as he
sees fit. And, as in the past, Jehovah may even use spiritual “Babes” to teach his sheep. (Matt 11:25) Whatever it takes to accomplish his will!
Eleazar As you read
earlier Eleazar showed amazing interest right from the very start and
we enjoyed several great discussions with him, too many to relate now. But one
things that really touched me was his sincere desire to help us spread
the message. For one, when Tom asked about giving a public talk, Eleazar recommended
the village Benab, but it was getting dark and there were no lights in the
Benab. So he went and asked their village electrician to come and install a
light right away! When the time came to give the talk, the village was a little
slow to arrive so Eleazar went and sounded a horn so people would know
to come, and come they did. That night we had over 45 people for the
talk, more than Tom and I had ever seen!
Not only
that but a few times Eleazar would come and find me while preaching and ask us “Did you find this house over here, or that
family over there?” making sure we didn’t miss anyone. He even accompanied
me to a few remote houses and listened to the discussion. At another house he
offered to translate to an older man who couldn’t speak any English. And
often during our discussions he would say things like “We really need more brothers like you to come and teach us” and “I wish you all could stay longer!”
- - Eleazar is in the Back Right (For some reason I never got a good pic of him) - -
Paul Martin The village
leader, Paul, was a real pleasure to get to know as well after we got
all the misunderstandings cleared up. He loved
to laugh and tell us stories even though he struggled with English. And it
was obvious he had a strong spiritual hunger and a desire for the village to
learn more about Jehovah. At the end of the first public talk he gave a long
speech for about 5-10 minutes, but he was speaking in Wai Wai so we were
wondering if it was something good or bad. When he finished he explained that
he was telling the village that “no one
was forcing us to come, or paying us, but that we came at our own expense to
help preach the gospel.” We were very touched by his heartfelt expression
and we commended him for us excellent attitude!
- - After the Second Public Talk. Paul is in the Front Right next to Tom - -
The Long Journey Home - Paddling,
Fishing and Camping in the Jungle
After three
days in Masekenari the time had come for us to get going back home. The morning
we left, Eleazar brought us two huge pineapples and Paul brought a large
bag of Oranges! Yay, more fresh citrus fruits! Right up until we left
there were people coming by asking for more literature and asking questions
about the books. Even while we were waiting at the boat a few came and we had a
nice discussion with them from the boat.
- A few that followed us down to the Landing to say goodbye - -
We were a
little uneasy about the journey home since we didn’t know how long it would
take. As you may recall on the way to this village our boat was very
overloaded with provisions and people seemed to keep adding more, so by the
time we reached Masekenari we had around 700lbs of extra weight. It
wasn’t until our second day that we realized with all that weight, we had used well
over half our fuel getting there! We were told that it should only take
18 gallons, but we ended up using 28 gallons, and no one had any extra
gas to give us! Emmiche recommended that we buy more fuel but it would cost
nearly $15 USD a gallon! So there was
no way we could afford that and the only other option would be to go as far as
possible with the motor on very low, and then paddle the rest of the
way. In our minds we thought paddling wouldn’t be too hard, but
we had no idea. For one the boat was huge and heavy, and two we would
be paddling UP river. So it would be very very slow, and very
hard work, as the Amerindians would say, “Punishing”. Emmiche knew this and he seriously wanted to avoid
paddling, so he told us he may be able to find the gold miners again and that
they owe him some fuel.
So we set
out with our 12 gallons of gas and cruised along for the whole day at
about 14 miles an hour, give or take. The only thing going for us was that we
were on the Essequibo and were going down river so that helped a lot. But once
we reached the Kuyuwini we would be going up river. We made it all the way down
the Essequibo in just 14 hours which was really good, but we only had 2
gallons left! We were very happy when right before dark we found the gold
miners boat! They were camping further in the jungle so Emmiche offered to go
and find them in the morning. So we camped out that night, in the rain of
course, and we only had a small tarp to cover us but thankfully the rain let up
by the time we went to sleep.
- - First Night Camping out in the Rain! - -
- - Emmiche Caught a Tiger fish and it was Delicious! - -
Well, when
the miners found us they said all of their fuel was sent in the opposite
direction and they had none to give! But they called in by radio and arranged
for some fuel to be sent from Parabara. The idea was to meet somewhere
in the middle of the Kuyuwini, and since they would be going Down
river
they should reach us within a day or two. So all we could do was press forward
and go as far as we could with our 2 gallons of gas. After it was spent we
would be paddling until we met the other boat.
The 2
Gallons lasted longer than we thought, and secretly I was hoping that it would
turn out like the loves and the fishes miracle. But of course it did run out
right around lunch time. We only had two paddles so Emmiche asked me if I would
like him to make me a paddle, and for some strange reason I said “Sure!”
- - Emmiche making me a paddle - -
- - I was a little excited to paddle... in the beggining - -
The hardest
thing about the paddling was keeping motivated. It is so slow that sometimes we would look over at the land and we
weren’t moving! Tom and I both
prayed continually for the strength to keep going, and to stay positive. We
camped out again that night, and like the other nights Emmiche fished and
cooked, but this night was a special treat, fire roasted Himara! It
was delicious and helped me to keep my energy and strength up.
- - Roasted Himara in the middle - -
- - Second Night - -
- - Third Night - -
In the
morning we tried to verify with Emmiche that a boat was actually coming because
we expected to have seen it by now. He seemed very uncertain and finally
admitted that he didn’t really know if they were coming for sure!
So that was a blow to our morale since without more fuel we would have at least
3 more days paddling probably more. I prayed specifically that Jehovah
would help us to not have to paddle the whole way back and that we could
somehow get more fuel. After eating we tried to psych ourselves up and
mentally prepare for another day of paddling. We pushed
off and paddled for about 30 minutes, until we saw another boat coming
toward us. Emmiche exclaimed “Oh! It’s my
family!” and they had 14 gallons of fuel with them! We were
practically walking on water we were so happy to see them and get the fuel! We
unloaded everything off their boat onto ours and then lifted their boat up on
top of ours too! We almost fell into the water trying to maneuver the other
dugout up on onto ours, but we got it on and went on our way.
- - Could it really be them? - -
- - Yes! And they have Fuel! - -
After
paddling for the past day and a half it felt like we were going 100 mph with
the motor now. Everything was going great and I started to notice by some
familiar landmarks that we were close to Parabara. We got to within
about 4 hours out when our motor stopped working. We prayed
that it wasn’t serious, but it turned out that the propeller was ruined! It
seems that all the extra weight was just too much for this little 15hp motor
and it stripped out the propeller. So we were back to paddling! We were
close, but without the motor it would still take at least a day to reach
Parabara now! I was amazed at what a huge difference it made with and without
fuel and a motor. We paddled from 1pm until about 5pm while Emmiche would try to
idle the motor on the calm parts which gave us a little extra boost. We went as
long as we could until dark and then camped out again, a fourth night.
On the fifth day I was really getting tired of being on this river and just
wanted the traveling to be finished. We were almost out of fresh water, all the
fruit was gone, and our food was getting low. And the last four days had been
like an emotional roller coaster with
all the ups and downs. So when we finally got to Parabara we took a
picture at the landing, and I tried to express with my face the sheer
joy and relief of being off the river!
The worst
was over but we still had another 22 hour tractor ride ahead of us. But
compared to being on the river for five days, this would be nothing! Little did
I know that the tractor would also break down! Yes, after going for half the
day it was having trouble starting, and by the evening when we reached Karaudanaw
the tractor gave out and wouldn’t start. I thanked Jehovah that we didn’t break
down in the middle of nowhere, since at least in the village they had a
mechanic. The mechanic found that the starter on our tractor was bad and the
only way to start it would be a jump start. I was thinking “Well that’s fine as long as we had another tractor around to jump start it, but what if we break down
in the middle of nowhere?!” And of course that’s exactly what happened!
Since there was no one around our only option was to try a push start, which
Tom and I had done many times with Alton’s truck. But this was no pickup truck;
this was a huge and heavy tractor! We tried anyway, and even with 6 men pushing
and pulling we just could not get it started. Tom told me later that he had
been praying
all day for some way out of this tractor ride. And just when we were
all exhausted and about to give up, another truck came racing up! He
offered to help jump start us and then we asked him how far he was going. At
first he said Lethem and so we asked “Can
we get a ride??” Then he said that he wasn’t really going all the way to
Lethem but would be stopping a few hours outside Lethem, at a village called Shulinab.
Shulinab is just a few hours away from Lethem, and we figured maybe we could
find a ride from there, so we jumped in back of the pickup and off
we went! This guy must have been in a huge rush because he was racing
along at 40-50 mph! And even though we were all over the back of the truck, we
were happy
to just be moving fast!
We got to
Shulinab in about 3 hours, and Tom recalled that there are normally
Witnesses working this village on Wednesdays, and it just so
happened to be Wednesday! So he went off to check if they were there, and about
half an hour later, there comes brother Donlan with his truck! I about
cried I was so happy to see him and he gave me a big bear hug. He said were just
in time for their group meeting and we got to sit in with the group! It was
such a great feeling to finally be back with our brothers and sisters singing
and discussing
the bible together! Later Tom and I both admitted that we were fighting
back tears we were so happy! What a privilege to be part of a united
worldwide brotherhood!
- - The Meeting in Shulinab - -
Looking back
I have no doubts that despite all the problems and obstacles, Jehovah
was with us every step. Because really, it could have been so much harder
than it turned out. The timing was perfect so that the
Rivers weren’t too high or too low, and it was right in time to catch the ride
with the tractor. And we had just enough money to fix the trailer
and get a round trip to Parabara. And
without the tractor we could have been paying hundreds more or perhaps hiking
back home. Then even though we ran out of fuel we just happened to go
to the gold miners who could contact Parabara and have the fuel sent. Even
the fact that they had 14 gallons of fuel was amazing because when we got back
to Parabara they said there was no fuel in the village. But a
visitor happened to leave 14 gallons with Kufa which was the perfect
amount that we needed. Then the tractor breaking down led to us stopping the
pickup and getting a ride with him, and he got us to Shulinab right
in time to find bro Donlan and attend their meeting! So all of it
is really Jehovah working things out, but it’s such an amazing privilege to be
a part of it and experience it! I hope after reading this you will get an idea
of the joy that comes from preaching in these remote lands and perhaps it will
encourage others to look for opportunities to experience Jehovah’s guidance
more fully!
