We worked with the Ayoro Indians for about a year under the direction of Toni and Placido Mercado. It was a "different experience;" one which I am glad that we did, which helped us see first-hand how the indigenous people live and how they think.
The Ayore Indians have been for centuries a nomadic tribe. South America Mission has been working with them for over 40 years, off and on. We have made progress in small, slow strides. There is a lot of spiritual warfare that goes on within their villiages, and the oppression we feel when we enter is very strong. We do however feel that there is hope for these people, as Jesus works in their hearts and lives.
This was our experience each week as we left to go to the villiages. First of all we would drive to the "consultorio" which in other words is Dr. Toni's office to get supplys and to pick up extra people that need a ride out to the villiage. After loading up we would drive for about another 5o minutes, out into the country until we reach the one-lane bridge which spans the Rio Grande river. Since the bridge is one-laned, and since it also serves as a railroad bridge, we often have to sit and wait for traffic to pass for as long a one hour in the hot sun. After we finally pass the bridge we would drive through a town known as Pilon. We often have to stop in Pilon at the pharmacy or on errands before traveling further. After we pass Pilon, we travel on to the villiage of Pose Verde. Pose Verde is one of the bigger Ayore Villiages. At pose Verde we drop off passengers and pick up the Ayore pastor "Benial." Once we pick up Benial we have to drive another 45 minutes over "very bad" roads to a villiage called Guidichi I. At Guidichi I we first would sit and visit, ( Dan and I usually sat and grinned a lot, since we couldn't speak the language). Some times they would offer us food, (armadello, turtle or rice). We always thanked them but declined. (For health reasons). Finally Pastor Benial would open the "Word," written in Ayoro, and share the gospel with them. Usually those sitting and listening were the women and children. Most of the men would conviently go hunting. When the kids get load or cause disruptions Dan would take them a little ways away and play with them. After Pastor Benial finished sharing with them and said a prayer, he would tell them that "Sister Neva" was a nurse and was there to help them if they had medical needs. The first couple of visits no one asked for help, but after they got to know us better they would open up and ask for help.
I remember that on our first visit to Guidichi I I noticed an elderly women with a dirty rag wrapped around her ankle. I looked at her ankle and found an ugly decubitus ulcer under the rag. I was able to clean the would as best as I could, show her family how to clean the wound, give the family clean bandages to change dressings with, and I gave her oral antibiotics. After we left I worried about the poor women and whether I had done enough for her. I prayed for her daily and the following week when we had returned I was amazed at how much the wound had healed. I realized that it was nothing that I had done, but what God had done through me. This same women had a problem with "really high" blood pressure. We had been giving her medication for her blood pressure but could not understand why each week her pressure readings had not gotten better. Finally we started counting the pills we gave her and did a more intensive follow-up to find out what was going on. The following week she had no pills left. We asked around, (that is with Pastor Benial as our interpreter), and discovered that the women gave her pills away to people when they had a headache or stomache. She had not even been taking the medication. We had to have a long discussion with her family and made them promise us that she would be the only person taking the medication "and" they would see that she took it as directed. They agreed. Sadly, the women had already shown signs of renal failure brought on by the elevated blood pressure. She also complained of having small strokes. She fell down a lot and developed other decubitus ulces on her legs. We tried to get her to come into Santa Cruz, to go to the hospital for a full range of diagnostic tests and for treatment but she refused. You see..... to an Indian, a hospital is a place you go to die. She could not be convienced. We think that the women was diabetic.... and eventually the ulcers were non-responsive to our treatment. Eventually she developed gangrene of her leg. She refused to go to the hospital and she died there in the villiage. So sad, especially since her ailment could have been treated and she could have lived significantly longer.
That brings me to another topic..... death. When we went to the Indian villliage you would always see the most maingiest looking dogs..... so skinnny, but with swollen abdomens. One week we saw one of these puppies at Guidichi II, (a sister villiage about another 45 minutes away). The following week the puppy was laying dead right in the middle of the villiage. No one would touch it. The Indians will not touch anthing that is dead. Later that week we were talking to Dr. Toni about what we had seen and she said that in the past when someone died in the villiage, they would close up their house, or just leave the person there, and move the villiage away. Now, through the influence of the people of SAM, the Indians are at least seeing things a little differently. They no longer move away when someone dies, but buries them properly in a plot designated by the tribal leader. I bring this up because the lady which I wrote about in the earlier paragraph eventually did die of grangrene of the leg. They buried her, but the following week when we went to the villiage we found that the villiage had dismantled her house so that there was no evidence that she had lived there. They said that they did it so that the spirits had no place to live or to haunt them. Again, while I said that the Ayoro Indians are making strides in their Christian beliefs, they still have a long way to go.
One day we arrived at the villiage just after a small boy had fallen into the fire. (They still cook on an open fire). Evedently the children were chasing one another and this one got too close to the fire. He had second degree burns all over his left knee. Several men had to hold the boy down for me as I debrided the wound and dressed it. I gave the family oral antibiotics for him to take, (infection is rampid at the villiages), and instructed them how to dress the wound daily. This story has a happpy ending,.... the boys wound healed and was good as new within a couple of weeks.
One day we arrived at Guidichi II to find an elder cutting apart pieces of a cow. It appeared as though he had the head and two of the legs. Children were gathered all around the man begging for a piece of meat. He cut each of them a hunk of meat off the cow and the kids were gitty with excitement. Many of the children were as young as four years old, and they ran off and found a stick, and each in turn made their own little fire and cooked the meat. Most could not wait for the meat to cook and so many of them ate the meat almost raw. One little girl, "Marybelle," I had been treating for an infection behind her ear was "covered" with blood. It scared me at first...... I looked all over her trying to find the source of the blood. It was soon evedent that she had been "drinking" the blood! It is a rich source of protein for the Indians.
One time, in Guidichi II I was treating a little boy for an upper respiratory infection. I asked who his mother was. I was surprised when they all started to roar with laughter. You see,... in many cases children are abandoned by their parents and the "villiage" raises the child. There is no father or mother, everyone takes responsibility for their care. When food is prepared, everyone sitting around the fire gets food. At night if it is cold they all huddle together for warmth. I finally got a women to take responsibilty for the child. I gave her medication as well as tried to explain how to care for him, (that is through Benial's interpretation). After it was all over the women turned around and handed the medication to the child, who could not have been more than four years of age. This happened often. That is why we tried our best not to treat the children with medications. The Indians don't see how dangerous medications can be and do not take them seriously.
One day I was doing blood pressure checks. It was no big deal. Dan was playing with the kids and we had taken time to look at their new inventory of armadellos they had captured. Later, on the way home Dan asked me if I had noticed the snake. I said, "What snake!" Evedently there was a dead snake under the bush which was no more than three feet away from where I had been working. It was a poisinous snake! Someone from the villiage must have beat it to death and it crawled under the bush to die. I made a mental note that I need to be more aware of my surroundings for now on.
One day Benial was sharing with the adults and the kids were being roudy. I took the kids over to the truck to see if I could entertain them some while Benial talked about spiritual things. As a thought..... I took out an alcohol wipe and rubbed it along "Marybelles" arm. The Indians are so durty you can imagine how dirty the alcohol wipe became! Marybelle thought that I had taken her skin off! She had never been aware of how much dirt she carried around on her body. It was very interesting she her reaction. When the Indians do bathe, they go to the watering hole, and it is a communal swim more or less. Unfortunately the water is muddy and is full of parisites. Wells have been dug in the villiages and each villiage has it's own spiket for water. (In one villiage it was the favorite spot for the lone pig!) We have to treat everyone in the villiages for parasites about every four months. The problem with that is that they are so mobile, so nomadic, that they are in one villiage one week and another another week. There are no records to keep track of anyone and often people get missed. A week later someone appears and wants to know where there parasite medicine is. And, when you treat someone for one thing, everyone else wants to be treated for it as well. It was very frustrating.
I mentioned that the Ayore Indians have a history of being nomadic. Because of their past, and because of their culture, they can not see making goals or that there is a future for them. A problem with that is that if they see a tree with fruit in it, if they can't reach the fruit, they simply cut the tree down! So much for next year!
The Ayoro's do not know how to show appreciation. Because of this it is difficulty to find people to work with them. It is a thankless job. When a pump house was supplied for the villiage so that everyone could have clean drinking water they all horded it and fought over how much each could have. And then, when the pump broke they took no ownership of the pump. They called the person that had donated it and said that "your" pump is broken and so they had better get over and fix it. A number of times cattle have been given to the villiages, hoping that they would start a herd and start some milking cows. A short time later they killed the cows for food instead. They could not wait for their return. It is just so hard for them to see future out-comes. This especially is difficult explaining spirutitual things and eternal rewards.
the Ayoro men hunt and most of the women are prostitutes. They see nothing wrong with this. It is what they have done for centuries and the way the plan to continue to live. SAM has been tryiing to launch alternative methods of making money such as sewing, farming and fishing projects. The returns are slow, but pray with us that the Ayore people will embrace this new way of thinking.
This picture was taken from inside the church which was built in the villliage of Pose Verde. It is brick and has a tin roof. It is funcional. Since this photo was taken a work team came down and built them benches so that they could sit comfortably during their meetings.
This is a women who stopped our truck one time as we were leaving the villiage of Pose Verde. She was begging for money. Toni later explained to me that she had been treated for tuberculosis and they feared that it had come back.
This is a picture of two sweet kids. This picture was taken outside of the church after we had a Bible school for them..
This is a picture of the one-lane bridge that stretches over the Rio Grande river which we have to cross to get to the Ayore villiages. The bridge is really long, which explains why it take so long for each side pass. There is no other bridge across the river for miles. Fortunately they are building another bridge just a little ways down river which will help with passage. A big problem lies in that when things heat up politically, people block the bridges and no one can pass some times for days. People will camp out on the roads and tempers flair.
Inside the church during Bible School.
This is the elder of Guidichi II. Note that he has his Bible (in Ayoro) open and is following along as Benial reads to them. Here the elder has a question for Benial.
This is where they keep their hogs, (when they are penned up that is). They are very proud of their facility.
This is one of the women at the church. She is sewing a purse to sell.
This women and the girl behind her are showing us things which they would like to sell. The girl to the left has a "puma" which has been carved out of wood and she has painted it.
The kids love to color with crayons. A group of doctors had come to see them and had given them a coloring book and crayons, as well as succors.
An Ayore baby wandering around on it's own. 
This is a picture of one of their huts. This is actually one of the "better" huts. Most are much smaller. SAM has actually helped a few of them to build small concrete buildings which are more efficient and cleaner to live in, especially since the insidence of "chagis" is high when they live in mud huts.
By the end of the day when we would head home back into Santa Cruz, about 5:00 pm we are literally exhaused from the days wanderings. We have dirt from blowing sand caked on us and we feel filthy. We hope what we have done has made a difference, but it is hard to tell. We just trust God to keep us going.
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