Indigenous

I didn't know people still did missions like this. I felt like I was witnessing firsthand some of the missionary stories of my childhood while Helman told us about his ventures by canoe into the heart of Colombia. Guerrillas, midnight assaults, capsized canoes, planes with no seats that transported cows as well as humans, where the pilot had to stick his head out the window to be able to land.

That's the real deal.

And I didn't truly understand what the ladies at our conference had gone through to get to us until we took the relatively easy bus trip to San José del Guaviare, a mere 2.4 degrees from the equator and only 4 hours from Villavicencio, Crisalinco's home base. This was the closest Crisalinco training center to reach, Helman informed us. No joke... some of the women had traveled 14 hours by canoe, 2 days in a bus, and taken two planes (some of them doubtful as the one I mentioned above) to be able to come to the conference. They're incredible.

We visited two different indigenous groups who live near the city of San José. First were the Nukak, second were the Hiú.

The village of the semi-nomadic Nukak probably impacted me most of anything that I saw while we were in Colombia. I'd love to post photos, but... this is one of those moments when I honestly can't post many. If you're interested in demographics and a description of these people and how to pray for them, take a look at these websites:

https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/11966/CO
http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/nukak
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nukak_people

This is how they live, this is where they eat. We visited their homes and talked as much as we could-- Nukak isn't a common language, let alone a written one. Stealing is a core value to their society, because it's how they survive. Governmental programs worth hundreds of thousands US are sponged off by corrupt politicians, and only a sliver of the aid makes it to the communities, where it's typically poorly applied and no training is provided. Helman says they need a missionary to come live among them full time, adopting their customs and living life with specific values to show them morals they haven't learned quite yet and teach them to read, so they can study the Bible for themselves as it's developed in their language. Learning ethics would also need to be learned, since although there is a school built in the community, the students typically only stay for an hour before they decide to go home. There's more I could share here, but again... I feel it's not something to be made a spectacle of. I'd love to tell you, though, if you feel like asking!

This is Friendly Fred, next Christmas's dinner on four feet. Watch out, Fred!
He was quite receptive to our group, and followed us around faithfully.

This guy is the hope of Crisalinco for the Nukak. They don't have a tribal leader,
but this man has gone through Crisalinco's training and can now read and write.
As he continues to grow, their hope is that he will rise in the esteem of his community.
He and his wife came to visit us at our hotel since we missed them in the village.

The other tribe we visited was the Hiú. They are way more settled in than the semi-nomadic Nukak, so their cultural development is also a lot farther along and their dwellings are more permanent.







I have searched online, but I can't find any extra information about them! Maybe I don't have the right spelling or they go by another name. This group of people, though, was a lot more ready to engage with us. The language barriers was not as great, and we even got to tell the kids a Bible story and sing Father Abraham and The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock. I pulled out my extensive Casa Grande training as Kids Club emcee, though we were definitely all following along with Helman. Who is DEFINITELY in his calling as he relates brilliantly with people, up to jumping into a river to race some of the boys.

We also got to see their process for making cassava bread, which they bake on top of a tin roof in the sunshine.

These mud stoves last up to a year before needing to be rebuilt.
Turtle soup, anyone?

Seriously.

They make and sell these manillas, or bracelets... we bought them out.

Also got to try this hunting bow... and the spearlike arrow that went with it. It was fun,
but my arrow didn't make it far.

Just tell me this doesn't look refreshing.

I got the pleasure of holding this little princess for her mom for a while.
She was a cuddler!

Obviously... this makes you think. They live without so many conveniences I consider "necessary." Their lives are simple, but they are interested in each other and interested in creating and enjoying creation. It's an entirely different mindset, and taking the poverty and some of the more controversial moral systems out of the picture.... there are a lot of parts of their existence that are simple and good.

What does it mean to be indigenous?
Dictionary.com helped me out there.

adjective

1.

originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native(often 

followed by to):

the plants indigenous to Canada; the indigenous peoples of southern Africa.

2.

innate; inherent; natural (usually followed by to):

feelings indigenous to human beings.

It means to belong. To be born someplace, raised someplace, to be part of the fiber and DNA of that place. Because if a location is inhabited, its inhabitants are what give it the flavor and character that it has. The DR has one flavor... the Colombian flavor has a completely different one. And both countries have subflavors, like these original groups. There are 80 groups like the Nukak and Hiú in Colombia, I found out.

Yet these indigenous groups are the original Colombians, like the native American tribes are the original Americans. And somehow, whether by oversight or by design, the collective development of the country around them passed them by. They live by different rules, different means, different resources. They are effectively in that world, but not of it. They are part of the cultural makeup, but they don't affect it.

Here's my thought to ponder, and I'd love some discussion on the topic as I perfect my parallel here...

As Christians, we're now indigenous to the kingdom of God. We are part of its fiber, what gives it flavor, yet like the Nukak, we live semi-nomadic lives in a land not our own. We live by different rules, different means, different resources; called to be in this world, but not of it, and its progress "forward" may seem to leave us in the dust as we struggle to avoid taking on a worldview that goes against our ancient creed. However, we are not called to live only amongst ourselves. We are called to be the flavor and the color (the salt and the light) of this land we travel through, as well, leading others toward our home country.

Indigenous.

Credit where credit's due: Most of the photos in this post were taken by my teammates, particularly Rod and Peggy Stewart and Tammy Springer. They were doing such an awesome job, I decided not to try taking yet another expensive camera through some of the crazy zones were were passing through.