volzone: bolivia 2001

Fellowship Afloat joined with Latin Link to send a team to Beni Province in Bolivia in July 2001. Their brief was to rebuild a boat for a local church. Ruthie Ellam tells us all about it.

Bolivia July-August 2001

Its hard to fit the month into just a couple of pages!! Perhaps the best way is to answer the questions that I have been asked most often!! (To read more about Maurice’s latest trip go to the end!)

So, where was it you went again – Borneo?
Er, no. Bolivia – that’s South America, kinda in the middle…

How did you get there?
By plane (funnily enough) – lots of ‘em, 11 flights in total, ranging from a big huge British Airways jet to a 40 seater with propellers – the quality of food was definitely proportionate to the size of aircraft. When we first arrivemon ( we were also joined on our journey by Shirley’s sister Wilma, whose summer visit to her sis also involved spending a lot of time with us lot – she coped v well!). This was basically a chance to be orientated into ‘being in Bolivia’ before we actually reached the project. Then it was a couple more flights (one of which was 7 hours late – Bolivian airlines being somewhat reminiscent of British rail…) up to the very north of Bolivia to our home town for the next few weeks – Guayaramerin…

What was it like in Guayaramerin (and how exactly do you say that?)
Gwy-air-a-merin is right up in the north of Bolivia, in the vast Amazon basin that covers much of South America. The town lies on the banks of the Rio Mamore, one of the largest rivers in Bolivia – and on the opposite bank is Brazil, a quick 10 minute water taxi ride away! Although Guaya is a pretty big town – with a population about the size of Braintree – outside of the centre it really feels just like a big village, with unmade roads and lots of random animals snuffling around! The colours were very vivid, with the bright blue sky, lush greenery and terracotta red earthy roads…it would be a good place for a dulux advert!

The main mode of transport is motorbike – which are used pretty much like we would use a family car, with mum and dad and the 3 kids all travelling together – not a helmet in sight, of course! We also travelled around a lot in motorbike taxis rather like ‘tuk tuks’ that you would see in Thailand… although the combination of Luke, Pete and Maurice nearly finished a few off…

Where did you live… and what were the loos like?
We actually lived in the Pastor’s house… home of Pastor Eliodoro and his wife Matilde, daughter Elizabeth and her daughter Inge (5), nephew Benjamin, and son Eleu and his wife and 2 children… a grand total of 9! These families moved lock stock and barrel into two tiny rooms at the back of the house, giving their 10 visitors (in fact 13 when Wilma, Shirley and Ian were with us!) the run of the their home – wow! We were even given complete use of the kitchen, while the family used a camping gaz…

The loo was great actually – all flushing and everything! Although there was sometimes a bit of queue as it was shared between 19 people…

Did you actually do any boat building?
As those of you who read the emails will know, in our first few days in Guayaramerin the whole project looked a bit uncertain… the wood for the project was stuck in the jungle somewhere, and not even the pastor seemed too sure whether we should just patch up the old boat, ‘Libertador’, build a new boat, or what… That evening we spent a lot of time praying and talking through the options, and then praying some more…Eventually it seemed to be the best thing that we should work on ‘Libertador’ and make her seaworthy again, and also purchase a new boat from a local boat yard, that had just been started…

The new boat (Sembrador V , the Fifth Sower) is about a metre longer than ‘Libertador’ (i.e. 12 m), but somewhat thinner, allowing her to reach more villages up thinner rivers! When we first saw her she was just the bare ‘ribs’… all in with the price of buying her was another 2 weeks work by the local boat builders to finish off the hull. The boat builders were somewhat bemused by us – especially that we actually wanted to help! It was interesting to see the different ways that they worked compared to the UK – especially for our team boat builder Ralphie! We helped them mainly by painting the inside and outside of the boat as more and more planks went on – this was generally the most favoured place to work as the boat sat under a huge mango tree, giving some much appreciated shade!

The rest of the work focused on stabilising and strengthening the cabin of ‘Libertador’, so that she can last a few more years! We added extra vertical and horizontal posts to stabilise, replaced lots of the side planks, and made inside and out shiny new with paint and varnish! Physically it was pretty hard, as there were no electric saws or drills ( although we did eventually manage to find a drill –from a shop selling electric games…) and to say that it was hot is the understatement of the year!!! A special mention has to go to ‘the Don’ (Maurice) who set a pretty good pace for us young ‘uns to keep up with!

Did you finish the project?
Well it all depends by what you mean by the word finish… We completed the inside work on ‘Libertador, and painted the outside and replaced the ‘windows’ – which, combined with a local chipies work on the roof, means that she is pretty much all ready to go - the Pastor was hoping to take her on a short mission trip this week!

The hull of the new boat is all finished, and the pastor has most of the money he needs to finish the cabin and fit her out, which can be done over the coming months, by a local carpenter. We spent a lot of time searching for an appropriate engine, as it seemed as though the engine that the pastor really wanted had stopped being made. However eventually he managed to locate one in a shop in Cochabamba – but more of that later…

What was the Church like?
Well the actual church building of ‘Iglesia Peniel’ was v impressive – as a Step team built it last year! Everyone was really welcoming to us, especially the youth group who were keen to make friends! There wasn’t much of an option to just be a ‘Sunday Christian’ – as well as 2 services on Sunday, there is a prayer meeting on Tuesday night, youth meeting Wednesday night, another service Thursday night, woman’s meeting Friday night, and another youth meeting on Saturday night!!! Phew!!!

It was great to be able to worship God on the another side of the world with our ‘hermanos y hermanas‘, even though we couldn’t understand what was going on most of the time! A highlight of each service was what we came to know as the ‘shakey shakey’ song – a chance to greet everyone in the church, although you had to be very careful not to shake anyone’s hand twice…

Most services also had something of a ‘concert’ element to them, as different groups from the church would get up and sing… ‘Grupo Step’ was of course always called upon to get up and serenade the church with our occasionally tuneful singing – and Pete’s much more tuneful guitar playing!

Did you eat anything horrible?
Actually I think that we got off pretty lightly – no piranha or guinea pig! Gilly had the worst experience – when she turned over her piece of fish in a somewhat dubious restaurant a pair of beady eyes stared back…

Did you make any friends?
Hope so!! It was really great to get to know Ian and Shirley, who were definitely our guardian angels, making sure that we settled in to Guaya, and even letting all 10 of us stay in their house for 3 days in La Paz at the end … Through their love for Bolivia and Bolivians we were able to get a bit of a feel for some of the things that God is doing in Latin America. Ian’s love for football also taught our lads a thing or 2… Wilma also became a valuable part of the team - as did her crossword book on long journeys…

In Guaya we really felt part of the Loras family – despite the language barrier! Smiling and saying ‘si’ a lot definitely goes a long way! But it was impossible not to fall in love with a family who are so friendly to these mad gringos who came and took over their lives. We also got to know several of the youth group really well (most of whom seemed to be related to the Loras’ in some way!) – perhaps one of the most surreal moments was when Lizzie, Alison and I all had our nails painted immaculately by our new friends while we were somewhat grubby from a mornings work!

Were you sad to leave?
Even though we were in Guaya for such a short time, we really felt part of the Loras family, and part of the church… the whole youth group came to the airport to say goodbye to us – twice! When it actually came to the point of saying goodbye there were many tears, Bolivian and English…

Why haven’t you got a suntan?
Hey, it wasn’t a holiday you know! The sun was so strong that we all kept fully tanked up with the factor 25 and 30 sun cream and tried to stay in the shade as much as possible! We also had a particularly dodgy collection of hats…

Surely it wasn’t all work and no play?
Well OK, you’ve got me there! We did have a couple of epic trips out to see a bit of Bolivia – one from Guaya out though the jungle to some rapids, and another in our last days in La Paz out to beautiful gorgeous Lake Titicaca… There’s not enough space here (or indeed probably in this whole computer) to tell of these adventures -–suffice to say that the words ‘petrifying’ and ‘dodgy buses’ featured highly…

What did you learn?
Well I certainly learnt a lot of Spanish – although my blank ‘I have no idea what you are saying to me ‘ face probably spoke loudest!

Talking to everyone during our last days in Bolivia, the thing that got mentioned again and again was how much we had all learnt to trust in God – so often we seemed in situations that we just didn’t know how to get out of – but God did! A passage that we looked at early on while we were in Cochabamba was those great verses in Isaiah 40 that talks about being lifted up on eagles wings, which we came back to time and time again as we realised that life was pretty much impossible without God continually lifting us up! As Ian said one time when the brakes had broken on our mini bus on a particularly lumpy stretch of road – ‘God brings us into these situations so that we have to pray more…’ Hmmm….

I think that its also pretty much impossible to go somewhere like Bolivia without having your priorities challenged… we spent our weeks in Guaya looking at Philippians, which fitted in with this very well, as we sought whether we could really say that all we want ‘is to know Christ. (Phil 3:10)

Was it worth going all that way?
Yes… its sometimes easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the problems of the world are just too big for us to do anything about, that there’s nothing that ‘I ‘ can do … but a v wise person once said that the world is not changed by big events and campaigns, but by individual people getting out there and doing small acts of good… On the Lightship we have lots of people coming to stay with us, which is great, but its often difficult to lift our heads up and look outside to the world around us, a world where having a nice force 4 wind and the right kind of cake aren’t too important…Being involved with the Bolivia Boat Project has enabled FACT as a whole, not just the team, to see God working in the lives of people very similar to ourselves, in a very different part of his world…

At the end of the day, we may have done a bit of useful boat building, but more importantly, we were able to encourage the congregation of ‘Iglesia Peniel’ that they are not forgotten in their remote part of the jungle, that there are people praying for them on the other side of the world – and from them, we were able to see and learn more of God.

What happened next?
The team may all be back but the Bolivia Boat Project lives on…
Amazingly we managed to raise the extra money for an engine and the fitting out of Semprador V. Despite sinking when she was first launched (apparently this is supposed to happen!) she is now in use, alongside a strengthened Libertador, who no longer wobbles from side to side as she goes along!!

Maurice and his wife Maureen have been back twice now to visit the project, most recently at Easter 2004. Both times they have been able to go on trips up river to expereince this work first hand… Here’s some of their email:
The flight to Guayaramerín was fascinating as usual -about 500 miles over nothing but rain forest, to be welcomed by our friends there. On Rio Mamoré ( tributary of the Amazon) we found ourselves journeying long distances upriver to little settlements, on board Libertador & Sembrador V, boats Maurice & Lightship team helped to build/repair in 2001. in each settlement, there were medical sessions using the medical supplies we had bought in town. Mike & Clare (doctors who went with M&M) performed wonders in seeing so many people who would otherwise go without medical help. It was very hot , very humid and many biting insects galore ( phew, smell, itch) At each settlement, we were given gifts, e.g. bananas, oranges, bidipa, papaya, cocoa pods, chickens ( Esmeralda and Ermintrude - later to be our Easter lunch. Easter day very special but different. Two services in the school, which was just a wooden platform with a palm leaf roof were simple but moving. In the afternoon, we held a simple ceremony on Sembrador V, when Maurice fixed 2 brass plaques to the deckbeams. One listed names of the Fellowship Afloat boat team which helped to build/repair the boats in 2001. The other was in memory of our dear friend, Margaret Hillyer of Fellowship Afloat, who did so much to get the boat project off the ground. We returned to Guyaramerín with a large tortoise, captured on the river bank by one of the crew. It was about 18 inches long, and destined to be lunch. However, we were to leave the lowlands before it appeared on the plate. (sighs of relief) During our time down in the Amazon Basin, Mike & Clare gave about 250 medical consultations - a truly phenomenal feat considering the conditions. It had been very exhausting, but very worthwhile.
Pastor Eliodoro has been in quite poor health for the last couple of years, so do pray for the right people to continue this vital life line.

Thank you again for all your prayers and support – ‘gracias para todo’…

Lots of love from Ruth – and Alison, Ben, Theo, Ralph, Gilly, Pete, Luke, Maurice and Lizzie xx