Have you ever zipped yourself into your mosquito net, only to find two cockroaches managed to enter with you and now chase each other from one end to the other?
It doesn’t make for a good night’s sleep. Laying on a hard palm board floor doesn’t help.
This is much better sleeping than the night Ronnie Black and I were forced to bunk in the same jungle hammock because of attacking vampire bats. But that’s another story.
Since I am lying awake, I might as well introduce you to the others sleeping on the floor around me.
STEVE ESTELLE lies to my right and is my co-worker. He has the misfortune to come on this trip without his mosquito net and is now wrapped in a sheet like a mummy. Roaches are running all over the sheet trying to find an entrance. Every few minutes Steve sits up and gives the sheet a violent shake. All the roaches fly toward his face, he groans and lies back down. He will do this the rest of the night. That he is sound asleep while going through these motions doesn’t seem to make any difference.
MANUEL and his wife ELODIA lie a short arm length to my left. He is sixteen years old. It is hard to comprehend that this young couple have already lost their first child. The baby died from a fungus that grew in its mouth and into its stomach. Manuel is our informant and is good. He is outstanding in that he left the tribe and went to school for seven years. He can read and write both Embera and Spanish.
Two years ago he returned to the tribe and married Elodia who has inherited lots of land. The women own all the land in this tribal group. She cooks for us and helps teach. Tonight, Manuel is sleeping off a “little drunk.” He helped a friend carry palm for a new house and afterward stayed to drink a few gourds of fermented corn drink. Elodia is mad at him for being gone so long. Tomorrow he will be extra nice to her.
VIRGINIA, Elodia’s grandmother sleeps across the room. Since there are no walls in an Embera house, the thick, cloth net she is under serves as privacy as much as anything. Grandma thinks that when I don’t understand what she is saying that all she has to do is speak louder. Right now she spends most of her time speaking louder. Hopefully, with a few more months of study I can quieten her down some. Sleeping with her are two small grandchildren who were given to her to raise.
TURBAY and his eight year old son JOSECELISINO are under the last net. Turbay is the owner of this house. He and his wife are fighting and so she has left with the three smallest children and gone back to her parents. This is a favorite ploy of the women. Who knows when or if she will return.
Turbay, I just found out, is the local witchdoctor. He is blind in one eye. As he sits on the floor, his good eye sweeps from one side of the house to the other, like a giant radar. This makes him seem more eerie than he probably is. When he chooses to speak to me it is usually something very profound like, “Count to one hundred in English for me.” Josecelisino, after hearing me mispronounce a word will jump up and scream the offending word in my ear, syllable by syllable, making me repeat it over and over. He may be the best language helper in the house.
MACON, KATY and 3yr old JEREMY ask, now that you have met some of our Embera family, to pray for them as you pray for us.
=====================
This letter was written in June of 1978 as Katy and I worked with the Embera people. Missionary work continues with the Embera in both Colombia and Panama. There are many believers and Embera Churches. In fact, strong Embera believers are now reaching beyond their own villages to make sure all their tribe have a chance to hear and understand the gospel message.
People like you, from churches like yours played an important role in this outreach. Thank You for reaching beyond your world.