~Wtt&1 - - Hoover Library

BOLIVIAPIONEER(S)by Joy Holloway, '65"Everybody knows Bolivia is somewherein the middle of South America where thereare revolutions and tribesmen who shrinkyour head into a little-bitty thing and llamasand Indian women wearing derby hats andimpossible mountains wrought by the wrathof God and no drinking water and going tothe bathroom in the street."And everybody knows that missionariesin such places are tight-lipped, sallowfacedpeople who wear old clothes shippedfrom the States and spend their lives tryingto teach primitives how to sing 'OnwardChristian Soldiers.' ."Everybody knows that."But newspaper reporter Kays Gary fromNorth Carolina changed his tuue after he'dbeen in Bolivia a few weeks." .. but the talk was that missionariescan't peddle religion as a tranquilizer todeaden responsibility to social and civicduties."The talk was that religion is not an institutionbut a dynamic encounter that won'tallow rest while human values are neglected."We looked around for the tight-lippedpiety and sallow faces. We waited for somebodyto sing 'Onward Christian Soldiers.'.. ."But nobody sang. They didn't peddlepiety, just worked-recuse hymns wouldn'thelp the kids with the hungry eyes andbloated stomachs. So reported Gary uponreturn to the States.BOLIVIA - "Land of Decision" - at thebottom of the heap economically, at the toppotentially IF-the big "if.""Bolivia must certainly be classed amongthe backward and undeveloped regions ofthe world; yet few countries have been endowedby nature with such an abundantdiversity of essential raw materials." (H.Osbourne, Bolivia - Land Divided) Problems- exploitation, communications, illiteracy,social inequality, and the lists go onand on and on.After a few tense hours in a conference room at 475Riverside Drive in New York City in the spring of '65,I was informed of my destination to Bolivia for the nextthree years as a member of a "team"-something excitinglydifferent in the field of Christian witness abroad.No institutions, no "ghettoizing," living AMONG thepeople, same salary as a Bolivian pastor ($10 a week),no funds from home, six North Americans and six Boliviansforming a Christian community. Perhaps these wouldbe some answers to the crv for new structures in missions.So it was that six North Americans and six Bolivianscame together for the first time in January to beginmolding the structure. The basic plan is accepted by all;the problems are of a smaller internal nature. We wentslowly, carefully, trying not to impose, not to hurt, notto use the wrong words, not to go too fast.But it's not easy. You do have preconceived ideasabout the disciplined life of a Christian community.You do come from a different culture. You can't use theright words because you've only studied the language forthree months. And, it's all so trying on the patience thatat first you wonder why the whole thing's so importantanyway. Then, little by little, you begin to see somethingshaping, lIliraculollsly almost. Levels of education in thisteam range from sixth grade to university, backgroundsrange from the jungles of the Bolivian lowlands to suburbanNew York, ages range from nineteen to thirtythree-butlittle by little. .We will be going to an area called the [ungas-AltcBeni. It is one hundred and ten miles down the unforgettablybeautiful, and dangerously narrow, dirt road thatgoes from the fifteen thousand-foot snow-covered passabove La Paz, curving down twelve thousand feet to thelush jungle lowlands of the Alto-Beni. It's still in themountains though!Our center of operations, we are told, will be inCaranavi, new center of the region, where Our coordinatorlives with his family. Here we are to come togetherevery month or two as a team for exchange of ideas,plan work, evaluate, and get strength from knowing thateleven others are working with you. However, permanenthomes will be with a Bolivian counterpart (mine turnedout to be a little midwife named Mari Velasco).We are prepared to live in a colony outside of Caranavi,accessible by mule only, lip a steep mountain path-far away from the rest of the team (or from anybodypagenine