On December 21st, the Voz Que Clama Mission http://www.vqcmission.com held their Cabecar Indigenous Christmas Party in the Chirripo mountain town of Quetzal, Costa Rica. I had never made the difficult drive to the Chirripo Mountains before. The almost 3 hour drive from Tuis on the rugged volcanic tortured terrain was steep and remote, it appeared barely populated except for large patches of deforestation.

We were blessed to have 12 house guests who were able to attend with us. The boys helped Phil pack our big flatbed truck with donations of clothing and Christmas gifts for the children and they left our house at 6am to go to the Mission in Tuis de Turrialba and continue to load our truck with all of the donated items. It was a beautiful sunny, hot day for the event.

Two students from EARTH University joined us and they brought a van load of donations from the students. How wonderful that so many participated.

My guests helped peel onions and chop veggies while I prepared the rice and beans for our contribution to the feast, the largest pot of vegetarian Spanish Rice I had ever made. It was a joint effort starting at 5:30am to make a warm and nutritious meal hoping it would still be warm by the time it was served. In the end not a spec of food was left over, and the very hungry Indigenous did not notice that their food was no longer hot and the soda was warm. When it was time to eat the Chief blew his whistle and the children lined up first in one very long, quiet, straight line with no pushing. Amazing!

The vehicles leaving the Mission were burdened with gifts, people and food. A local cattle truck was packed with volunteers from the Mission’s town of Tuis. Others drove their vehicles packed with people and food, a Hyundai Gallopher pulled a trailer loaded with sacks of surprises as we traveled in caravan style to Quetzal. The volume of people, vehicles, their overloaded capacity, and the high energy was a sight to behold. Piled atop our big truck I noticed the wheelchairs that belonged to the handicapped residents of the Mission, no one was left behind. It was a glorious event for all to enjoy. The journey was difficult, steep, vertical, and the suspension bridges were swaying over their very long span. One vehicle at a time, each vehicle allowed the previous to reach the other side before the next vehicle progressed very slowly onto the rickety well worn boards. We crossed water with no bridge and picked our way around and over water covered boulders and very deep spots.

The little children from the reservation were so beautiful. They came dressed in their finest clothing, so dirty from the long journey that my friend Rande commented as we looked at an adorable little girl, that she wanted to take her home and…..….wash her. It was easy to tell which Indigenous came from the surrounding area and who came from high up on the reservation by how clean they were. Their muddy rubber boots told the story.

Santa also attended to the delight of the children and he brought special gifts with him, toys, dolls, trucks, and gifts of warmth. There were two large Santa piñatas filled with candy and the children took turns hitting them until they released their sweet treats.

We learned that our taste in clothing and theirs is very different in some instances. We had lots of good laughter as we watch an Indigenous man so proud in his woman’s tunic top. It was flashy and he loved it. There was something for everyone.

We had far more people than we planned on. I think that no one could have done a better job of handling, so many than Daniel, Hector and staff as they worked with the Chief of the Tribe. They saw to it that everyone got something and had a good time. Building relationships within the Indigenous tribes is most important. It takes so many years, you don’t want anyone to feel hurt or left out. I think that having the items of used clothing made a big difference. They need clothing and items of warmth, but they were not greedy. In fact it was as if they were afraid to pick out or touch the clothing, and yet we know they have little or none. We had to encourage them to take items. Not that they understood a word that we were saying. Remember, most do not speak Spanish, they speak Cabecar.

I have started to plan for next year’s event already. You can participate from wherever you are. We always need gifts of clothing, and all of the other items that are on the Wish List. When you come to visit, please bring us a suitcase filled with donations. Your friends and co-workers will gladly clean out their closets and give you the donations. Your local school will help with school supplies. Children love to help other needy children and you would have a hard time to find children more needy, with no resources, no other possibilities other than you. If you would like to send a tax-deductible check, you can mail it to our US address and we will provide for their needs as necessary.

Voz Que Clama Mission
990 Sunset Drive
Healdsburg,
California 95448

It is very different in the US. Somebody always cares, there are agencies, churches, food pantries, food stamps, assistance, clothing banks…, here, there is nothing and for the most part, no one cares. Do you think I am wrong? Read this report, http://saiic.nativeweb.org/ayn/crilo.html we should be informed as to the reality of our Indigenous. The Cabecar are one of the many tribes of the Americas. They routinely traversed from South America to Canada and back many years ago before there were borders.

All people deserve an opportunity to live in dignity, it has not served this world well, to ignore any particular group of people. We are all humans struggling to survive. Some are struggling far more than others just to see another sunrise. There, but for the grace of God, go I. We thank you for your kindness and generosity and look forward to hearing from you.

Costa Rican rainforest weather has returned to normal with beautiful sunny mornings and cool afternoon siesta rains.

I went to see my Columbian friend Maria this morning. Maria is a wonderful cook, mother, and the wife of Dr. Alberto Gomez. She is also a great gardener with beds of herbs, collard greens, carrots, and lettuce. Her backyard has happy chickens of all colors, even very large blackish chickens with white poka-dots. Very beautiful birds that live in a protected sanctuary with herbs, water gardens, perches, a hen house and life could not be much better for a chicken. Just ask the very large Long Island Red that I saw yesterday on a front lawn in La Suiza with a string tied to his leg and a cement block. Where is my machete when I need it? I would have freed that bird from his prison but he would have probably flipped out thinking I was about to behead him.

On Sunday afternoon we will take the Doctor and Maria to the Mission for Sunday afternoon service. This will be their first visit and I look forward to this outing. I always enjoy our joyful time at the Mission. The return trip home with the live obstacle course of people in black and cows all over the excessively winding mountain road that follows the rivers course is stressful and my screams of terror bring my Zen down a bit. Other than those small details it is often a highlight of my week. Much to our delight we have not fallen down the ravine again. That was one of our most embarrassing moments of driving history and right there in the top 5 of the most dangerous category.

I met with two young men yesterday who are doing wonderful work with the indigenous. They are nondenominational Christians who run a mission http://www.vqcmission.com and have taken in the indigenous handicapped from one particular village. They also make regular visits to the children of this village to help educate them and assess their needs. The handicapped indigenous are cast out and left to die because they have an evil spirit. My friend's facility is very clean, the patients happy and well fed. Phil and I could not do what these young men (29 and 30) are doing. One patient is bed ridden with Cerebral Palsy, all have some mental condition or are schizophrenic.

The following are their needs that I know of now and I have asked for an additional list:

Art supplies, crayons, pencils, craft scissors, sweat shirts of any color (it is cold in the mountains). If you can think it they need it. They need craft paper, it weighs a lot and therefore is hard to carry in, but if you can do it, great. They always need clothes and blankets. This tribe is the most forgotten of all of the different tribes in Costa Rica and their language is the hardest to learn. Hector and Daniel have spent two years making friends in the village, it is not easy for outsiders to be accepted. If you could help them it would be very appreciated.

I believe that my indigenous are from the same tribe. From my land it is almost an 8 hour walk up mountain, if your fit enough to make it. I am not. From their starting point it is about a 5 hour walk so we are talking about the same tribe, but not the same village. There are many villages up there.

A number of us are working together and resource sharing. Networking with each other is the best way to share ideas and supplies. I have pencils here that I can give them now and still take care of my two schools and supply our indigenous through the teachers that visit their village.

I had been focusing on navy blue sweatshirts for our local schools, but the rules are different for them, any color will do, because they do not go to the local schools. They are only visited by teachers. At night everyone sleeps together on the floor of a roofed open structure. It has been cold here at night, just a few nights ago I had a sweatshirt on, socks, a heavy blanket, a light polar fleece throw and I was still cold. But I was in a nice soft bed not sleeping on the ground with no sleeping bag.

If you can help, or know others who would, we would gratefully appreciate it.

They started out four almost 5 years ago as a church and no one would come. Why? Because they were a church, the local folks said we already have a church, we don't need a church. So they started calling their place a Mission. Oh!, the people said. A Mission, we don't have a Mission, we need a Mission, a Mission helps people, we will come. And so their Church turned into a Mission and does the same thing. They worship and meet the needs of the people. It is also a small nursing home as they house indigenous handicapped, very very clean, no smell at all, you would be very impressed. These two fellows are doing excellent work. They have about 150 who come to service every Sunday evening. It is always in the evening (4pm) here because the cows must be milked and chores done first.

They are non-denominational because like me they do not believe that you need to be Baptist or Methodist, just love the Lord. This is also a Catholic country and although many do not understand how you could not be Catholic, being something really got in the way. So we are all just Christians and they are a Mission. If you know of anyone who would like to visit the "Mission" please let me know. They also have a Spanish language school http://www.cisacostarica.com teaching Spanish to people like you and me. This helps them to fund their existence and pay for the needs of everyone. Really great fellows. Visitors come and volunteer there time at the Mission, learn Spanish, and learn something even more special about what is in their hearts.