Day 9 and Psalm 91

Psalm 91

 ¹ He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

       will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

 ² I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,

       my God, in whom I trust."

 ³ Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare

       and from the deadly pestilence.

 ⁴ He will cover you with his feathers,

       and under his wings you will find refuge;

       his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

 ⁵ You will not fear the terror of night,

       nor the arrow that flies by day,

 ⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

       nor the plague that destroys at midday.

 ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side,

       ten thousand at your right hand,

       but it will not come near you.

 ⁸ You will only observe with your eyes

       and see the punishment of the wicked.

 ⁹ If you make the Most High your dwelling—

       even the LORD, who is my refuge-

 ¹⁰ then no harm will befall you,

       no disaster will come near your tent.

 ¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you

       to guard you in all your ways;

 ¹² they will lift you up in their hands,

       so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

 ¹³ You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;

       you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

 ¹⁴ "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;

       I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

 ¹⁵ He will call upon me, and I will answer him;

       I will be with him in trouble,

       I will deliver him and honor him.

 ¹⁶ With long life will I satisfy him

       and show him my salvation."

Today was our induction into the perils of the missionary. Mum and Dad as you read this do not worry but reflect on the above passage PLEASE! It all started seemingly sedately. We headed to the hospital for rounds with the doctors and other students. We arrived to a great crowd of white coats crowded around a nervous patient's bed. It seems that everyone is present at rounds. All 30 of us piled into each patients room and deliberated over the patient's care. Of course we did not understand a word of it though it felt important to be following around this grand procession of the medical profession.

Following this we decided to take a stroll into the small rural town the hospital supports known as Anocaraire. Anocaraire is a town built on agriculture. It is known in the region for its flower farming. Many of the people in this quaint community are very poor.
Anocaraire is additionally known to the hospital for its anti-American sentiment. It is unsure what this stems from. However, Bolivia has had some less than cordial interactions with the US. Unfortunately, sometimes this frustration has been known to be directed at the hospital and today without our knowledge we were walking right into the middle of it.

When we arrived back at the hospital our house parent Leta was called into an emergency meeting with the hospital director. When Leta returned to the house she informed us that the previous night a meeting was held in Anocaraire. The unrest had been building- members of the community had been threated to oppose the hospital or to have their water shut off. The outcome of the meeting was that members of the community believed that the hospital should be controlled by the people of Anocaraire and they were willing to take it by force.
Oh dear!
The director thought it would be best if we started making plans to move into the city. He was worried that if this was to occur then we would not be safe in the guest house at the back of hospital. Apparently threats like this had been made before but nothing had ever eventuated. Though he felt that this may be just another threat, "it would be more convenient" if we planned to move into the city. Convenient?

We were surprised by these developments. We had known that there was some discontentment in Anocaraire but generally the hospital was well utilised by and was a excellent service for the community. We were saddened that a few people's misperceptions and offences threatened their whole community's health and wellbeing.
Tiff and I were frustrated because we weren't even American's but faced racism and animosity because of the colour of our skin. In a strange country we had no means by which to guage a threat. Was it all talk or did people in this country really act on their resentment and percieved oppression? We had only just arrived and knew very little of Bolivian history...but we did know that America had at times a lot to answer for. We shared Trufi's with the people of Anocaraire everyday. Suddenly, we realised there were no smiling inquistive faces like the ones we were met with on other routes. I was shocked when one day I sat beside a man about my age and he pushed himself to the other end of the bench seat in disgust! How interesting to be a minority!

 

So we set about the house preparing our evacuation pack- food, towels, bedding, pots and pans. Everything that we would need if we had to take off in a hurry was packed into boxes and placed by the door ready for an emergency departure. In these pictures we are mid packing. Although we appear to be fooling we were in fact taking the matter very seriously!

That afternoon we headed to Suticollo for a clinic. Suticollo clinic is held in a tiny building smaller than my room right on the edge of the highway. It was busy clinic with patients of all ages and complaints. Many of the patients were the women who wandered along the highway trying to sell their goods and wares to traffic stopped at the neighbouring toll. It was again a reminder of the incredible poverty in the area. The clinic was so cramped and lacked so many necessary items but it was a valuable service to the area.

Unsettled by the days events we prayed. We couldn't put out of our minds the coincidence that on the very day that we found out about the threat we took a walk into the heart of it. I think that for some unknown reason this was all part of God's greater plan.
Although we knew that we were in a possibly dangerous situation we could be at complete peace because we had a greater power keeping watch over us as we slept that nite. However, it did not stop us from triple checking all the windows and doors and pushing a bench over the front door! Safe and secure!