La Jungla: Embera Tribe

On Thursday, September 19th, our team went into the jungle to work with the embera, one of the many indigenous tribes here in Panama. The roots of the embera people venture back before the first pioneers in the Americas. Missionaries and people from the Peace Core have been making progress with this people for years and just recently, within the past year and a half, they have installed electricity and clean drinking water for the people. The people still live in huts that are constructed of wood and palm leaves. All of the houses are raised off the ground by about five to eight feet due to flooding and animals.
Thursday we gathered our things, planning to stay at the village for five days, and headed to a river about an hour and a half drive from the YWAM Panama base. Once we arrived at the river, we all got out of the van, covered our back-packs in plastic, and boarded boats that were similar to long canoes. The boat was powered by a motor and directed by two men by long rods. Panama is just entering its rainy season, and so the river is still shallow to some extent and often, with the weight of our luggage and our selves, we would jump out of the boat and push the boat upstream. (Quick side note: the man that was directing our boat was one of the characters in the movie “At the End of the Spear”). After an hour and a half in the boat, we finally arrived at the embera community. We were greeted by awkward looks and many, many children.
After arriving, we were all given a place to stay. The boys got their own hut to sleep in but the two girls, Erin and I, were sent to live with a family. According to tradition, the embera women bare their chest in public. At first this was a bit of a challenge, but God gave us grace and by the end of our time there it was more normal. The first day our team played with the children and got to know the village, but by the second day we began our work. The girls were given the job of preparing the palms to cover and make more roofing while the men of the team were sent to repair a path. The following day the men went on a two hour hike up a mountain and helped the embera men haul down a new canoe. The people had spent two weeks forming the canoe out of a large tree and without our help; the people said it can take up to four days to haul one canoe down the mountain side. These boats are huge and the guys were working on pushing this boat down for 12 hours. God really protected them and blessed their labor. The girls and I went to another near-by village and worked with the children.
The evening when the guys got back from hauling the boat, we had a meeting. The night before, on Friday, we came together for a time of intercession and we sought God’s heart and what he desired of us there in the embera community. So on Saturdays meeting, our leader brought us together to remind us of what God had shown us in visions three months before in intercession. God had given us a word and an image. The word spoke of the tremendous need for boats and the vision had been a boat without a sail. God reminded us of our purpose. The embera people were in great need of new boats and these boats didn’t have sails. So we decided to stay a day longer than scheduled and bring down the second boat.
We all rested most of Sunday. The work the guys had done opened the embera people to a new level with us, giving us an opportunity to speak about the love of God. So that Sunday we also had a program including worship, a testimony, dramas, and a message. The people were so open and we were able to pray over the children, the sick and the community as a whole.
After bringing down the second boat on Monday, we had a feast, and prepared to leave on Tuesday. Before we left, we bought some of the goods the women of the village made to sell. We loaded our things and right as we were boarding a huge rainstorm came and lasted the whole time we were on the water, but God was so faithful. He protected us and held us in the palm of his hand.