Pucallpa November 2010 Part 4 Observations and Thoughts
One of the other interesting conversations that we had while in Nuevo San Juan was when Wes was asking some of the men about marriage, and two of the men said they were ‘brought’ a wife at 17. Their spouses were younger. The third man didn’t remember how old he was. They all said that they were still with their spouses today. Traditions however are now changing and becoming more similar to the western tradition. Is this better, I do not know because even though we choose our bride or bridegroom, it is still a choice to work through the problems and the trials.
We finished our time in San Juan by having a tour of the village in the hot baking sun. (I remember noticing the temperature increase several degrees while preaching in the morning). We saw all the different things going on, business teaching, free hair cutting, and also fruit picking, It was amazing to have fruit picked off the tree and eat it there and then. 
One interesting observation I made was that all the people there that were teaching were not Shibipos. This is something that needs to be addressed. It is great and really important to help those in need and the Shibipo people are certainly a poor, disadvantaged people, but they also need to be equipped to sustain themselves. At the moment they have a very dependent mentality, which I do not believe is God’s plan for them. Therefore we need to be helping them as much as possible to help themselves. As the Arab proverb says, and as the charity Oxfam has shown in their adverts in the UK ‘if you give a man a fish he can feed his family for a day, but if you give him a net, he can feed his family for a lifetime’. This is my desire to give people tools that means they are not relying on outside support, but are relying on their own resources, and more importantly God’s resources. I want to be a facilitator and not the answer. Too many times I have seen indigenous people who rely on missionaries, or other NGOs which I don’t think is a healthy or sustainable model. 
I also heard of tribes that still have yet to be reached in the jungle and are still very wild and not used to other human contact. The Shibipos are starting to realise that they are called to be missionaries as well to other peoples. What is our role in this? We will see in time. I have a fondness for the Shibipo people, people who were reached with the gospel only 40 years ago. What is God calling us to do in the future?
We finished our time in San Juan by having a tour of the village in the hot baking sun. (I remember noticing the temperature increase several degrees while preaching in the morning). We saw all the different things going on, business teaching, free hair cutting, and also fruit picking, It was amazing to have fruit picked off the tree and eat it there and then. 
One interesting observation I made was that all the people there that were teaching were not Shibipos. This is something that needs to be addressed. It is great and really important to help those in need and the Shibipo people are certainly a poor, disadvantaged people, but they also need to be equipped to sustain themselves. At the moment they have a very dependent mentality, which I do not believe is God’s plan for them. Therefore we need to be helping them as much as possible to help themselves. As the Arab proverb says, and as the charity Oxfam has shown in their adverts in the UK ‘if you give a man a fish he can feed his family for a day, but if you give him a net, he can feed his family for a lifetime’. This is my desire to give people tools that means they are not relying on outside support, but are relying on their own resources, and more importantly God’s resources. I want to be a facilitator and not the answer. Too many times I have seen indigenous people who rely on missionaries, or other NGOs which I don’t think is a healthy or sustainable model. 
I also heard of tribes that still have yet to be reached in the jungle and are still very wild and not used to other human contact. The Shibipos are starting to realise that they are called to be missionaries as well to other peoples. What is our role in this? We will see in time. I have a fondness for the Shibipo people, people who were reached with the gospel only 40 years ago. What is God calling us to do in the future?
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