The Earth People * of San Ignacio

The Mapuche Indigenous people live in the south of Chile and Argentina.
They are a simple and timid people,
and many of them don´t have much contact with the outside world.
They have their own language - Mapudungun - but it is not used very often.

The Mapuches of San Ignacio live a quiet and
secluded life in harmony with nature.
The community is situated 80 km from the nearest town,Junin de los Andes,
where they go about once a month to buy supplies.

"Once during winter I was driving back from a visit,
and the car broke down in the middle of the dessert.
I had to spend the night in the car,then walk out to the highway
the next day to get help." says Guillermo Perez,
pastor of a church in San Martin de los Andes, 2 hours drive away.
He used to come to visit his friends in San Ignacio every week,
but now he is able to go only once every month.

In the Mapuche community, the women are the face of the family.
Margarita lives alone with two of her brothers,
a 30-40 minute horse ride from the nearest neighbor.
All her children have moved out of San Ignacio and
started their own lives and families.

There are three things that are sacred to the Mapuche:
the Weapons, the Women and the Horses.

Guillermo always brings something when he comes, this time it is kerosene,
as the winter is getting close and the houses will need to be heated up.
With the kerosene it is possible to get the humidity
out of the wood in order to start the fire.

Not many people own a car in the community.
When it's needed to go to town to get supplies,
they gather together to fill up the car.
In many ways you get further on a horse than by car in this rugged landscape.

Guillermo strikes a tune at Don Ignacio's house.
The Mapuche and their ancestors used to serve Nguinechen,
the Mapuche God,but now some have come to know God the creator.
Don Ignacio is the pastor in his community.

This used to be the home of Don Ignacio's family of 6 up til recently.
During the past 10 years the Municipality of Neuquen
have been building new houses for the Mapuche families.
The families don't tear down the old houses.
When the oldest member of the family dies,
they take off the roof so that the spirit can leave.

The last part of the house is being finished, now it only lacks the painting on the walls.
Ignacio's wife, Doña Rosa serves us mate.
The Mapuche are a hospitable and sharing people,
not slow to tell you to sit down,
share some mate with them, and offer you some home made bread.

The fruits of the modern civilization....

Sheepskin is both used in the households and sold to get some income.

Building friendships takes time and patience.
Guillermo says that his aim is not to convince his friends about
a certain belief or impose his modern culture,
but to help them realize who they are and the value they possess.

Guillermo leaves in his 1979 year model jeep,
not knowing when is going to be the next time he will be back.
Today he visited 3 families,
but hopefully he will be able to see more of his friends next time.
"It has been a good day!" he says, and we can only agree.

* In Mapudungun, the mapu means "the earth" and the che means "the people"

Pastor Guillermo D. Perez has been working with San Ignacio Mapuche community for several years now and is currently trying to raise more support throughout Argentina to his work. If you feel like wanting to help him in any way, please contact him (preferably in Spanish): cuentaconmigogk@hotmail.com or ice@smandes.com.ar

FROM CURSES TO BLESSINGS...

It’s a sunny afternoon in Zapala. The streets are quiet, it seems like the siesta has taken it’s reign.

The door to the Reyes family's house is open. Open for a reason - it is not unusual that people come here to talk with Nelly - ask her for counsel, help or prayer.

Nelly is in her fifties, with a warm smile and deep, dark, loving eyes. Her simplicity and bubbling laughter disarms. When she talks it seems like peace and love become more tangible, more present. Mother of nine children, wife and grandmother, Nelly is loved in her community, she spends her days not only looking after her own flock, but also pouring out herself for others: embracing the abandoned, praying for sick and the brokenhearted, feeding the poor, helping in a children's home and at the hospital. She is there for Zapala and it’s people. But it hasn't always been like that. The Woman who now brings hope and restoration to others was once very broken herself.

Nelly shares the excitement about the November afternoon that turned her life upside down

Brought up in a family of 13 kids, where her mom only cared about the oldest and the youngest, she didn't experience love and affection. Her parents were from two different Mapuche Indigenous tribes and they got married against the traditions. As the young mapuche Romeo and Juliet broke the customs, a curse was cast over the family and generations to come - to never prosper. They didn't have much and as soon as prosperity would come knocking on the door, quickly it would be gone. Like a vicious circle that would not stop even when Nelly started her own family. As she recalls, the early years of her marrige and bringing up the children the tears start streaming down her face. "I didn't know how to love my family. My selfhatred, depression, loneliness and childhood wounds kept me from showing care and affection to them."she shares. "One day my husband told me that if I didn't change he would leave me. That was when I hit the bottom. How could I possibly bring up the kids by myself? I was desperate, nothing and no one could help me." At the brink of giving up, the unexpected happened...

Childlike excitement spreads in the air as she starts telling this part of her story. A story about God meeting a broken woman. "I still remember it very clearly. It was a sunny november afternoon 13 years ago. A neighbor had been bringing me to a christian prayer group. Several times the people there had been praying for me but nothing happened and I was getting upset. That day I left the meeting and came home angry with people and God. Throwing away the New Testament they had given me, I bursted out- "God, if you really exist show it to me! After a few seconds I suddenly started to feel an undescribable, comforting warmth, love and peace. Love that I had never known in my life was there. At that moment God became so real to me…" She sighs peacefully.

That November afternoon has changed Nelly’s life upside down. Her broken life and relationships are being healed and restored, the curses that were spoken over the family have lost their grip - the vicious circle of never prospering has ended. She is filled with hopes and dreams for the future. One of her dreams is to open a feeding program for people in need. Her days now have a sense of purpose. A Purpose to bring hope and restoration to others. To Zapala.