Bruce Olson - Bruchko: The Astonishing True Story of a 19-Year-Old American, His Capture by the Motilone Indians and His Adventures in Christianizing the Stone Age Tribe

More than thirty years have passed since God first led Bruce Olson to the Motilones. The illness, pain, loneliness, and death threats have continued. But through it all, Jesus is being glorified, and His work through Bruces tribal brothers and sisters increases.

Even his nine-month captivity and torture by the ELN in 19881989 worked for good. For years the Motilones had shared their faith with the Bars, Cuibas, Yukos, and Tunebos (Indians of the Catatumbo region). But they never could get the tribes to work together even though Bruce begged God for this breakthrough. However, when he became prisoner, all five groups put aside their differences to plead for his life. Together they published open letters in national newspapers demanding his liberation. And in a special Sunday edition of Bogatos El Tiempo [The Times], they cooperated in a full-page article, A Norwegian Motilone Cry [sic] Out for Freedom.

God does indeed do more than we can ask or think. The concern and support given Bruce by the entire indigenous population of Colombia made Olson a household word and a topic of numerous national editorials and television commentary. This, in turn, helped secure his release.

Bruces captivity also gave the Motilones an opportunity to show that they could take over in his absence. They not only rallied the support of other tribes, but they also wrote letters to U.S. supporters, updating them on his situation. They maintained their organized system of farming, health care, and cooperatives, and they continued their study/translation programs.

Problems still exist. Less than three months after Bruces release, a bomb was put in his car while it was parked in a public garage. The bomb destroyed the garage, but no one was injured. Because of threats like this, he has thought and prayed about whether it would be in everyones best interest for him to leave Colombia. But he believes he must continue the work God has called him to do and leave the outcome to Him. He doesnt say this lightly. There is a fine line between faith and foolhardiness. But God is sovereign.

There are many reasons why Bruce believes God wants him to stay with the Motilones.

The second generation of Motilone Christians are as dynamic as their parents maybe more so. The Motilones now are in direct contact with thirty other Indian tribes in Colombia. They share the gospel of reconciliation in twenty-two languages. Eighteen tribes have embraced the presence of Jesus Christ and know Him as Savior and are growing in His grace and in the understanding of His written Word.

The Corrorroncayra Community and Health Center has been built after three years of hauling construction material two days by pack mule from the roads end. It is staffed by two veteran nurses and two newly graduated practical nurses from among the tribes students. When torrential rains destroyed the entire surrounding area, the center was spared. It also serves hundreds of land settlers and introduces them to Jesus Christ.

High school, trade school, and university students have received scholarships through Bruce and the Motilones for more than fifteen years. In 1992, for example, they sponsored more than eighty-two students for advanced studies in six different Colombian cities. These represented twenty-three different ethnic groups. All were preparing for service as first-generation indigenous missionaries.

More than 250 former graduates today are dynamic tribal members and carriers of the gospel. They have learned how to weave the benefits of science with their traditional roots and values.

The Motilones have prepared agronomists; nurses for their twenty-eight health stations; business administrators for their eight cooperatives (which now underwrite more than 86 percent of the Motilone/Bar jungle community expenses); bilingual educators; forest rangers; and other professionals. The Motilones have also trained lawyers, vital for litigation and legal protection of the indigenous traditional habitat. These lawyers represent their tribes before government agencies.

The House of Twelve Cultures has been constructed in Tib, the municipal seat for Northeast Santander. A three-story building, it is designed in the shape of a c. It provides lodging for personnel traveling in and out of the jungles, offices for the tribes represented, and a storehouse and shipping center. As a bicultural and bilingual center for indigenous studies in linguistics, it also provides the editorial offices for what is hoped will be the first indigenous multilingual newspaper to represent the tribal peoples of Northeast Colombia.

The newspaper AsocBari will communicate news from all eighteen tribal fronts where they have accepted commitments in evangelism and community development. Its director will be journalist Jairo Sababana Sachayra, one of their graduates and a strong Christian. He already has authored two bilingual books used in their jungle schools.

It is hoped that, in the future, this House of Twelve Cultures can sponsor a cooperative program with the university in offering credits in culture appreciation and cross-cultural communication.

Maria Eugenia Cuadudura, daughter of Bruces late pact brother Bobby (Bobarshora), and two other youths graduated from the National School of Pedagogy as bilingual educators in 1990. Along with the eighteen previously graduated teachers, they serve in jungle schools. And five more Motilones, four Tunebos, and eight Guajibos graduated from the school of nursing and serve in health centers they have built. They join forty-four previous graduates.

There are more than fifty Motilone/Bar health centers and stations, forty-five jungle bilingual schools, and forty-two agricultural centers.

The Motilone young people are also impacting the nation itself. Roberto Dacsarara, a graduate of the Free University in Law, has become the first indigenous director of the Office of Indian Affairs for the National Government in Northeast Colombia.

Fidel Waysersera has been chosen by the Northeastern Colombian tribes to represent them in the state assembly. He will be the catalyst as an Indian representative for reform in indigenous legislation for North Santander.

These are the first native Indians to achieve political status in the history of Colombia.

Through agriculture, nomadic tribes are producing improved staples and have eliminated the months of hunger when no wild fruits are available. This includes livestock supplies: beef and milk.

All of the 250-plus youth who have finished high school have continued specialized education in agriculture, animal husbandry, pedagogy, mechanics, mechanization of lands, lumber management, forestry, and forest management. All are residents among their respective tribes. None has abandoned the jungle for city life. All are serving in the example of Jesus.

Bruce Olson and the Motilones are not preaching a social gospel. By faith they are born into the family of God. But this spiritual new birth naturally engenders the dedication to live and share Jesus example. The Motilones make sure that this is fully understood.

When one of the former presidents of Colombia saw the dynamic advancement of the Motilones as they employed scientific solutions to their problems, he said, This is true development in response to the needs of the community. He assumed it was these factors that had brought peace.

But Kaymiyokba, who was talking with the president, became disturbed. He knew it wasnt preventive medicine or tropical agriculture that had brought understanding and coexistence between tribes.

It is because our tribe now walks in the footsteps of a new leader, Kaymiyokba explained. To walk in a tribal members footsteps is to recognize him as chieftain.

Smiling, the president acknowledged that this was Bruce, the missionary.

No, no, said Kaymiyokba. It is Saymaydodji-ibateradacura.