Really I am not the one to tell this, but no hands shot up when I asked for volunteers. I will try to be concise but this thing was some of a miracle.....
We headed out from Illave towards La Paz. Our bus had been late and our group was pretty tired. Our stop in Copacabana had to be very brief-we had hoped to sit down to lunch. But we made the switch to a new bus and off we went. Less than an hour into the journey we were halted by a town full of people sitting in the road. We could go no where-though we felt like we are already there-the middle of nowhere(albeit beautiful). Large rocks, a community picnic, and the lack of side streets made stopping seem like a good idea.
People eventually got off the bus. Some of our group and people from other busses cautiously wandered down to the blockade. Unsure of the volatility I did the smart thing. I let Ken and Bill go. When Bill returned 45 minutes later he told a interesting story.
The protest was about the improper arrest of a 67 yr old pastor...a Friends pastor-one of our folks. He had been accused of abusing a 15 yr old girl. The long list of mis-steps by the Peruvian police (we were in Bolivia??), the lack of an actual accusation(the girl was in school at the time of the alleged attack), and the fact that the whole town seemed to consider this a falsehood became clear as the town tried to gain a voice on this mans behalf. He had apparently been beaten by police until he signed a confession. Of course we only heard these things second hand and I never want to disregard victims-especially those who are underage. So determining guilt or innocence is not our place-but wow it was the whole town-with the catholic mayor leading the charge.
They could not get the local authorities to come do an investigation, no one had been interviewed including the alleged victim, no one would listen. The group wanted to get the attention of local authorities on this mans behalf. So instead of making threats or whining a peaceful protest was formed.
As people from the busses came towards the protest the protestors offered them lunch. It was interesting to watch frustrated travelers fume and spout while the protestors offered bread. While Ken Comfort was chatting he began to realize that some of these folks knew his parents from the days when they lived nearby. Ken was a child. He became an honored guest and while we don't know for sure, we think these relationships helped sway the protestors to let us through(thanks Gene and Betty!!). His knowing some Aymara certainly didn't hurt.
So in the end the protestors did what all reasonable people do.....they had a business meeting....in the middle of the road. The town leaders began by reading the charges against the man, and followed it with their own demands for the situation-mostly a fair and thorough investigation. They allowed any who wanted to speak to do so-this included bus drivers, townspeople, and Ken. It was orderly and open. It seemed that good listening occurred, people were patient, respectful and everyone got their turn.
There were pleas to let people go through-especially since there were no facilities or food. Several folks were suffering with the altitude, using canes, or had asthma. Some said they should have warned the folks on both ends prior to the protest. The conversations swayed back and forth. It looked hopeful then didn't-back and forth. At first just our bus and one other was going to be allowed through. I was praying- we were not sure when this would end up.
In the end several of the women sitting there got up and spoke quietly to the mayor, in that instant everything seemed to change. They huddled and declared that there would by a 5 minute window for vehicles to pass then it would close again indefinitely and that people should not expect it to open until they were satisfied. No excuses would prompt them to allow people through. People raced for their vehicles, a few of our folks stopped to thank the city leadership.
This was really incredible. I was reminded of just how important relationships are. I was excited to watch good peaceful, well organized demonstrating happening. Several of us felt badly for dislodging the protest even for 5 minutes. We wanted to join in standing shoulder to shoulder with these brothers and sisters. Had we not had commitments and some folks not feeling well we just might have. It was sure a buzz in our group for a couple of days.
Others may choose to comment and clarify if I got it wrong or add their perspective.
Shawn
We headed out from Illave towards La Paz. Our bus had been late and our group was pretty tired. Our stop in Copacabana had to be very brief-we had hoped to sit down to lunch. But we made the switch to a new bus and off we went. Less than an hour into the journey we were halted by a town full of people sitting in the road. We could go no where-though we felt like we are already there-the middle of nowhere(albeit beautiful). Large rocks, a community picnic, and the lack of side streets made stopping seem like a good idea.
People eventually got off the bus. Some of our group and people from other busses cautiously wandered down to the blockade. Unsure of the volatility I did the smart thing. I let Ken and Bill go. When Bill returned 45 minutes later he told a interesting story.
The protest was about the improper arrest of a 67 yr old pastor...a Friends pastor-one of our folks. He had been accused of abusing a 15 yr old girl. The long list of mis-steps by the Peruvian police (we were in Bolivia??), the lack of an actual accusation(the girl was in school at the time of the alleged attack), and the fact that the whole town seemed to consider this a falsehood became clear as the town tried to gain a voice on this mans behalf. He had apparently been beaten by police until he signed a confession. Of course we only heard these things second hand and I never want to disregard victims-especially those who are underage. So determining guilt or innocence is not our place-but wow it was the whole town-with the catholic mayor leading the charge.
They could not get the local authorities to come do an investigation, no one had been interviewed including the alleged victim, no one would listen. The group wanted to get the attention of local authorities on this mans behalf. So instead of making threats or whining a peaceful protest was formed.
As people from the busses came towards the protest the protestors offered them lunch. It was interesting to watch frustrated travelers fume and spout while the protestors offered bread. While Ken Comfort was chatting he began to realize that some of these folks knew his parents from the days when they lived nearby. Ken was a child. He became an honored guest and while we don't know for sure, we think these relationships helped sway the protestors to let us through(thanks Gene and Betty!!). His knowing some Aymara certainly didn't hurt.
So in the end the protestors did what all reasonable people do.....they had a business meeting....in the middle of the road. The town leaders began by reading the charges against the man, and followed it with their own demands for the situation-mostly a fair and thorough investigation. They allowed any who wanted to speak to do so-this included bus drivers, townspeople, and Ken. It was orderly and open. It seemed that good listening occurred, people were patient, respectful and everyone got their turn.
There were pleas to let people go through-especially since there were no facilities or food. Several folks were suffering with the altitude, using canes, or had asthma. Some said they should have warned the folks on both ends prior to the protest. The conversations swayed back and forth. It looked hopeful then didn't-back and forth. At first just our bus and one other was going to be allowed through. I was praying- we were not sure when this would end up.
In the end several of the women sitting there got up and spoke quietly to the mayor, in that instant everything seemed to change. They huddled and declared that there would by a 5 minute window for vehicles to pass then it would close again indefinitely and that people should not expect it to open until they were satisfied. No excuses would prompt them to allow people through. People raced for their vehicles, a few of our folks stopped to thank the city leadership.
This was really incredible. I was reminded of just how important relationships are. I was excited to watch good peaceful, well organized demonstrating happening. Several of us felt badly for dislodging the protest even for 5 minutes. We wanted to join in standing shoulder to shoulder with these brothers and sisters. Had we not had commitments and some folks not feeling well we just might have. It was sure a buzz in our group for a couple of days.
Shawn
