Once a month we leave the springlike climate of Cochabamba and pass through the cold of Colomi in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia. We continue through beautiful valleys, mountainous canyons and semi-deserts until we reach the tropical Amazon jungle with its oppressive heat. After six hours of travel, we arrive at the community of Santísima Trinidad in the Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS), where over two years ago Maryknoll missioners and seminarians were invited to collaborate.
Within five seconds of our arrival, we hear: “Dulce! Dulce!” It is Danielito, a 3-year-old neighbor who comes with his siblings and other children to ask for candy. They bring joy and innocence. Their presence gladdens us, but it also breaks our hearts when we get to know their reality.
Families in this community have no other means of survival than to cultivate their chacos, plots of land allocated by local authorities to anyone over the age of 18 who requests one. Work in the chacos is very hard. It means setting out early in the morning to avoid the sun’s intense heat and returning at five in the afternoon, already exhausted. As is often the case in rural communities, many women work in the chacos and also bear the responsibility of the home and upbringing of the children. Alcoholism in men wreaks havoc and brings complications that many of the women don’t talk about.
Due to the lack of a daycare center or a program to take care of the children, Danielito and other children too young for school are left alone at home until their parents return from the chacos. Another problem is inadequate governmental services. Many school-age children are not registered by their parents and do not have documents. That prevents them from attending school.
These situations expose children to multiple dangers, including a poor diet. Although prepared food is left for them, they are too young to manage on their own. That is why a childcare service is urgent, but the local authorities, the state, or the Church have not yet found the necessary means or facilities.
Santísima Trinidad also lacks health services. It has a large and well-stocked medical station, but it does not have the capacity to treat complex cases. Many cases must be transferred by ambulance (a simple van) to Villa Tunari, Chapare, about two hours away. During the transport, many pregnant women give birth and seriously ill patients die.
Of imminent concern is care of the environment. The ancestral and practical method of cleaning the chacos to prepare for a new agricultural cycle is the burning of the fields. This is done without proper control, causing large fires with smoke everywhere. Every September, when land is burned, hundreds of hectares are lost. Because of the favorable international price of rice, many people grow it — and burn tracts of land to do so.
Fires and the smoke they emit also cause eye, respiratory and stomach diseases. Sometimes schools must resort to virtual classes, as it becomes dangerous for students to leave the house.
As I listen to stories such as these and get to know the people’s reality, I understand the passage in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, when Jesus looks at the crowd and feels compassion and says, “[They are] like sheep without a shepherd.” (9:36) The people of the Amazon have a rich culture and deep faith, but they are abandoned.
In view of the Jubilee Year 2025 with its theme “Pilgrims of Hope,” Pope Francis asks us to reflect. “I ask with all my heart that hope be granted to the billions of the poor, who often lack the essentials of life,” the Holy Father says. “Before the constant tide of new forms of impoverishment, we can easily grow inured and resigned.”
The dream of our native peoples for a better life becomes an unattainable utopia due to the ambition of some and the apathy of others.
As missioners, we accompany the poor and ask ourselves what more we can do so that families can continue to live according to their traditions while having what is necessary to maintain, feed and educate their children in a more dignified life. That is why we are here, to walk with this people, despite the fact that this reality hurts.
Featured image: A child of the Santísima Trinidad community plays outside, while parents and family members farm their parcels of land in the dense forests of the Bolivian Amazon. (Adam Mitchell/Bolivia)