The Arhuaco people, who speak the Iku language, live in certain areas of the Sierra Nevada in northern Colombia.
They wear very distinctive clothing: a kind of white tunic adorned with simple, straight lines in solid colors for the men, and with more colorful embroidery for the women. The Arhuaco are also known for their famous backpacks, which are woven by the women.
Another feature
The Christian members of the Arhuaco community face another, less positive challenge: they must contend with rejection from their own people.
Has your family ever rejected you because of a truly important decision? Has your choice of career, partner, or faith been a reason for them to harshly reject you? If not, congratulations, because the pain of that rejection is eased only by the conviction that you made the right decision.
Today, in “Latin America, where there is freedom of religion,” these Christians must endure rejection by their fellow citizens and, in some cases, rejection—or at the very least, shame—from their own families.
Mocked or persecuted if they try to return to their mountain communities, Christians must renounce their faith to be accepted, or else move down to the plains to live among the mestizos.
I hope you can clearly imagine what it means to be unable to return to the place you call home. It’s as if you wanted to visit your family or close friends for the holidays and were forbidden to do so.
Even so, the Arhuaco people are working hard to translate biblical texts for their community. This is not an effort to translate meaningless or merely entertaining texts, but rather an effort to convey messages of forgiveness and hope in a language that their family and friends can truly understand—to leave behind a life filled with legends and fears and to look forward to a shared future.
This Christmas, don’t take for granted the freedom we have and how easy it is to tell the people you love just how important they are to you. How much longer will we be free to speak our minds or believe what we want?
Merry Christmas!
Romanos 8:38-39 NLT
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rosas Maya Family
We sincerely hope that this publication will be of encouragement and information to you.
We are Pepe and Miriam, missionaries serving in South America and we invite you to learn more about us from our home page or these other areas:
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