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Global Partner Clinics Help Build Solidarity
By Diane Otsuka

The eight-member group in Venezuela for the Global Partners October 2006 Medical Mission trip spent its first two days learning about how the Venezuelan people live now, and where they are going under the Chavez government. I came away with a sense that one of the purposes of this mission was to bring back a message to help people in the United States gain a better understanding of the perspective of Venezuelans who support Chavez. I heard from the people of the United Evangelical Pentecostal Church of Venezuela (UEPV), a pride in country, government and the improvements in the lives of the people in Venezuela

Bishop Gamaliel Lugo, along with other pastors from town and the countryside, were anxious for us to know what has been happening to move their country forward. The literacy rate is now almost 100% under Chavez. (People from the city, many of whom were high school students, went to people in the countryside to teach reading and writing; their classrooms were beneath trees.) Venezuela was recently honored by the UN for their literacy program. The poverty level has gone from 85% to 55% in the last eight years. There is a sense of hopefulness from the people of Venezuela as they see the improvements. The UEPV members know that there are many rough times ahead. Their country still faces major educational, poverty, medical, political and social justice issues. But our Venezuelan Partners are very motivated to participate in working to create true social justice for all the people in their country. As Tom Hunter-Crump said, "In Venezuela, Liberation Theology has arms and legs."

According to Bishop Lugo, the medical clinics held this year were to be more symbolic than in the past, since the Venezuelan people's medical needs are being more widely met by 20,000 Cuban doctors working in Chavez Clinics across the country. Some prior GP Medical Teams experienced reluctance to working together from some of the Cuban doctors.

This year was different. On the Day of Resistance Holiday, our team worked at a clinic for the Wayuu Indians. We participated in the celebration and a small ceremony to demonstrate solidarity between the Cuban doctors and our North American medical team. During the clinic GP Team Member, Dr. Patrick Williams, MD, shared an examination room with a Cuban physician, seeing about 170 patients between them. There was an exchange of ideas and true sense of camaraderie. Other team members, Tabitha and Nate Thrasher, Kathleen Parkhouse, Tom Hunter-Crump, and I provided medical support and Dawn Nottingham was an excellent translator in word and spirit. Rev. Jo McCall Williams served as team chaplain. The Bishop blessed the anointing oil and we were told that Jo's blessing with a cross of oil on the forehead was very powerful and meaningful for the Wayuu. Jo says she thinks she blessed the entire village!

The Bishop arranged for our team to provide a second clinic in the opposition partys' area,* to allow our group to experience the differences between the two clinics. This was held at the church where Rev. Elida Lugo (the Bishop's wife) serves in a poor barrio in Maracaibo. It was also used to draw political attention to the poverty level of that neighborhood as a first stop in encouraging local government sponsored improvements. Working with the Venezuelan doctor at this clinic did not bring the same spirit of cooperation. It did raise our consciousness about the continuing political struggle within the country. Both clinics, however, were a meaningful and enlightening experience for the members of our group.

There was a feeling that our mission trip had helped to build solidarity and long lasting bonds of friendship between us and the Venezuelan people. This enriching and enlightening experience will remain in our hearts and lives as we return home and share our stories with our communities. As one member of the group expressed it, "So much of what I experienced with the people was with smiles, humor, and touch; not with my spoken words. There was a break-through to deep and meaningful companionship from the first day." We were all truly blessed for being able to share this mission experience with the members of our team and the people of the UEPV.

Diane Otsuka is a member of Christ Congregational UCC in Denver. The team was comprised of six DOC and two UCC church members from the Rocky Mountain Area.

*The opposition party is the major anti-Chavez political party in Venezuela. Elections are to be held in December