1951- Post 1: Cazadora swarm (Army Ants - eciton burchellii)
Updated: 4 days ago
Army Ants -
On New Year's day Jim went to San Ramon, making his first river trip in the new casco and motor. While he was away, early one morning I got out of bed into my shoes and walked across the earth floor to make up Lucille's bottle of milk in the kitchen.
The doors onto the back verandah were both shut, and before I could open one to get some daylight, I felt a strange sensation of something moving on my legs. Rushing back into the bedroom and throwing open that door, I saw that my legs were covered in medium-sized brown ants, but they were not biting me.
As I looked back into the kitchen, to my horror I saw literally millions of ants swarming on the floor, the table and the food cupboard. However, the most peculiar sight was the great bunches of ants hanging from the corners of the table and the cupboard like stalactites about 8" long and 5" thick, composed entirely of ants.
I did not know what to do and how to start getting rid of them, and was very relieved when young Olegario arrived. He was the son of one of the believers, Olegario Anez, and during his school holidays was helping me in the house, bringing the meat each morning, sweeping the earth floors, drawing water from the well, and other jobs about the place.
He said to burn the ants out with pieces of lighted paper, and for two hours we worked at it. To me it was strange that the ants ran everywhere on top of jam and sugar, but showed no interest in getting into it.
Later I learned that this ant was called the cazadora (army ants) and actually invaded the house looking for insects, and was not interested in foodstuffs. The only thing to do was to leave them alone, and in a few hours they retreated, leaving the place insect free.
During our 15 years in the Beni we had two further invasions from the cazadoras; we welcomed their help and kept out of their way until they were finished!
By casco to San Ramon
There had not been any problems with the casco and motor on Jim's trip to San Ramon, and as I had not visited the folk there yet, we decided to do so. After some days of heavy rain, we managed to get the baby clothes dry on the first fine day, and set out the following morning.
The trip to the river had to be made in an oxcart, carrying the motor and our luggage. The oxen ploughed through slush and mud, dragging the cart over great mounds and into deep ruts, taking an hour to cover the distance of just over a mile.
I hung on to Lucille with one arm and to a wooden pole on the side of the cart with the other arm, at the same time trying to protect my fair baby from the hot sun with a sunshade.
After a short wait at the river while Jim was getting everything in order, Lucille and I went aboard, glad to get some respite from the hundreds of mosquitoes that were almost eating us alive.
Jim had made some shelter from the sun, and Lucille sat in an oblong basket just in front of me. As the motor started and we moved out into midstream, she looked at her Dad and gave him such a knowing smile, thoroughly enjoying every minute of the experience.
The trip was lovely, with a bright sunny day, delightfully cool breeze, and the greenest of jungle vegetation along the river's edge. The river varied from 50 to 100 yards in width and ran so fast that it would have been impossible to row against it in the middle of the stream.
However, the little motor chugged along merrily, and we reached San Ramon after a trip of seven hours, an estimated distance of about 30 miles. It would have been a 16-hour trip by oar, paddling along the river's edge among the bushes to avoid the current.
Of course, with the noise of the motor we did not have the joy of seeing much wild life, as everything fled before our arrival.
The believers and quite a crowd of people were at the port to meet us, and carried Lucille up to the town.
It was a short but happy stay in San Ramon, and I was able to give a testimony to the Lord's faithfulness in bringing me to the place after eleven years of prayerful desire to witness there for the Lord.
Editors’ Comment
Eleven years prior, Joy had heard Wally Heron tell his story
about life in San Ramon during his visit to Sydney Australia.
SEE BELOW ….
We left two days later, accompanied by a young Brazilian who knew the river well, and was going to take us through a short cut across a big lagoon. However, the narrow opening off the main stream was not deep enough to enter until the river height rose later in the wet season.
Snake story
While investigating the situation, we entered a tiny lagoon with clear still water, and the noise of the motor startled a 10' tree snake - a green one - which leapt down into the water and swam right across in front of the casco and up the opposite bank.
If we had been a foot or so closer, it possibly would have come on board. I was glad it didn't, although that type of tree python was not poisonous, but whipped with its long thin tail, and its bite was said to take a long time to heal.
We made the return trip in 4 1/2 hours, and enjoyed every minute of it. Lucille was sunburnt on the face due to the reflection off the water, but was thoroughly pleased with her outing. While at San Ramon we had some good meetings, one being a night open-air on the plaza with the Sunday School children singing action choruses, and about 100 people listening to the Gospel.
Editor's Comment: Some historical context that may be of interest:
Behind Joy’s testimony in this small town of San Ramon about the Lord’s faithfulness in bringing her there, is an eleven year story.
Joy heard Wally Heron speak at SMBC in 1940. She expressed real interest in the Bolivian Amazon to Wally at that meeting. His response to her was: “that’s no place for a woman” - but our mum having good Scottish pioneer DNA was not put off by Wally’s perspective or words.
At the time that Joy heard him speak at SMBC, Wally’s infant son, Robert, was living in NZ with Violet’s parents. Robert was raised to adulthood in NZ by his maternal grandparents, whilst Wally returned to Bolivia as one of the world’s first missionary pilots. Many years later Robert returned to his birthplace, and was also a missionary pilot in the Bolivian Amazon working alongside his father, Wally Heron.
Joy did midwifery training at Royal Women’s Hospital in Sydney, then did two year missionary training at Sydney Missionary Bible College (SMBC).
She was accepted as a missionary candidate by the Bolivian Indian Mission in Sydney and was preparing to leave for Bolivia. The second World War intervened and caused considerable delays in shipping across the Pacific Ocean.
Joy was also involved in Sydney City Rescue Mission in Surry Hills throughout these years. It was during volunteering in Surry Hills that she met a fellow volunteer, Jim Hadfield. To their surprise, as they volunteered alongside each other, they discovered that they both had a longing to share Jesus’ love with the people of the Bolivian Amazon region.
Eventually they announced their engagement in Australia, but Joy went ahead to Bolivia in 1945. Jim remained in Sydney to complete the required studies at SMBC. and then apply to become a missionary with Bolivia Indian Mission. They were married in Bolivia in 1948.
Now... here Joy was, in a casco, eleven years later, married to Jim, and heading to the very place that piqued her interest when Wally Heron spoke at SMBC.
Note: Wally Heron’s wife, Violet, died during the birth of her first child, Robert, in this very isolated little town of San Ramon. Hence, Wally’s comment that the Bolivian Amazon “is no place for a woman”.
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