Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Update on Protest

Hi all. I wanted to give you a little update. Everything in David is still fine and good. David is a very large city. The protesters have concentrated their protest to smaller town areas. They have cut down trees and put them in the roads along with rocks and tires and anything else convenient. Anyway, Volcan, about the size of Owenton, has been an area with large protesting going on. The Ngobe are usually not violent people and other than creating roadblocks and refusing to move are causing no other problems. However, some of the Panamanians have now jumped on board and are protesting in support of the Ngobe. They have apparently broke into the Police Station there in Volcan. There does not seem to be any rioting or property damage, except for the Police Station, as of yet. One of our sisters was staying at a Bed and Breakfast that was located right in the middle of 2 roadblocks. Everyone has been very nice to her and some Ngobe even helped her move her car to the back of the B&B. Everyone feels the biggest fear is that when the government steps in to break up the protest that then there will be violence with the locals and the Ngobe standing their ground and there is sure to be some deaths. Our sister did move out of the B&B so when that happens she won't be in the crossfire. So the problems are in isolated areas that can be easily avoided. We hope that everything will be over soon and that few lives will be taken.

1 comment:

  1. Hello Sister,
    Enjoyed your blog.
    My name is Belle from Salem, Oregon ASL Congregation. My girls arrived in Panama the day the Ngobe Bugle demonstrations began. They (and two other young sisters) are serving in the Volcan, Chiriqui with the Volcan LSP (PSL) congregation (Volcan KH). They are loving it; they are staying with a nice local JW family! I have found several families of Witnesses in Volcan online who have blogs. Just wanted to say hello. It's stressful to think about the unrest there with my girls so far away (their first adventure); it's nice to know I can check in on some freinds' blogs (as well as the girls' blog) and get a balanced perspective. Volcan was hit harder than the locals ever expected. The ministry is fabulous and the girls are enjoying it so much. They will leave the last week of April (2012). I'll enjoy checking your next blog!

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