The Kogis
Chadwick and Patricia Stendal with their 3 young children arrived in Colombia on January 3, 1964. They were answering the call to enter a hitherto primitive Indian tribe. During their first year in Colombia, a fourth child was added to their family. Eventually they were assigned to the Kogi tribe, a primitive group high in the mountains that suffered greatly from illness, parasites, and malnutrition. The ancestors of these people had experienced mistreatment and torture at the hands of the first Europeans to come to South America during the 16th century, making them very resistant to outside contacts.
Chadwick was led to an Kogi Indian who befriended the Stendal family and invited them to live in a little mud hut that he built on his farm for them. The Stendals studied the language and culture and helped the Kogi Indians with their health and nutritional problems with great success. Later because of their good reputation with the Kogi Indians and success in healing the sick, they were invited to live in an Kogi Indian village. Over the years even the Kogi Indian spiritual leaders became good friends with the Stendals. Chadwick taught the Kogi Indians to plant and raise coffee, and presently this is their main cash crop. Among other things, Patricia started a little school with a few pupils. Now one of these boys has a degree in education and is the superintendent of a small school system. There is also now a woman with a degree as a dentist and a young man who is entering his medical internship and will soon be an MD. These as well as others were educated by the Stendals so that they could minister to their own people. The tribe was shrinking in population until the Stendals arrived, and now it has expanded into more villages and the population has grown. |
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Website and Maintenance by RU Institute
Artwork & Design by Ablaze Media