A mission of mercy
A Savannah chiropractor in the Amazon rain forest
by Tim Daiss
The single-engine Cessna had just passed the point of no return; to the right, the
snow-capped Andes mountains, and, below, the vast Amazon rain forest stretching as far as
the eye could see. Savannah chiropractor Michael Vaughn was enjoying every minute of it.
Vaughn wasn't sightseeing or on vacation, but on a mission of mercy. He was flying deep
within the Amazon Basin in southern Ecuador to provide relief for the Shuar tribe in the village
of Katsuka.
First traveling to Ecuador in 1993 to visit an American friend teaching in Quito, Ecuador's
capital, Vaughn met Tim Anderson, an Assemblies of God missionary who had been working
with a group of Shuar Indians. The two immediately hit it off, and when Anderson invited
Vaughn to travel with him to visit Katsuka, Vaughn was elated.
"During my trip," said Vaughn, "I fell in love with the Shuar, their culture and how their
lives are not complex."
"Plus," he added, "every time I go down I get a decent night's sleep. Every night around
11:00 or so it starts to rain, usually a heavy downpour. The church and the guest hut we stay
in have tin roofs. It's some of the best sleeping in the world."
Now, five trips and seven years later,Vaughn met Anderson again November 27 for another
trip. But the journey to Katsuka is anything but conventional.
From Quito, with a population of 1.2 million people in a country with only 13 million
residence, the group drives in Anderson's SUV to Shell, a small jungle village. The five hour
drive takes them along the partially paved Pan American Highway, slicing through the Andes
Mountains, hugging narrow mountain passes and then descending into the Amazon jungle. As
they drive south, the population thins. By the last hour of the drive they travel along unpaved
and sparsely populated roads, an indication of what is to come.
Arriving in Shell by late afternoon, they find the areas most expensive hotel, priced at a
whopping $8 a night. The next morning Anderson and Vaughn charter a plane with the
Mission Aviation Fellowship, a group of young pilots that flies missionaries in and out of some
of Central and South America's most remote regions-- always a dangerous job. In fact,
Vaughn's last pilot recently died in a crash trying to help the Ecuadorian government find a
downed plane.
After a 45-minute flight, the Cessna pilot spots a small clearing in the jungle and lands on a
crude dirt runway. Over a hundred miles from the nearest road, and removed from the
modern world by time and space, Anderson and Vaughn step into a land time has forgotten.
The Shuar Tribe
The Shuar people (pronounced swar), are direct descendants of the Incas. Numbering
around 40,000, they are the second largest indigenous tribe in the Ecuadorian Amazon and live
primarily in tiny villages scattered throughout the jungle.
They are fierce defenders of the land and often wary of outsiders, and, until recent years,
were headhunters, decapitating their enemies head in battle and then shrinking their heads.
Refrigeration is still unheard of in this part of the world, and the Shuar men must hunt for
food daily, using blowguns with poison darts for animals and spears for fishing. Other staples
of their diet include freshly picked tropical fruit and an occasional monkey or wild bore.
Located about three degrees south of the earth's equator, and with the Andes to the west
and the unnavigable tributaries of the Amazon River surrounding them , the Shuar have been
largely shielded against outside influence.
But in the seven years since Vaughn's first visit, changes are taking place. The Ecuadorian
government has include the tribe in a number of social programs and even encourage a certain
degree of modernization, And incursion from neighboring countries and deforestation are new
threats.
Anderson has also brought about change. Recently he had a gas generator flown in. Later
he help build a simple, wood-framed church and a school for the children.
Critics say Westerners like Anderson and Vaughn are depriving the Amazon tribes of their
heritage and should leave them alone. But Vaughn disagrees.
"The Amazon rain forest is changing quickly," he said. "Modernization in the jungle is
inevitable. It's already happened in the other jungle towns and the Indians were forced to live
in an unfamiliar world that they were not able to cope with. At least Tim is showing these
people how to function in a new world."
CHIROPRACTIC EXAMS IN THE AMAZON
Vaughn, a doctor of chiropractic medicine, earned the Indians' trust long ago. During his first
trip to Katsuka he performed many chiropractic adjustments. One elderly man in particular
who happened to be deaf, Vaughn treated the deaf man Not only did the man's back improved,
but he also regained his hearing.
"That one I won't attempt to explain,"but it happened, God definitely intervened."
As a result, Vaughn was offered Chi-cha, a slightly fermented ceremonial drink, a tribal
honor. It took Anderson five years to have his first taste of Chi-cha
But an Amazon chiropractic visit isn't as easy as one in Savannah. Not only are there
language barriers, but it takes four people for effective communication. Vaughn initiates a
conversation speaking in English. An interpreter who speaks both English and Spanish
translates Vaughn's words into Spanish. A second interpreter who speaks Spanish and Shuar,
but no English, then converts the message to Shaur.
"Believe it or not, it works," says Vaughn, who has adjusted the ailing backs and joints of
many tribe members.
The same ailments plague the Shuar tribe as they do Vaughn's Savannah patients, but for
different reasons. Instead of the usual, "I threw my back out unloading groceries from the
trunk of a car," Vaughn instead hears, "I hurt my back chasing a monkey down a trail and fell
off the mountain."
After three busy days of seeing patients with occasional swimming breaks in between, the
Cessna returns, marking the end of the trip. But Vaughn plans to return back later this year.
When he does he knows what he will find. The Shaur may have continued to modernize,
throwing off some of their old superstitions, but whatever the case, Vaughn will be welcomed
as a trusted friend and healer.
Reprinted from Connect Savannah, Jan.26-Feb.1, 2001