Flaminguinho (Little Flamingo) and Betel ("Bet-EL", which means Bethel), in the Novo Olindo municipality, is located on Lago do Curupira, about 85 nautical miles East-Southeast from Manaus. This is about 45 minutes by air or two days by boat. The diet of its people, like most "riberinhos" (river dwellers) consists of what they can fish or catch, and a lot of manioc products.
The manioc starch is extracted from the plant roots, washed and cooked to rid it of deadly poison, and then treated in a number of ways to produce foods. The dried, hard, ground up starch derivative here is being cooked and stirred to make farinha, a gritty substance eaten with other foods and sprinkled over foods. Most foreigners would as soon eat sand on their food, but Darrel is quite accustomed to farinha, and eats whatever he is served on these missions. He says it goes well with alligator (jacaré), paca (a large wild rodent), fish, and turtle.
On this mission he ate armadillo and paca with farinha for lunch. Breakfast is usually hot coffee with tapioca mush mixed in, farinha patties, pé de moleque (a cooked mash of Brazil nuts, coconut, cinnamon, and tapioca), and machuqueira (a type of non-poisonous manioc).
Young Dr. Rolney ("Ho-NEY") returned for another jungle adventure, just one month after the Humaita 2 clinic (see that web page). Considering his terrible fear of flying, this was a surprise but a joy.
In addition to days full of medical consultaions, he testifies of his faith in Jesus Christ as with the Evangecube, above right photo, and plays the guitar in a chorus-singing session on the left.
Dentist Luis Carlos, above, came to serve and brought his lovely niece Suylan, also a dentist. They were also guests in our home before and after the clinic, and told of the great experience they had together.
If we had a Frequent Volunteers Club with Asas de Socorro, these ladies in the two photos above would be members: Dr. Eunice and registered nurse Jeane, seen here dispensing free medicines prescribed to patients.
Above all, Asas de Socorro is an evangelical mission. Everything we do is for the glory of God, and to point souls toward the saving relationship with Jesus. Waiting patients see "the Jesus film" as an introduction to who he is. They are told that the volunteers come to relieve their physical pain as a demonstration of God's love and mercy for them. The absence of pain is a powerful testimony.
A river boat, called a "recreo", is the city bus of the river. During the days of the clinic, it stayed busy bringing patients and taking them back to their stilted houses along the river's edge.
