We are Jaap and Linda Bezemer and have been living in Ecuador since 2014 with our children Corné, Helen, Arianne, Jacoline, Richard and Erik. We live in the province of Pastaza, which has the same area as the Netherlands, with 100,000 inhabitants. In this province there is one city and a dozen large villages that are easily accessible by road. The rest of the area is only accessible by dirt roads, by canoe or plane. Our province is home to seven indigenous tribes with their own territory and legal system. The main inhabitants of urban areas are mestizos.
We share the hope that exists in Jesus with people who do not know Him. We also improve medical care among the indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. We do this in the following ways:
I (Jaap) work as a tropical doctor at the Shell hospital. As a primary care physician, I mainly treat children and indigenous patients. Patients often come with lung complaints (due to exposure to smoke from wood fires), parasites and tropical infections. As a researcher, I work on improving the care of patients with tropical diseases.
As a pastoral worker, I am chair of the church council of the indigenous Kichwa congregation Diospa Ñampi Sacha Runa. I preach several times a month, visit the sick and give the catechisms.
I (Linda) am a nurse but have chosen to be a stay-at-home mom. As is normal here, I support the children a lot with their homework, where we invest extra in Dutch and English.
Together with a neighbour, I lead the Sunday School of the church. I also lead the youth club on a weekly basis, focusing on the underprivileged. I also support low-educated parents in the guidance of their school-age children.
We live in an indigenous village on the edge of the jungle. Our neighbours have come out of the jungle in recent decades in search of work and school. They speak indigenous languages and Spanish. Our indigenous neighbours are discriminated against because of their origins and many of them live on half a minimum wage. In many families, the hopelessness causes alcohol and drug abuse, domestic violence, dropping out of school, teenage pregnancies and broken relationships. We have built valuable friendships, support where necessary and learn every day. Every few months we travel to jungle villages that are deprived of medical care. There we provide medical assistance and strengthen the church.
Church
Our home church is the Reformed Congregation of Rilland.
Find out more:
Our website: fambezemer.wordpress.com
Shell Hospital website: hospitalshell.org/
Support
You can support Jaap and Linda financially by making a monthly or one-time donation to:
IBAN: NL71 RABO 0379 0570 26
ten name van iTeams NL o.v.v. project code EC-MW